Last week, Carl Herstein, Chief Value Partner at Honigman LLP discussed his experience in developing and implementing a firm-wide legal project management (LPM) program at his firm. The conversation continues with a candid discussion of the pricing of legal services, how it relates to project management and what clients really think of firm initiatives in this regard.

Q. How would you describe the relationship between pricing, collections, AFAs and LPM at your firm?

When a client approaches us with a new matter, the first question that every one of our lawyers should ask is “what are your goals?”. . . . [more]

A recent Wednesday: What’s Hot on CanLII drew my attention to an interesting decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on the scope of a defendant’s obligation to mediate in a meaningful way – and the potential cost consequences of the failure to do so. The case also yet another example of the limits on the confidentiality of the mediation process.

In Dimopoulos v Mustafa, 2016 ONSC 4119 (CanLII), the Court dealt with several issues arising from an accident victim’s successful claim for damages under the Insurance Act. A jury awarded $37,000 in general damages, plus $28,800 in . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on research and writing, practice, and technology.

Research & Writing

Where’s That Decision?
Bronwyn Guiton

My sincere thanks to my fellow law librarian Diane Crossley, and to the judicial staff at the BC Superior Law Courts for collaborating with me on this column. In a recent tip about what’s on CanLII, we learned that “Most routine matters aren’t written up in decisions, so the information related to them is not generally publicly available online. This . . . [more]

Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award­-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from seventy recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible.

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. Eloise Gratton  2. Administrative Law Matters 3. The Court  4. Combat Sports Law  5. Wise Law Blog

Eloise Gratton
Cyber Risk Management: Legal Privilege Strategy – Part 1 of 2

An organization’s cyber risk management activities may result in sensitive communications and documents that the organization’s personnel expect will . . . [more]

One Sunday each month OnPoint Legal Research provides Slaw with an extended summary of, and counsel’s commentary on, an important case from the British Columbia, Alberta, or Ontario court of appeal.

Calaheson v Gift Lake Metis Settlement, 2016 ABCA 185

AREAS OF LAW: Local elections; Eligibility to run; Eligibility to vote; Metis and Indian status

~In deciding whether to annul an election, it is not necessary to engage in mathematical analyses if, over all, there are sufficient irregularities to cast doubt on the election’s integrity.~

BACKGROUND: Jason Anderson was ineligible to run in the Respondent Gift Lake Metis Settlement’s general . . . [more]

Every week we present the summary of a decision handed down by a Québec court provided to us by SOQUIJ and considered to be of interest to our readers throughout Canada. SOQUIJ is attached to the Québec Department of Justice and collects, analyzes, enriches, and disseminates legal information in Québec.

PÉNAL (DROIT) : L’ancien dirigeant de Cinar, Ronald Weinberg, est condamné à une peine d’emprisonnement de neuf ans après avoir été déclaré coupable sous plusieurs chefs d’accusation de fraude, d’utilisation d’un document contrefait ainsi que de fabrication et d’utilisation de faux documents.

Intitulé : R. c. Weinberg, 2016 QCCS 3137 . . . [more]

I have numerous friends dealing with crises this summer. Two have mothers who have been diagnosed with life threatening illnesses. Their lives have been turned upside down. They are worried, stressed out, and deeply sad about what is happening with their moms. They are dealing with doctors and lawyers and trying to keep daily family life together while dedicating a big chuck of each day to helping their mothers.

This was the situation I found myself in last year when I received a phone call from my mother’s landlord telling me she had been found disoriented in the basement of . . . [more]

Each Thursday we present a significant excerpt, usually from a recently published book or journal article. In every case the proper permissions have been obtained. If you are a publisher who would like to participate in this feature, please let us know via the site’s contact form.

Shifting Attitudes in the Next Generation of Male Lawyers: Will the Kids be as Important as the Courtroom?

Shannon R. Webb, Professor at Lawrence Kinlin School of Business, Fanshawe College
Catherine Loughlin, Associate Dean Research and Knowledge Mobilization at the Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University

First published in the . . . [more]

“It is not a right. Self-regulation is very much a privilege.” So declared Premier Christy Clark at the end of June when she announced that the BC government would take over regulation of the real estate industry in that province.

As those in BC know, the BC housing market has been on fire over the past year. Potential home buyers face a crisis of affordability. Questionable practices by some real estate agents and a failure to respond by the Real Estate Council of British Columbia (RECBC) fuelled a crisis of confidence in the regulator. And the government stepped in.

We . . . [more]

If anyone doubts that Privacy by Design is not a fundamentally important principle, consider these two recent articles.

This Wired article describes a hack being detailed at the upcoming Defcon conference that can easily read and type keystrokes from wireless keyboards that are not Bluetooth. So you might want to consider replacing any non-Bluetooth wireless keyboards you have.

Security expert Bruce Schneier wrote this article entitled The Internet of Things Will Turn Large-Scale Hacks into Real World Disasters that explains the IoT risks. The fundamental problem is that not enough attention is being paid to security for IoT devices. This . . . [more]

Each Wednesday we tell you which three English-language cases and which French-language case have been the most viewed* on CanLII and we give you a small sense of what the cases are about.

For this last week:

1. Lapointe Rosenstein Marchand Melançon LLP v. Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, 2016 SCC 30

[1] Even if the underlying facts involve another jurisdiction, a Canadian court can, if there is a sufficient connection, assume jurisdiction over a tort claim. In Van Breda,[1] this Court identified four “presumptive connecting factors” to assist in making this determination. This appeal focuses on the . . . [more]

Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, a law firm with 300 attorneys in five offices throughout the U.S. mid-west launched a comprehensive legal project management (LPM) initiative in 2011. Rather than announce the program with the usual press releases and fanfare, the firm deliberately chose to stay quiet about it – until recently. 

Carl W. Herstein is Honigman’s Detroit-based Chief Value Partner. In this two-part interview, Carl discusses the decision to “keep it real”, what he’s learned along the way, and how LPM fits into firm culture. His experience exemplifies the commitment, forethought and resources required as other firms . . . [more]