British Columbia’s government is currently fighting the Law Society of British Columbia (LSBC) and the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia (TLABC) over BC’s new Legal Professions Act (Bill 21). They and others see Bill 21 as unlawfully terminating the independence of the profession of lawyers. Bill 21 also serves as a case study in the failure of democratic law-making.

As I write, faces of lawyers from other countries flash through my mind – lawyers who have suffered exile, criminalization, imprisonment, threats, attacks, murder, or enforced disappearance to silence their legitimate advocacy. In countries without a . . . [more]

Shutting down her computer for the day, Mary noticed how anxious she was. Yet again, she had received no feedback on the legal opinion she had drafted for the partner, and she was beginning to worry if her job was in jeopardy.

In law firms, far too often, “no news is good news.” You will hear what you did wrong or badly but are much less likely to hear what went well.

In the demanding field of law, nurturing the growth of junior lawyers is essential for their professional advancement and the firm’s ongoing success. And if you are taking . . . [more]

The Canadian Open Access Legal (COAL) Citation Guide/Guide canadien de la référence juridique en accès libre (RJAL) is now available: https://canlii.ca/t/7nc6q

Over the course of two years, law librarians from across Canada worked together to create the COAL-RJAL Guide. The English version of the Guide is now freely available and hosted on CanLII (2024 CanLIIDocs 830), and the French version is in progress. The Guide is intended to be used throughout the legal field and incorporates feedback contributed by reviewers from Canadian courts, law firms, law journals, law societies, and law schools.

The COAL-RJAL . . . [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) : Le tribunal conclut hors de tout doute raisonnable qu’une véritable entente s’est concrétisée entre l’accusée et son conjoint pour agresser sexuellement l’enfant que celle-ci gardait; l’accusée est donc déclarée coupable de l’infraction prévue à l’article 172.2 (1) b) C.Cr.

Intitulé : R. c. Blackburn, 2024 QCCQ 2516 . . . [more]

The bar examination landscape in the United States seems to be in a state of upheaval. The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) is in the midst of developing a new bar exam, called the Next Gen Bar. Meanwhile, California’s State Bar considered scrapping NCBE entirely and hiring Kaplan to write an exam for California.^[1] Though California has now paused this plan, it’s clear that they were looking for other options and thought it might be possible to write a new exam.

I once heard a teaching expert joke that she could teach anything. She would take a bet . . . [more]

I shared news earlier this year, but I wanted to follow up with some tips on how to get the most out of Courthouse Libraries BC’s free access to Court Services Online (CSO) E-search.

These tips include pointers helpful for anyone using CSO E-search, even if you are out of the province and don’t know anything about this useful tool for accessing BC court records and file information. Anyone can search CSO, see free results, and then pay to see deeper case information and pay to download available documents. You don’t need an account. So if you’re outside BC, . . . [more]

Throughout my career, I have been attracted to and fortunate enough to work on various initiatives that push the envelope in particularly challenging and fast-moving areas. This work can sometimes induce anxiety due to its unpredictable nature and pace, but it is never boring and it is often highly rewarding. That being said, nothing I have done in the past has come close to the pace of change and potential for impact than working in the management of risk for artificial intelligence (AI) implementation. The unique combination of the speed of advancement of AI technology combined with the slow pace . . . [more]

Preamble When students at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law (“LASL” or “the school”) sent a controversial letter (“the letter” or “the October 20th letter”) to the LASL administration, a letter which became public, about the Israel-Hamas conflict, Metropolitan Toronto University (“MTU” or “the University”) filed a complaint under TMU Senate Policy 61, the Student Code of Non-Academic Conduct (“the Code”). The University appointed the former Chief Justice of Nova Scotia J. Michael MacDonald as the External Reviewer of the complaint. MacDonald released his Report (“the Report”) on May 31, 2024. This is the third post of a three-part . . . [more]

As advances in technology have made the sheer volume of electronically stored information immense, there has never been a more critical time to manage e-Discovery efficiently and cost effectively. Whether your work involves litigation, legal transactions, analytics, records management, or legal support, the Osgoode Certificate in E-Discovery, Information Governance and Privacy will give you a practical, deep dive into the e-Discovery process, including strategies to manage information governance records, and how to handle new challenges related to privacy and artificial intelligence. Led by Program Director, Susan Wortzman of MT>3, and an Advisory Board consisting of Lisa Alleyne, Senior Legal . . . [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) : Il n’y a pas lieu d’intervenir à l’égard du jugement de première instance ayant déclaré un policier coupable d’avoir commis une agression sexuelle à l’endroit de sa collègue lors d’une patrouille; il est vrai que le juge a erré en s’appuyant sur le comportement a posteriori de . . . [more]