Why be mediocre? Smart strategy developed thoughtfully and executed astutely ignites success that is stratospheric.

Strategy within many law firms is considered optional. These firms prefer to do what they’ve always done, then sweat and bleed to grind out results.

That’s because they choose to play it safe and run with the rest of the competitive herd. But running with the herd does not protect you from harm, it simply makes you one of many.

Playing it safe is a prevalent trait within the risk-averse legal services industry. But how tiresome and dull, not to mention frustrating. This is precisely . . . [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 first post of a three-part . . . [more]

Recently, I attended the Trilogy Tour.

For those of you who are not familiar with it, this was a four hour concert with Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin and Pitbull.

Pitbull was last to perform and within a few minutes of starting, he stopped his band and apologized to the crowd that he screwed up.

I did not understand why he stopped as all seemed to be going great, yet he explained to the audience that he dropped his mike and we deserved to know that he is there to give a great performance and admit his mistakes.

I was shocked . . . [more]

One Sunday each month we bring you a summary from Supreme Advocacy LLP of recent decisions at the Supreme Court of Canada. Supreme Advocacy LLP offers a weekly electronic newsletter, Supreme Advocacy Letter, to which you may subscribe. It’s a summary of all Appeals, Oral Judgments and Leaves to Appeal granted from May 16 – June 20, 2024 inclusive.

Appeals

Contracts: Sale of Goods; Exclusion Clauses; Standard of Review
Earthco Soil Mixtures Inc. v. Pine Valley Enterprises Inc., 2022 ONCA 265; 2024 SCC 20 (40197)

The principles in Sattva apply to the contracts herein, subject to the . . . [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.

CONSTITUTIONNEL (DROIT Il existe un conflit irréconciliable entre l’article 10 de la Charte de la langue française et les dispositions linguistiques du Code criminel; ce conflit existe sous 2 formes: il s’agit d’une incompatibilité d’application — l’article 10 de la charte empêche un juge de la cour criminelle de . . . [more]

It seems that the world is experiencing more serious and intractable conflict. Our brains are hardwired to focus on bad news, which is everywhere and which can lead to stress and even despair. As conflict management professionals, what can we do to navigate these stormy times?

I offer a hat tip to Tammy Lenski for linking to this article by William Ury:

3 Ways to Make Conflict Less Destructive

William Ury is well known to most of you as an acclaimed mediator, co-founder of Harvard’s Program on Negotiation, co- author of the famous “Getting to Yes” and author of “Possible . . . [more]

Several times each month, we are pleased to republish a recent book review from the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR). CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD), and its reviews cover both practice-oriented and academic publications related to the law.

Unwritten Constitutionalism. By Maxime St-Hilaire, Ryan Alford & Kristopher Kinsinger, eds. Toronto: LexisNexis, 2023. xxxvi, 255 p. Includes tables of cases and index. ISBN 9780433528203 (softcover) $125.00.

Reviewed by Melanie Bueckert
Legal Research Counsel

The papers in Unwritten Constitutionalism originated from The Unwritten Principle of Constitutionalism in Canadian Jurisprudence, the . . . [more]

1.

You know the look. A genuine smile, a pleasant surprise, a comfortable pride, man-to-man, he says “Hello! How are you?” a little too loud in a . . . [more]

The House of Commons adjourned for the summer on June 20, 2024. A number of federal bills received Royal Assent the same day, including two omnibus acts, Bill C-59, the Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023, and Bill C-69, the Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1.

While not all the amendments made by these acts came into force on Royal Assent, a number of them did. However, the federal Justice Laws Website has not yet added these changes to the consolidated legislation and, based on previous patterns, the consolidated legislation will take a while to be updated.

As . . . [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.

La juge de la Cour supérieure a correctement conclu que la condamnation antérieure de l’accusée, pour le même événement, en raison d’une infraction de conduite avec les facultés affaiblies par l’alcool (art. 320.14 (1) a) C.Cr.) entraînait l’application de la règle interdisant les condamnations multiples et justifiait l’arrêt des procédures . . . [more]