As an exception to the universally accepted view that law society committees are “all form and no substance” in regard to the “unaffordable legal services problem” (“the problem”), there is one Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) committee that has produced a Discussion Paper that has great substance, although some ingrates are so inconsiderate as to say that it’s not “the right stuff”; see: Alternative Business Structures and the Legal Profession in Ontario: A Discussion Paper. It was released by LSUC on September 24th, asking for comments by December 31st.[i] It proposes “alternative business structures” (ABS’s). They have . . . [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 technology, research and practice.

Technology

Visit the Wirecutter for Recommendations on the Best Electronics, Gadgets and Gear.
Dan Pinnington

When it comes to purchasing things, I will admit that I tend to be a tad on the anal side. I always spend a ton of time researching the available options. This has been a lifelong issue for me. In the old days (read pre-Internet), one of my favourite sources of information and reviews was . . . [more]

In an unusual case, a plaintiff nearly lost out on $8,000 in damages simply because she got to trial too fast.

The plaintiff’s employment with the defendant was terminated due to downsizing after 14 years of service.

She was paid approximately four months compensation in lieu of reasonable notice. She felt like it was not enough and sued the company for 22 months of compensation.

Justice Pollak agreed with the plaintiff that four months was not sufficient compensation and awarded the plaintiff twelve months of compensation.

However, at the time that the case was tried it had only been . . . [more]

On Parliament Hill there stands a statue depicting one of King Arthur’s knights, Sir Galahad. It was erected in honour of a heroic young civil servant who perished in the Ottawa River while trying to save a cabinet minister’s daughter who had fallen through weak ice. The tragic hero was Henry Albert Harper, and the statue of Sir Galahad, King Arthur’s most virtuous knight, was meant as a testament to Harper’s selfless heroism.

Speaking of Harper and paladins of another kind, 2014 might well go down as a banner year. The recent batch of Galahads on Parliament Hill kind of . . . [more]

As an aside to the discussion of a possible regulation on e-signatures in Ontario, I refer you to a recent article on the psychology of electronic signatures:“Paperless and Soulless: E-signatures Diminish the Signer’s Presence and Decrease Acceptance.”

It turns out that people don’t think that other people who sign electronically are as ‘engaged’ as they are if they sign by handwritten signature. As a result, they don’t think the e-signers are as likely to comply with obligations that they sign up for, and they don’t take e-signed documents as seriously as hand-signed ones or as likely to be . . . [more]

In fact, Watson has been downtown learning about law and legal research at the University of Toronto since sometime early this fall. IBM approached 10 schools and challenged them to “put an entrepreneurial spin on Watson’s artificial intelligence.” U of T was the only Canadian university invited to participate in this IBM Watson Cognitive Computing Competition. . . . [more]

In this important decision released 1 December 2014 the Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld a motions judge’s refusal to approve a court appointed receiver’s fees, and comments on the undesirable features of the billable hour model.

The motions judge held the legal fees charged were “disproportionate ” to the size of the receivership, that the usual or standard rates were too high, and that excessive work was done by senior counsel on routine matters. The judge found the fees charged “greatly exceed” what he viewed as fair and reasonable.

Relying on its inherent supervisory jurisdiction over a receiver’s requests . . . [more]

In classical physics, energy can neither be created nor destroyed—Albert Einstein. In quantum physics, information cannot be created nor destroyed. If information is missing from one system, it must be in some other system. Therefore, one could re-construct a headache if one could get sufficient information as to exactly how the aspirin used, worked on nerves and other parts of the brain and body. Such procedure would enable problems having many variables to be solved much faster.[i]

Electronic “predictive coding” devices that automate the “reading” of thousands of records for making production for electronic discovery, present such problems. The . . . [more]

Among the discussions about transforming the legal industry many librarians are considering ways to express the value of what they do and to explore ways to contribute. One of the elements that has been discussed is to provide more data to libraries’ parent organizations to quantify impacts of various interventions. This is a worthy goal, but it has been my observation that people often respond better to stories than they do to data, and that data, even when presented in a visually compelling way, doesn’t always generate the best stories.

Improved data collection is an excellent tool to accomplish many . . . [more]

Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award­-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from sixty 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. FamilyLLB 2. Legal Feeds 3. Labour Pains 4. The Factum (formerly the ELAN Blog) 5. Michael Geist

FamilyLLB (Russell Alexander)
Wife Goes Back to School, Improves Income by 75% – Does Husband Get Support?

In a recent case called Regnier v. Regnier, the court considered a narrow . . . [more]

Background

The pervasiveness of “smart” technology was envisioned in part as far back as 1954 by Harold Osborne, who predicted we would all get a telephone number for life at birth.

When society adopts new technology, social institutions, including the courts, often take time to catch up with it. This was referred to as “cultural lag” by William Ogburn in 1959, who stated,

When material conditions change, changes are occurred in the adaptive culture. But these changes in the adaptive culture do not synchronize exactly with the change in material culture. There is a lag, which may last for

On 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.

Summary of all appeals and leaves to appeal granted (so you know what the S.C.C. will soon be dealing with) (Nov. 13 – Dec. 10, 2014 inclusive).

Appeals

Contracts: Honest Performance
Bhasin v. Hrynew, 2014 SCC 71 (35380) Nov. 13, 2014
“A summary of the principles … (1) There is a general organizing principle of good faith that underlies many . . . [more]