In September, at the Opening of the Courts, a very similar speech was given by the Chief Justices of Quebec and Ontario to their respective audiences. Unknowingly in tune, the highest ranking provincial judges of both provinces deplored the heavy, inaccessible and saturated court system.

Chief Justices Nicole Duval Hesler, François Rolland and Élizabeth Corte pleaded for the augmentation of judicial staff. But more importantly, they came to the conclusion that despite the current efforts to use staff more efficiently, the court system can simply not satisfy the increasingly high demand. Thus, as per Justice Rolland, “[n]ous n’avons plus le . . . [more]

Toronto lawyer Ernst Ashurov was born with limited vision, and an eye injury in childhood left him almost completely blind; yet he runs a criminal and general litigation practice. In the first few years of his career, he was able to read print using extreme magnification glasses; but by 2006 he could no longer read. These days, he relies on two key software products to work with documents and to conduct internet research. Since software has its limitations, he has also developed a personalized set of strategies for dealing with the specific demands of court attendance, and for working with . . . [more]

There is tension afoot between the UK government and representatives of the country’s lawyers, over draft legislation designed to stem the tide of applications for judicial review of government decisions.

Judicial review is a legal proceeding in which government decisions can be challenged, not on the ground of what the decision is, but because of a flaw in the process by which the decision was made.

Some of the UK’s most senior judges have added their voices to criticisms of the bill.

The government contends many j.r. applications are ill-founded, expensive for the tax payer, and cause delay.

The draft . . . [more]

I would have loved to have been in the audience when Harry Surden spoke at an afternoon CodeX Speaker Series event a few weeks ago at Stanford Law School. But, you know, California is way over there and I’m way over here. So, although I could not actually attend I was prompted to go back and read his recent paper, “Machine Learning and Law.” And, thanks to the folks at Codex, it turns out the session I missed was recorded and is also now available for viewing.  . . . [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. National Magazine Blog  2. Thoughtful Legal Management 3. University of Alberta Faculty Law Blog  4. Off the Shelf  5. All About Information

National Magazine Blog
Learning to work with others

A lawyer’s “eruption of irritation” at a letter from a paralegal working for opposing counsel who cited case law . . . [more]

My last blog highlighted a crisis in international law relating to peace and security. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the newest instrument in the peace and security toolbox. Twelve years ago I opened its doors as head of the ICC Advance Team and it’s now 10 years ago since I left the Court. There can be no doubt that it is also part the crisis.

The idea itself is still vulnerable: that peace and security will be more likely and lasting with the knowledge that you will be punished if you commit or actively support atrocities crime (the preventative . . . [more]

Summaries of selected recent cases are provided each week to Slaw by Maritime Law Book. Every Sunday we present a precis of the latest summaries, a fuller version of which can be found on MLB-Slaw Selected Case Summaries at cases.slaw.ca.

This week’s summaries concern:
Criminal Law

R. v. Steele (J.M.) 2014 SCC 61
Criminal Law
Summary: The accused was convicted of robbery. The Crown applied for remand of the accused for an assessment under s. 752.1 of the Criminal Code to be used as evidence in support of an application by the Crown to have the accused declared . . . [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.

Tarr Estate v. Tarr, 2014 BCCA 315

1. CASE SUMMARY

Areas of Law: Estate Law; Survivor Pension Benefits; Waiver

~The waiver or conveyance of a survivorship interest in pension benefits must be explicit and leave no doubt as to what is being relinquished~

BACKGROUND: The Appellant, Colleen Tarr, was married to Michael Tarr for 38 years before the two separated in July 2002. Around the same time, Mr. Tarr . . . [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.

FAILLITE ET INSOLVABILITÉ : Un avis de cotisation constituant une procédure en vue du recouvrement d’une réclamation prouvable, il n’aura pas les effets juridiques que lui confère la Loi de l’impôt sur le revenu, à moins que les autorités fiscales n’obtiennent du tribunal la levée de la suspension des procédures. . . . [more]

Verbs like “heave” or “shove,” “endure” or “conquer”?

Nope. More like “be” and “do” and “let.”

I chanced on the word “gat” recently. Not the gun slang, though; rather, a past tense of “get.” It came in a passage from the King James version of Ecclesiastes (the “there is no new thing under the sun” book; a short, well-written, skeptical blast worth reading in full):

2:8 I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as

It was some time ago, while reading a few articles and columns offering opinions and insights into the legal and professional information publishing industry, that I perceived the extent to which the bonds between the employee and company appear, unfortunately, to have weakened.

Now just to put that into context, personally and subjectively, I believe that corporate loyalty can be much over-rated and more often than not is encouraged as a means by which to exploit workers. I’m much happier with the idea of a contractual relationship of obviously unequal parties in which each owes the other legal and . . . [more]

Well-known University of Toronto law professor Kent Roach has reacted to this week’s two terrorist attacks in St-Jean and Ottawa with a post about The Canadian Terrorist Attacks and Canadian Counter-Terrorism Law on the US-based Just Security website.

Roach’s text examines some of the existing powers in the Criminal Code that can be used against suspected terrorists, and discusses the issues surrounding proposed amendments that would expand powers of Canadian intelligence services.

Roach is the author of The 9/11 Effect: Comparative Counter Terrorism Law (Cambridge University Press, 2011).

He served as research director for the commission of inquiry into the . . . [more]