We all know we have an access to justice problem in this country. Actually doing something about it is more of a challenge.

In 1999, Justice Rosalie Abella – then a Justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario – gave a speech which should be required reading for every lawyer, every judge, every ministry of justice official, every law professor and every law student; in short, for everyone involved in whatever way in the legal profession. Clients don’t need to read the speech because they experience its bitter truths.

Sadly, Justice Abella’s speech is timeless. The only thing that . . . [more]

Mindy Kaling recently spoke at Harvard Law School’s 2014 Class Day ceremony, and the result was humorous, entertaining, and even insightful.

She started with what was probably a staged misunderstanding,

Graduates, parents, faculty, this is really such a remarkable day—obviously for you, but also for me, because after spending a life obsessing over true crime, the impossible happened: I was asked to speak at the Harvard Law commencement and accept an honorary legal degree. Yes, isn’t that the American dream? Me, Mindy Kaling—

[Kaling is interrupted, and informed that she was misinformed.]

OK, um, so apparently there was a little

Roberts v. E. Sands & Associates Inc., 2014 BCCA 122

1. CASE SUMMARY

Areas of Law: Procedural law; Limitation periods; Discoverability

~ A limitation period in the context of s. 140 of the Securities Act begins to run when the claimant knows the material facts giving rise to a cause of action, and the claimant must be diligent in discovering those facts~

Background: This was an appeal from an order upholding a decision by the Respondent, E. Sands & Associates Inc., to approve proofs of claim that the Appellant, Mr. Roberts, says were barred by a limitation period. The Appellant . . . [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 / Evidence / Insurance / Family Law / Civil Rights / Guardianship / Civil Rights

Chaque semaine, nous vous présentons un résumé d’une décision d’un tribunal québécois qui nous est fourni par la Société québécoise d’information juridique (SOQUIJ) et ayant un intérêt pancanadien. SOQUIJ relève du ministre de la Justice du Québec, et elle analyse, organise, enrichit et diffuse le droit au Québec.

Every week we present a summary of a decision by a Québec court provided to us by SOQUIJ and selected 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.

RECOURS COLLECTIF  . . . [more]

Google’s new Video Quality Report tool allows you to compare video streaming capabilities between local ISPs.

By viewing this report, either at home or at work, you are able to see when the prime video streaming periods are. You can also see how your current streaming performance compares against other local ISPs competing for your business.

Here’s a screen capture from my report:

. . . [more]

I’ve banged on here before about the splendour of the unobstructed night sky and the need for all of us to gaze up into it at least once in our lives. I’m going to do it again today, but with a new visual argument to bolster my stance (head back, neck crooked, back braced, eyes wide open…). A mere century ago my opening line would have been nonsensical to most people — certainly to the great majority who didn’t live in London, New York, Paris or one of the other large cities: the sky was ever present after sundown, the . . . [more]

Downtown lawyers. In-­house lawyers. Offshore lawyers. And now, WalMart lawyers. Beyond what we do, we are also in no small part defined by where we do it. The recent launch of a firm offering services within several Ontario WalMart locations has crystallized this point, and set tongues a­-wagging in North American legal circles. Many see “WalMart law” as a certain harbinger of impending Armageddon for all that was once sacred and noble about the profession. Others welcome it as an overdue acknowledgement that times have already changed, and that lawyers must accept that “because that’s the way it’s always been . . . [more]

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) announced earlier this week at its annual conference in Winnipeg that the JurisClasseur Québec encyclopedia (LexisNexis Canada) is the winner of the 2014 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing.

It is available as a collection of loose-leafs and online on Quicklaw. There was a brief description of the encyclopedia on Slaw.ca back in December 2012.

The annual award honours a publisher that has demonstrated excellence by publishing a work, series, website or e-product that makes a significant contribution to legal research and scholarship.

The other nominees this year were:

• The Queen’s

Three delightful legal curios remind us that when neighbours fall out, balance and judgment cascade out the window – or are defenestrated.

Let’s start with Monsieur Proust – who was sensitive beyond sensitivity. Yet even a cork-lined writing room couldn’t shield him from shoes on wooden floors and thin walls, from the harp-playing wife of an American dentist, Marie Williams.

Gallimard published the recently found letters as an epistolary novel, Lettres à sa voisine, last year. The catalogue descibes it thus::

«C’est un vrai petit roman, fondé sur une surprise : la découverte de ces vingt-trois lettres

I’m pleased to welcome Yves Faguy as a new blogger to Slaw. Yves will be joining our Thursday group of writers.

You may recognize Yves as the Senior and online editor of National Magazine, where he has also been a noticeable part of their blogging team in recent years.

Prior to working as a journalist with the CBA, Yves co-founded a Montreal-based company, Nimonik Inc., an environment, health & safety (EHS) solutions provider. He is also currently a principal at Station C, a co-working space in Montreal’s Mile End.

And of course, you can also follow him on twitter: . . . [more]

I’m not sure it’s wise, for my first post on Slaw, to discuss a topic somewhat outside my comfort zone. But having just completed reading the 15,000-word cover story of the June issue of the Atlantic, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, I’m finding it hard to resist.

For those who haven’t read it, TNC’s essay is an introspective look at the United States’ “national economic plunder” of African-Americans. That plunder, as he describes it, was carried out over centuries. Worse yet – and this is the part that is most striking about the essay – much of it was rooted in deliberate . . . [more]