The current Law Society model for licensing legal professionals in Canada provides all lawyers with a blanket license to practice in any area of law. Virtually every other major profession that exists today employs specialized licensing and certification in order to ensure the competency of its practitioners in an increasingly complex world. The current system used by the legal profession in Canada is outdated and in need of significant reform in order to protect clients and set minimum competency requirements.

The Law Society needs to reform the current licensing model in favor of one where lawyers are required to earn . . . [more]

Professional liability claims can take the wind out of the sails of anyone’s legal career, but can be especially demoralizing for a new lawyer. Your best chance at avoiding claims is to develop great working habits right from the start. The December 2012 issue of LAWPRO Magazine proposed dozens of New Years’ resolutions for lawyers in every area of practice. We’ve reproduced a few excerpts relevant to newly-called lawyers here.

There are resolutions to avoid claims in particular areas of law (litigation, corporate/commercial, real estate, family law, wills/estates and crimina) as well as resolutions to run an efficient and . . . [more]

The annual countdown is on at law firm and other legal libraries where staff are preparing for summer law students to arrive. In many organizations the first week of May brings a bevy of enthusiastic faces who will need legal research training and an orientation to ‘research in the real world’. This year there is something new happening in Alberta to help with that real world transition.

The University of Calgary Law Library is the host of the Cenovus Continuing Legal Education: Research in the Real World. This summer law student specific, one-day legal research program is intended . . . [more]

In an earlier post, I described how Ontario’s courts drastically need to be modernized.

A new initiative went online last week at www.ontariocourtdates.ca. Members of the public can now access the site to obtain daily court lists of the Superior Court of Justice or the Ontario Court of Justice throughout the province. The information is presented in aggregate form.

Although this is a great first step, it is not a significant one. The Toronto Lawyers Association has been providing very similar information for Toronto court lists on its website for many years. All that this new information does . . . [more]

A few months ago, I wrote about the general direction in which Bill No. 28, Quebec’s proposed new Code of Civil Procedure, was heading. The Code’s reform aimed at simplifying Quebec procedure and expediting matters before the courts, as well as encouraging out of court settlements and alternative dispute resolution.

The New Code has since been adopted and will govern proceedings in Quebec beginning in the Fall of 2015. It will bring about major changes to Quebec civil practice, such as the ones I highlight below.

Experts :

One of the most significant changes is to narrow the scope of . . . [more]

Introduction

I was once told that the two most important decisions individuals will make in their lifetime are their choices of career and spouse. It has also been said that choice of career is the single most important ethical decision an individual will ever make. After all, becoming a part of a profession entails adhering to certain professional standards and subjecting yourself to certain situations. But regardless of what profession a person chooses to pursue, I argue that one should be able to seek advice from a spouse when facing an ethical dilemma, without being reprimanded.

The Law Society of . . . [more]

Across Canada, municipalities run Blue Box programs to collect recyclable materials and to divert them from landfill. The Blue Box is a popular and important environmental initiative, but Blue Box systems have become surprisingly expensive. Early hopes were that Blue Box programs could be funded by selling the recaptured material, but that turns out to cover perhaps a third of the cost. Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO) reported verified net Blue Box costs of about $237 million for 2012 in Ontario alone, after all revenue but before prior year adjustments.

So, who should pay that $237 million? Municipalities and their taxpayers? . . . [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

Filter Your Gmail Messages With Personalized Custom Email Addresses
Dan Pinnington

Most people don’t realize GmailIconthat you can use multiple address variations of your basic “yourname@gmail.com” Gmail address. Gmail lets you put a plus (“+”) sign and any combination of words or numbers after your name. For example, yourname@gmail.com can become yourname+contests@gmail.com . . .

Research

Consider a US Address
Shaunna Mireau

I really want to try Google Glass. . . . [more]

In a rather strange case, the plaintiff alleged that the defendants sold the plaintiff a commercial property that was haunted. The plaintiff alleged that this constituted a latent defect in the property which the defendants knew about and concealed from the plaintiff.

The plaintiff’s lawsuit was based solely on a newspaper article in which a director of one of the defendants was quoted as saying that the property in question was haunted.

Oddly, the plaintiff’s representative testified that he had never seen a ghost, did not believe there was a ghost and that all conversations about the property being haunted . . . [more]

On April 10 UK-based Acritas legal market research company released its Canadian Law Firm Brand Index 2014. The index was derived from impressions of large corporate clients:

The Canadian Law Firm Brand Index 2014 was compiled from the unprompted responses of 191 senior general counsel in Canadian organizations with revenues over $50M who, as part of Sharplegal 2013 research, were asked about their awareness of and favorability towards law firms; their consideration of firms for top-level litigation and major M&A; as well as their use of firms for high value and inbound work. A further 77 senior in-house counsel

One-third of the more than 24,000 lawyers in private practice in Ontario are sole practitioners. as a solo, it’s great to have the freedom that comes with being your own boss, but you also have full responsibility for all aspects of the operation of your law practice. Do you have what it takes to be a sole practitioner? This self-assessment quiz will help answer that question.

The chart helps identify your strengths and weaknesses and gives you a better idea of whether you’re cut out for solo or small firm practice. . . . [more]

The greatest criminal defence attorneys may best protect and serve their clients by taking an offensive approach to mounting a client’s defence. The point at which that intersects with the ethics of the profession is difficult to determine. Comparing the work of defence attorneys to football coaches provides interesting insights into the mechanics of the profession. In defending a client, should a lawyer run a play that strengthens their defensive line or mount an aggressive offence?

Does A Good Defence Start with a Great Coach?

A good lawyer gives advice, but at what point does that advice become training? Ethically, . . . [more]