For those of you who have colleagues who do any estate or trust litigation in Toronto, the estate court has essentially been merged with the commercial list effective November 18. Unfortunately, no formal communication about this has been made and it does not appear that any such communication will be forthcoming.

The court must assume that everyone who should know, will know.

There are different forms, procedures and timelines to follow now. Also, all estate matters will now be heard at 330 University (and not 393 University). Adjust your schedules.

The executive committee of the OBA’s Trusts and Estates . . . [more]

Yesterday I had the pleasure of hearing about some initiatives of the Alberta Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General. One of the topics that Minister Denis addressed was the shortage of Justices in Alberta.

Our province has had incredible population growth, 36% since 1996, and we have a delays in our courts. Check out this Lawyers Weekly article from August 16, 2013 by Cristin Schmitz for coverage of the issue.

Minister Denis encouraged Albertans to write their Members of Parliament to ask for appointments of Court of Queen’s Bench Justices.

Alberta Justice & Solicitor General has a blog . . . [more]

I know it hasn’t been discussed much generally, but I think it’s an appropriate time for me to talk about Toronto Mayor Rob Ford on Slaw. I’m not breaking any news by saying that it has been reported that Rob Ford may have have a substance abuse problem. While John Stewart, Jay Leno, David Letterman and everyone else have made light of his somewhat public gaffes, any form of substance abuse issue (real or perceived) is sad.

I’m an employment and labour lawyer, so I am often required to look at substance abuse issues through the lense of human . . . [more]

There is endless discussion on how we go about preparing the lawyers of tomorrow to be well armed for the expectations their clients will have of them. Many law schools in all countries are trying varied approaches to achieve the best for their students, as well as for the working world with which they will have to engage. The downturn in the legal market, the decline in enrolments in the law schools, and the questioning of the value and relevance of an expensive law degree are issues faced by law firms, educators and regulators.

Now and then there is the . . . [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

How to Recognize Your Computer Is Infected With Malware
Dan Pinnington

Ideally you have one or more types of properly updated anti-malware software running on your computers and networks. And hopefully that software detects and prevents any malware infections from occurring. However, because anti-malware software may not detect an infection, watch for the symptoms that can indicate a computer is infected with malware. These include: . . .

Research . . . [more]

I recently attended two jointly run conferences, KM World 2013 and Taxonomy Boot Camp 2013. Enterprise Search Summit and SharePoint Symposium also run concurrently with the other two although I did not attend those.

The folks in the Knowledge Workers Toronto meetup group (which I co-organize) invited me to share some of my take-aways from the conferences. Below are my slides that put that summary together.

It was my first time at Taxonomy Boot Camp. I was impressed with the range of content (from introductory to advanced technical)–highly recommended if you are working in the area of taxonomy or . . . [more]

After the 2012 discovery of the remains of King Richard III under a city parking lot in Leicester, the 17th great nephew of the king managed to persuade a UK judge that he has “sufficient interest” in the question of where the remains should be re-interred, to seek judicial review of the discretionary decision of the Justice Secretary granting a license of exhumation under the Burial Act 1857.

The historical figure was killed at the battle of Bosworth Hill on 22 August 1485.

When the decision was made pursuant to the license to move the remains to Leicester Cathedral, the . . . [more]

On November 18, 2013, the Toronto Motions Scheduling Unit circulated an email with details of a new scheduling policy. The contents of that message are as follows:

Please make note of the following important new information for the Motions & Scheduling Unit:

• As of November 18, 2013, any date requisitioned for a motion will be vacated if the notice of motion is not filed with payment for the motion within 10 days after the motion has been scheduled.
• As of November 18, 2013, the motions scheduling office will only permit one consent adjournment and any further adjournment requests must be

. . . [more]

The foundational tenets of our legal system include justice and fairness. It is assumed is that we can access and assert our rights in law. Increasingly what we see in the courts is a rising number of people who represent themselves with measurably worse outcomes than if they had retained a lawyer, and many more who are just not seeking justice at all because of legal costs. For many years, the focus was improving access through legal aid and pro bono legal services. However, today that is only one small part of the answer to a very big problem. What . . . [more]

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. All About Information   2. The Court   3. Employment & Human Rights Law in Canada   4. First Reference    5. Official Clio Blog

Two years ago, almost to the day, Simon Fodden contacted us to write a bimonthly column on online dispute resolution (ODR). A dozen columns later, and after going through the most important current developments on the topic, we realized that we might have skimmed over the core question that should have preceded all of our previous entries: what is ODR?

Obviously, definitions of ODR are plentiful. However, as is often the case when everyone has his or her own idea of a word’s meaning, definitions are sometimes incompatible. That being said, as explained in a recent paper published by Julio . . . [more]

Paralegals serve an important function in our judicial system, providing cost-effective and professional services for simple and routine matters in litigation. Yet even these matters require a significant amount of advocacy, as paralegals in Ontario conduct complete trials and hearings in small claims court or administrative tribunals.

Paralegal students get some training in advocacy in their educational, and this education is now a mandatory prerequisite to licensing in Ontario. What they don’t usually get is the opportunity to hone and test their advocacy skills in a competition between schools.

Today we completed what was likely the first appellate moot competition  . . . [more]