An article in today’s Globe and Mail reports on a judgment by Ontario Superior Court justice D. M. Brown in which he severely criticizes the high cost of access to the courts in Canada: “Ontario courts ‘only open to the rich,’ judge warns,” by James Bradshaw.

The particular decision, York University v. Michael Markicevic, 2013 ONSC 4311, involves a request by one defendant to discharge a certificate of pending litigation registered against her real property and is part of a larger action by York against Markicevic and others concerning their alleged misuse of university resources. Let . . . [more]

Each Wednesday we tell you which three English-language cases and which French-language case have been the most viewed on CanLII and we give you a small sense of what the cases are about.

For the week of June 25 to July 2:

1. R. v. Lippa 2013 ONSC 4424
   

   [1] Does a judicial officer exceed his or her jurisdiction in directing where legal professionals will sit in the courtroom, and the order in which cases will be called? These are the issues raised on this application by the applicants, a licensed paralegal and her firm.

2. Sable Offshore Energy Inc. v. Ameron

. . . [more]

Like excuses for not doing homework every adjudicator has seen a variety of requests for a postponement or adjournment of a hearing. In a recent case in the U.S., the lawyer for the accused in a criminal trial asked for an adjournment to attend an Ernest Hemingway lookalike contest. In denying the request, the judge wrote:

Between a murder-for-hire trial and an annual look-alike contest, surely Hemingway, a perfervid admirer of “grace under pressure,” would choose the trial.

At his most robust, Hemingway exemplified the intrepid defense lawyer:

He works like hell, and through it. . . . He

. . . [more]

Summer has finally arrived. The on purpose plantings have finally overtaken the weeds and the chickens are big enough that they don’t have to be chased indoors at night. These are signs that it is past time to execute the big summer project.

The big summer project this year is adding to the firm archives. Part of the library portfolio at my firm is collecting, describing, and housing the firm archives. We had a consultant work up a plan for archival description, set up a holdings list, and start the archives collection a couple of years ago. We have a . . . [more]

Technology is often cited as the game-changing factor in the future of the legal profession. There’s an endless parade of new devices, plus software is being developed that can do some of the work lawyers used to do. Legal entrepreneurs harness the power of the cloud to power new business models.

What it’s doing to the legal profession is just one side of the equation. For clients – actual and potential – rapidly changing technology can both expand their reach to consumers, and be a legal minefield.

People who conduct any part of their business over the internet, for example, . . . [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

Devour.com Will Help You Find the Gems on YouTube
Dan Pinnington

Any way you slice it, there is a lot of junk on YouTube. And 72 hours of new junk is uploaded every minute of every day. It would take you 6,400 years to watch all the videos on YouTube. Doubt you have time for that. Devour.com comes to your rescue. . . .

Research

Dates
Shaunna Mireau

Every . . . [more]

Big data is big news these days. Whether its consumer and user data from Google, Amazon, and Walmart, or the government’s big-data grab of phone and email records from the companies we trust, like Google and Version, in the latest US, as well as Canadian as it turns out, governments invasion of civil liberties in a war on terror threatening to take citizen’s data points hostage.

There is much to be concerned about with big data, from profiling to privacy issues. When it comes to where I work, in the space of scholarly communication, I can see that my . . . [more]

In Ontario, parties are required to disclose to the opposing side every document in their power, possession or control that is relevant to the lawsuit. Lawyers are required to explain to the client the necessity of making full disclosure and must sign a certificate to that extent.

The purpose of this disclosure was discussed in a recent decision. In short, each party is entitled to know what documents exist for potential use at trial. The decision also highlights what is not required, namely a party is not required to explain how or where relevant documents were found, or explain . . . [more]

Today is Canada Day, so there won’t be regular posting on Slaw. Instead, we’ll be outside (we hope) celebrating our country’s 146th birthday. Oh, and in Quebec there’ll be a lot of déménagement going on, because it’s moving day in that province, a traditional, rather than a legal event, when a too large number of leases terminate and moving companies experience a bonanza.

Thanks, by the way, to Google for the tip of the chapeau to our Parliament building:

Update: I should have mentioned that the link takes you to their “street view” of the inside of the Parliament. . . . [more]

Work-life balance is easy for most young lawyers. Or perhaps just easier, as compared to older associates and partners. Despite the greater flexibility and control that comes with seniority in law, most people at this age also have significant family and parenting responsibilities that the majority of young lawyers do not.

It’s probably disconcerting for young lawyers to hear that the whirlwind of work they currently experience will only get more complicated with the introduction of children. The current assumption is that this becomes more bearable with the assistance of a supportive partner. But there are some who suggest this . . . [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.

LACEY V. WEYERHAEUSER COMPANY LIMITED, 2013 BCCA 252

1. CASE SUMMARY

Areas of Law: Employment Law; Pensions; Vested Rights

~Health benefits in pension program held to be vested contractual entitlement of retirees which could not be changed unilaterally by employer~

Discussion: Reductions in pension benefits may seem a significant source of savings for many companies, but altering benefits paid to retired employees requires care in determining the nature of . . . [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: Mandamus / Standing / Mandatory drug and alcohol testing / Hearsay / Strip search: