(a vent about the integrity of arbitration confidentiality)

In the world of private arbitration, the courts serve an important role. They represent a check and balance, intended to keep what occurs in the shadow of the law honest. If a participant feels that an arbitral outcome is offside, they can ask a judge to set the award aside.

With this also comes concerns of abuse by participants engaged in the arbitration process. No one likes to be on the losing side of an adversarial proceeding. If the purpose of arbitration is to bring about closure, the notion of appeal rights . . . [more]

The hype around generative AI and legal research continues, and it seems everyone has an opinion. There are concerns about use of AI in practice, but there is less clarity about how to approach finding sustainable solutions. It is however apparent that we need to consider the risks associated with using these systems, especially those that were not designed for certain uses. This is particularly important because general purpose tools like ChatGPT are likely to continue to be developed, and, given the complexity of navigating legal information, if they can be used with law they will be.

The first solution . . . [more]

Contracts are integral to how institutions operate – from government, to banks, to non-profits, to commercial markets, and beyond. However, the past few years have rocked our understanding of how we work with contracts. The effects of pandemic disruptions, rising prices, and the proliferation of artificial intelligence are just some of the system-wide changes that have filtered down into the fundamentals of contracting.

Whether your role involves drafting, negotiating, enforcing, or litigating contracts, you need to be up to date on how contract law is changing today.

Make sure you’re prepared with , running December 6, 2023. Fully updated for . . . [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.

PÉNAL (DROIT) : Le juge de première instance a erré en permettant que soient introduites en preuve, par l’intermédiaire de déclarations sous serment des victimes d’une fraude massive, des déclarations imputées à des accusés portant sur des faits non secondaires puisqu’il s’agissait d’éléments importants de la preuve incriminante, lesquels auraient . . . [more]

Canada has one of the world’s better justice systems, according to the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index. We are ranked 12th out of 140 world countries by the WJP. Delay, however, is a major Achilles’ Heel. (1)  

• When it comes to providing timely justice in civil matters, Canada ranks only 56th worldwide according to the WJP Index. We received a failing grade of 47% for this, the lowest among 44 sub-factor scores for Canada. In Ontario, for example, the average civil trial occurs over five years after the Statement of Claim was delivered. 
• Some administrative tribunals provide

Periodically on Thursdays, we present a significant excerpt, usually from a recently published book or journal article. In every case the proper permissions have been obtained. If you are a publisher who would like to participate in this feature, please let us know via the site’s contact form.

DRAFTING, INTERPRETING, AND APPLYING LEGISLATION

Authors: John Mark Keyes; Wendy Gordon
Editor: Gregory Tardi
Publisher: Irwin Law Inc.
Imprint: Irwin Law
Series: Understanding Canada
Publication Date: September 1, 2023
EAN: 9781552216811
Page count: 218 pages; 6″ x 9″

Excerpt: “How Is Legislation Understood and Applied?” [Footnotes omitted]

Since courts . . . [more]

Barely six months after an explosive Goldman Sachs report predicted massive economic and employment upheaval from large language models and generative AI, the Chief Information Officer of that same company reports that his company has no actual generative AI use cases in production. Both claims, much like the title of this article, are true, false, misleading and helpful all at once. ChatGPT, Dall-E, MidJourney and the slew of open source models that followed have undoubtedly and irrevocably changed our expectations of what we can achieve through technology, meanwhile our collective ability to change behaviours has both reinforced and belied . . . [more]

Revised with comments on 22/10/2023.

The 10^th edition of the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (the McGill Guide) was published in the summer of 2023. Having been six years since the 9^th edition was published, the most recent edition has made necessary revisions that improve the accessibility and inclusivity of sources. Anecdotally, the revision that seems to have garnered notable attention is Jurisprudence Rule 3.1: Hierarchy of sources. There are several changes worthy of discussion in the 10^th edition, but the focus of this post is to explain the new hierarchy of sources for jurisprudence . . . [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.

PÉNAL (DROIT) : L’appel d’une déclaration de culpabilité sous le chef d’accusation de fraude est rejeté; la correspondance et les autres documents qui contextualisent la dégradation des relations entre les associés ne constituent ni une preuve par ouï-dire ni une preuve de mauvais caractère.

Intitulé : Grenon c. R., 2023 . . . [more]

This note provides some suggestions for lawyers taking family law cases to arbitration, offered from my perspective as a family law arbitrator.

The theme that runs throughout this article is straightforward. Your primary object in arbitration is to get the best possible outcome for your client, just as it is in litigation, and your chances of getting that outcome are maximized when you make it as easy as possible for me to understand your client’s evidence and comprehend your argument.

I. A peek behind the curtain

Before getting into the nuts and bolts, I think it might help to provide . . . [more]

As an original member of Ontario’s Condominium Authority Tribunal (CAT), I am convinced there is not a cat pun I have yet to encounter. I could be wrong but feel as though I have heard them all.

From the Zoom Filter to the Litterbox

With a spectrum of inspiration ranging from wholesome Dr. Seuss to the controversial Fritz the Cat, there have been good puns and bad. Clean and dirty. Supportive and insulting. Some have been witty. Some have made me groan. Too many have referenced nine lives. Not enough have referenced Garfield. I think my favourite involves someone . . . [more]