Legal procedures are often slow. “The slow wheels of justice,” as the saying goes. Within the immigration context, backlogs, delays, and lengthy processing take this saying to another level. Applications may take years. Families suffer from lengthy periods of separation while Visa Offices (some more than others) provide scant insight into their workflow. During the recent “modernization”, IRCC has added many online tools to address this perennial issue, including status bars, portals, and various means of communication. In certain situations, Officers are supposed to adhere to standard processing times.

For clients (or counsel) who reach a high level of frustration, . . . [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 la Cour supérieure n’a pas erré en rejetant l’argument de la préclusion découlant d’une question déjà tranchée; la question essentielle dont étaient saisies les 2 juges de paix magistrats, soit l’interprétation de l’article 17 du Règlement sur l’immatriculation des véhicules routiers, était une . . . [more]

In legal as in all service-based industries, client feedback can be a powerful tool that shapes a firm’s reputation and play a significant role in the firm’s success. We often look at feedback solely from a client perspective and how we can improve that client’s experience; we may be missing out on trends that our clients share. When we look at feedback at a macro level, there is information we can take away for prospects, management, competition, and clients.

For prospects:

Client feedback reflects a law firm’s general performance. Positive testimonials and reviews contribute significantly to building credibility, and potential . . . [more]

The Hague Convention on the Abolition of All Forms of Legalization (known as the Apostille Convention) is now in force in Canada. Here is a link to the text of the Convention.

The practical result is that to use Canadian public documents (including confirmation of notarial status and signatures) in about 120 foreign countries, one will not have to go through the two-step process of getting the document authenticated by the province (and/or the federal government) and then ‘legalized’ by the consulate (or embassy) of the country of destination. Here is a list of the countries that are parties . . . [more]

Many people in the legal sector are working toward making the legal profession, and society as a whole, more equitable, which has led to calls to increase diversity in the legal profession. Employers and educators have tried to achieve more impartiality by integrating quantitative metrics, such as LSAT scores, grades, and litigation statistics, into their selection processes. This is better than selecting candidates based primarily on criteria like family legacy, but these processes still aren’t perfect. The selection of athletes a a good comparison. Elite athletes are a group of people with well-defined and generally available statistics going back to . . . [more]

There are a number of resources that provide the text of international arbitration cases. If you do not have access to any of the paid resources, free resources include:

• United Nations Commission On International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) CLOUT database. This was established “​​to collect and disseminate information on court decisions and arbitral awards relating to UNCITRAL texts”. Each case in CLOUT includes a short summary.
• Unilex. This is a “database of international case law and bibliography on the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts and on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods

. . . [more]

“Cash rules everything around me, C.R.E.A.M. Get the money. Dollar, dollar bill, y’all” – Wu-Tang Clan

While it gets skewed on tv, mediation involves the mediator having no interest in any particular outcome of a dispute. That scene in Friends where Ross “mediates” a quarrel between Monica and Chandler to keep them on track to move in together so that he can live with Rachel isn’t true mediation. A mediator would have nothing to gain whether Monica and Chandler live together or not. In real life, sometimes someone with a specific outcome interest takes on what may present as a . . . [more]

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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) : La requête présentée par l’avocate du Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales, laquelle souhaite intervenir dans la requête des appelants pour permission de présenter une preuve nouvelle et d’interroger un délateur, est rejetée; cette intervention projetée, qui n’a rien de l’intervention amicale, n’est pas possible dans une . . . [more]

More than a year after the public release of ChatGPT, excitement continues to build about the use of generative AI in the delivery of legal services. Notes of caution persist, too, as examples of lawyers using AI badly continue to trickle out (see, e.g. here and here). Although the full impacts of generative AI on the work of lawyers are yet to be seen, there is clearly an immediate need to discuss the responsible and ethical use of AI by legal professionals. Canadian lawyers have a general duty of technological competence. In previous Slaw columns, I’ve discussed two ways . . . [more]

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.

You Be the Judge Author: Norm Douglas Publisher: Irwin Law Inc. Imprint: Irwin Law Publication Date: December 1, 2023 ISBN: Print (Paperback): 9781552216903 ISBN: Digital (PDF): 9781552216910 Page count: 248 pages; 5½” x 8½” Introduction Have you ever wanted to be a judge? Here’s your chance. Sit on the dais beside criminal . . . [more]

Alex said with a sigh, “January is like Groundhog Day with billable hours reset to zero, and it all starts over.” This wasn’t the first time I had heard this said. For many lawyers, the New Year comes with a sense of fatigue as the billable hour cycle starts anew. They have a point. The billing cycle is starting again, and the starting point is zero. And yet, how we think about the world defines our experience. If you are interested in coaching yourself through this malaise, read on. Start with a reframe. “The billable hours may reset, but your . . . [more]