On September 28th 2012, the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) terminated, as of December 31st, funding of the Ontario Lawyers Assistance Program (OLAP), an arm’s length/Chinese-walled service provider for 35 years to LSUC members suffering from alcoholism, drug addiction, depression, financial stresses, marital breakdown, stress, burn-out and a myriad of other personal and professional issues that impact a lawyer’s ability to properly practise law and serve one’s clients. Their replacing OLAP’s services with Homewood Human Solutions (Homewood) ought to be discomfiting to all members of our profession and the public. Why?
Because . . . [more]
Canadians are not only in the middle of the holiday season, attending social gatherings and exchanging greetings and gifts, but also in the middle of the fundraising season supporting our local food banks and children’s charities. Today is the last day for the 2012 Toronto Law Firm Daily Bread Food Bank Challenge. This friendly competition between law firms is in its 10th year organized by Blake, Cassels & Graydon, LLP.
Last year, 35 law firms participated and raised more than $245,000 in cash and food donations. In total, the Law Firm Challenge has raised more than $1.5 million for . . . [more]
No the Omni design has not been brought back for a new bus.
As disturbing as that may sound, the continuing debate over the “omnibus” has creepy characteristics itself.
In fairly recent times the Omnibus has been the subject of a few posts here at Slaw, The Unreasonable and Transgressive Nature of Omnibus Bills (Michael Posluns, June 24, 2011) , & Library of Parliament Paper on Omnibus Bills back in November by Michel-Adrien Sheppard. and myself when the storm of Bill-38 was occurring. Well I’m back with an update. In recent years all of us in Canada have been riding . . . [more]
Sherry’s desk is covered with stacks of paper. Her in-tray is overflowing. She has a pile of filing that she can’t seem to get around to giving to her assistant. John next door is fighting fires on his files again. He is delivering a CLE next week and hasn’t even prepared the outline yet. He’s already told his wife that he is going to be in the office again all weekend working on the darned presentation.
Does any of this sound familiar? It does to me, I have been in both Sherry and John’s shoes, but these days I keep . . . [more]
The University of Minnesota Lion Project has been studying lions in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park for forty-five years. They’ve now decided to learn about the behaviour of the other species in the park. To do this they’ve set up 225 “camera traps” throughout the park, primed to grab snapshots when anything warmer than the surrounding environment triggers the sensors.
As you might imagine, the cameras that survive ants, elephants, hyenas and rain result in a lot of photographs. Because they’re scientists, the lion project people want to classify the photos — no science without counting. But no counting without identification, . . . [more]
Law students are in the midst of exams and, in law school, exams are often open-book. In theory, open-book exams allow students to refer to their thoughtfully-prepared outlines, summaries, CANs—whatever the local term for their study aids—during the exam. In reality, during what is often a stressful time, many students also appreciate the comfort of their coursebooks, required texts, and, for extra reassurance, recommended texts often borrowed from the library.
Those who studied law might remember arriving early at the library reserve desk to check out one of a few copies of a useful recommended text in the days leading . . . [more]
and admissible evidence that some members of the bench read Slaw.
Livent. Inc. (Special Receiver) v. Deloitte & Touche, 2012 ONSC 7007 at para. 149.
I had almost nothing to do with this. . . . [more]
Anyone interested in medical malpractice litigation and the quagmire that is the current state of the Supreme Court of Canada’s jurisprudence on factual causation in negligence should listen to the the webcast of the appeal argument in Ediger v. Johnston, SCC case no. 34408, on appeal from 2011 BCCA 253 reversing 2009 BCSC 386. You should glance at the parties’ factums which are available on the SCC’s website or, at the miminum (if you’ve sufficient background) read the Registrar’s summary. If you don’t, you might get the wrong impression that the case is about only whether . . . [more]
This is the time of year when different people and organizations compile their top ten events/stories of the year about to end or list their top ten issues to watch/predictions for the year to come.
The following top ten list caught my attention today. I saw it on a feed of stories sent out by Amnesty International.
The London-based Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) has published its Top 10 List of Business and Human Rights Issues for 2013:
. . . [more]“Just 18 months after the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, significant progress has
I straddle a number of very different work environments every day all of which give me a very different perspective on many things. Some readers find this refreshing, others find it annoying or threatening.
As a writer hanging out with many different types of writers, discussions often crop up about getting paid for services rendered. Of concern to many writers is that more and more writers are willing to write for free, which drives down the value of writing – which in turn, drives down the already low living standard for most writers.
Harlan Ellison, well-known for his rants on . . . [more]
This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada | Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce au gouvernement du Canada
