Over one year ago, Canada Post and its largest union, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), were involved in a disruptive labour dispute that put employees out of work, disrupted the flow of mail and lost Canada Post money (brief background here). In an effort to stop the bleeding, the Conservative Government passed back-to-work legislation that provided for set wage increases and mandatory interest arbitration to impose a new collective agreement – with an arbitrator appointed by the Federal Government (unless the parties settled). Some months later, the Government appointed Colter Osborne, a well-respected former Ontario judge to . . . [more]

Legal research is often the bane of a criminal lawyers’ existence. Whenever I glance at the mountain of paperwork that forms the spine of a civil case I give a reassuring nod of my head secure in my early career decision to abandon corporate commercial litigation for the more fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants lifestyle of a criminal barrister.

And yet, arriving in court without a meticulously researched legal position is less fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants and more akin to showing up before the bench without any trousers at all.

Sentencing law in particular raises a unique challenge for the busy criminal practitioner. While textbooks can provide . . . [more]

ABA Decision Not to Accredit Foreign Law Schools Means Canadian Law Schools and Students are Winners. . . For Now

Last week the ABA`s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar decided not to get into the business of accrediting foreign law schools. The vote was unanimous. However, sounding somewhat like the Federation of Law Societies of Canada in its report on accrediting the Common Law Degree, the Governing Council of the section acknowledged that it needs to establish sandards and procedures for licensing foreign lawyers who want to practice law in the United States.

ABA accreditation . . . [more]

One of the many highlights for me at last month’s American Association of Law Libraries 2012 Conference was the opportunity to meet Priya Rai of the National Law University in Delhi and to observe her presentation, Access to Legal Information in the Digital Age: A Comparative Study of Electronic Commercial Databases and Public Domain Resources in Law.

Ms Rai is an accomplished law librarian and legal research instructor trained in law. One of her accomplishments is participation in the Information Institute of India Project. She attended and presented at AALL 2012 as the recipient of the FCIL Schaffer Grant . . . [more]

Privacy breaches are often caused by simple things that should be easy to avoid. Take, for instance, the Elections Ontario lost USB keys. The Ontario Privacy Commissioner’s recent news release points to “systemic failures“, and failure to build privacy into their routine information management practices. The details point to a series of simple failures, including failure to follow a policy that required encryption, a lack of understanding of front line staff of how to encrypt or what that meant, and a continuation of the same practices after the loss. The Commissioner recomended that Elections Ontario retain a third . . . [more]

As everyone in Canada will know, the Canadian women’s soccer team lost to the US team in a way that has excited some comment, first of all by a couple of star members of the Canadian team who were highly critical of a decision made by the Norwegian referee. FIFA — Fédération Internationale de Football Association — the governing body of football let it be known that it will examine the players’ comments with an eye to possible suspensions. Today, however, we learn that no actions will be taken by FIFA until after the game in which Canada competes with . . . [more]

INTRODUCTION 

There are many similarities between Canadian and American trade-mark practice, such as the overall steps in the application process. However, sometimes Canadian lawyers and clients make erroneous assumptions about US trade-mark laws that can have a significant impact on a trade-mark portfolio. Likewise, some US lawyers and clients incorrectly assume more similarity between US and Canadian laws than actually exists. This article gives an overview of some of the similarities and differences between Canadian and US trade-mark practice so brand owners can structure their affairs accordingly when managing a cross-border trade-mark portfolio.

SOME SIMILARITIES

1. “First to File” 

In . . . [more]

Fact, Fiction, and Case Citations

The time is approaching for work to begin on the new edition of the Canadian Guide to Legal Citation. The next edition could prove to be a breakthrough edition if the editors choose to end the fiction that print law reports still matter in legal research.

Just as the current edition took a major step forward by elimination of the heretofore sacrosanct, but totally useless period, in legal citation, the editors of the Guide to Canadian Legal Research are able to introduce reality into the practice of citing court decisions by a few simple . . . [more]

Like anyone who owns property along with a bank, I am always interested in interest rates.

Like anyone who would like to retire someday, I am always interested in interest rates.

Whether your primary concern with interest rates is from the borrowing or saving side of the equation, you may be interested in a Bank of Canada News Release about the publication schedule of interest rate announcements from Canada’s central bank.

Over the past several years, the Bank has streamlined its production processes for the Monetary Policy Report and gradually reduced the interval between the release of the rate decision

Out of touch in Hawaii

It was late October, 1992, and I was in Honolulu. I had been fortunate enough that year to have had the means to attend the annual meeting of Westpac, the western Pacific chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries. And so, on Saturday, October 24, I was at one of the social events of the conference, a luau, when I heard the news that the Toronto Blue Jays had won the World Series. It was easy to get that news, because several of the attendees had brought radios with them to the . . . [more]

[7] Recovery in negligence presupposes a relationship between the plaintiff and defendant based on the existence of a duty of care — a defendant who is at fault and a plaintiff who has been injured by that fault. If the defendant breaches this duty and thereby causes injury to the plaintiff, the law “corrects” the deficiency in the relationship by requiring the defendant to compensate the plaintiff for the injury suffered. This basis for recovery, sometimes referred to as “corrective justice”, assigns liability when the plaintiff and defendant are linked in a correlative relationship of doer and sufferer of the

safely, on Mars – the Mars Rover named “Curiosity”, that is – even if the Americans can’t spell.

Here’s explanations of how it was to work. It did.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/24364591/highlight/281462

http://www.space.com/16503-photos-mars-science-laboratory-curiosity-landing-guide.html

And, here’s a video stream of a collection of very relieved, very happy, people in blue shirts.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/24512027/highlight/282919

I doubt the missing “u” made a difference; however, those who once drove British Leyland vehicles may remember the crack about the best British workmanship going into the parts that fall off.

Fortunately, nothing fell off here.

  . . . [more]