At the beginning of each month, we tell you which three English-language cases and French-language cases have been the most viewed* on CanLII in the previous month and we give you a small sense of what the cases are about. La version française suit.

For this past month, the three most-consulted English-language decisions were:

1. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65 (CanLII)

[1] This appeal and its companion cases (see Bell Canada v. Canada (Attorney General), 2019 SCC 66 (CanLII)), provide this Court with an opportunity to re-examine its approach to judicial review of administrative . . . [more]

The Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan (FCAA) recently launched a new legal guided pathway and online dispute resolution platform to resolve consumer disputes. I had the privilege of working with the FCAA Consumer Protection Division team to develop the legal guided pathway portion of the project called Consumer Rights. This includes twelve dispute areas ranging from auctions to vehicle dealers.

The goal of the Consumer Rights pathway is to help consumers and businesses resolve issues in a fast, efficient and fair manner. It is an interactive pathway that takes the user through a series of questions and . . . [more]

This post was co-created by Kari Boyle and Matt Sims, with help from ChatGPT.

“How do we create value that is distinct from what machines can do faster and cheaper? The answers will shape our future.” Greg Satell, Note 1

The legal profession is experiencing a transformational shift, with AI and automation changing the way legal services are delivered. However, despite the advancements in technology, there are still essential aspects of the lawyer/client relationship that only a human lawyer can provide. In this article, we will discuss the unique value provided by lawyers and how lawyers can identify and build . . . [more]

Are you someone who uses e-mail filters to try and keep some semblance of organization in your inbox? Ever filtered too well and ended up missing an important e-mail because it skipped the inbox and got stuck in a sub-folder?

This tip will help you to filter your e-mails with confidence knowing that you will never miss an unread e-mail again. Let me introduce you to the “Unread” folder. This is a folder that you can create that can crawl all of your e-mail folders for unread e-mail messages and pull them into one common folder for you to view . . . [more]

Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Richard Wagner has been clear about wanting to bolster his Court’s public outreach. Since he assumed the top role, his Court has held highly-publicized sittings in Winnipeg and Québec City and begun issuing glossy “Year in Review” recaps. Another sign of this outreach is the 56 conferences the justices attended last year – more than the actual number of decisions they authored during the same period.

Given the Court generally grants leave to appeal in only 6-9% of leave applications, this emphasis on public outreach begs an important question about . . . [more]

One Sunday each month we bring you a summary from Supreme Advocacy LLP of recent decisions at the Supreme Court of Canada. Supreme Advocacy LLP offers a weekly electronic newsletter, Supreme Advocacy Letter, to which you may subscribe. It’s a summary of all Appeals, Oral Judgments and Leaves to Appeal granted from Feb. 16 – April 13, 2023 inclusive.

Oral Judgments

Criminal Law: Sexual Assault of a Child; Confessions
R. v. Chatillon, 2022 QCCA 1072; 2023 SCC 7 (40331)

There is a publication ban in this case. The judgment from the bench was by Chief Justice Wagner, . . . [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 Tribunal sursoit au prononcé de la peine et impose une probation de 2 ans à une mère ayant omis de fournir les choses nécessaires à l’existence de sa fille, qui est décédée des suites de brûlures n’ayant pas été soignées en temps opportun; les circonstances exceptionnelles . . . [more]

Each Friday, we share the latest job listings from Slaw Jobs, which features employment opportunities from across the country. Find out more about these positions by following the links below, or learn how you can use Slaw Jobs to gain valuable exposure for your job ads, while supporting the great Canadian legal commentary at Slaw.ca.

Current postings on Slaw Jobs:

• Director, Policy and Public Affairs (Full-time) | Ottawa, ON
  (Federation of Law Societies of Canada)
• Policy Counsel (Full-time) | Ottawa, ON
  (Federation of Law Societies of Canada)
• Probate & Estate Administration Paralegal (Chilliwack) (Full-time) | Chilliwack, BC
  (Waterstone Law Group

Daniel Standing LL.B., Editor, First Reference Inc.

In classic fashion, arbitrator Kim Bernhardt in 2023 CanLII 10437 determined the punishment met the crime after reviewing the case’s mitigating and aggravating factors. A one-day suspension for insubordinate comments seems quite minimal, yet the grievor alleged that progressive discipline should have been applied, resulting in even lesser discipline. As the arbitrator would explain, that’s not how it always works. . . . [more]

Several times each month, we are pleased to republish a recent book review from the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR). CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD), and its reviews cover both practice-oriented and academic publications related to the law.

Law Dissertations: A Step-by-Step Guide. By Laura Lammasniemi. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2022. x, 190 p. Includes illustrations, bibliographic references, and index. ISBN 978-0-36764-230-3 (hardcover) US$160.00; ISBN 978-0-36756-877-1 (softcover) US$45.95; ISBN 978-1-00312-355-2 (eBook) US$41.35.

Reviewed by Leanne Notenboom
Law Librarian
Toronto Metropolitan University

Writing a dissertation or major research paper . . . [more]

Three months ago, I had never heard of ChatGPT. Now, a day doesn’t go by when I don’t find myself talking about it. How will it impact teaching? What about exams? And most importantly of all, how will it affect the practice of law and the work of the judiciary – for in the end, that’s what will determine the answers to the first two questions.

The locus classicus when it comes to the adoption of new innovations is a 1962 book by Everett Rogers, a professor of sociology at the Ohio State University, Diffusion of Innovations. In his . . . [more]