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Jan 13, 2025 | 
slaw.ca | Ian MacKenzie |Melanie Neufeld |Robert McKay |Frédéric Pelletier
[Une version française suit] On January 13, 2000, the Supreme Court of Canada issued its landmark decision in Arsenault-Cameron v. Prince Edward Island, 2000 SCC 1 (CanLII), [2000] 1 SCR 3, a case significant for its impact on minority language educational rights in Canada. This decision was also the Court’s first to adopt the the Neutral Citation Standard for Case Law, a pivotal innovation introduced in 1999 by the Canadian Citation Committee.
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Jan 13, 2025 | 
slaw.ca | Ian MacKenzie |Melanie Neufeld |Robert McKay |Heather Suttie
Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from more than 80 recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible. This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. David Whelan 2. Employment & Human Rights Law in Canada 3. Canadian Appeals Monitor 4. The Authentic Lawyer 5.
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Jan 9, 2025 | 
slaw.ca | Ian MacKenzie |Melanie Neufeld |Robert McKay |Heather Suttie
Justice must be fair and impartial, but also must be seen to be fair and impartial – and inclusive tribunal processes are a big contribution to the sense of fairness that all participants in a tribunal proceeding are entitled to receive. Language – and people’s perception of that language – is an important gateway to fairness (and perceptions of fairness).
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Jan 9, 2025 | 
slaw.ca | Ian MacKenzie |Melanie Neufeld |Robert McKay |Heather Suttie
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. For the Encouragement of Learning: The Origins of Canadian Copyright Law. By Myra Tawfik. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2023. 408 p. Includes bibliographic references and index.
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Jan 8, 2025 | 
slaw.ca | Melanie Neufeld |Robert McKay |Heather Suttie |Tania Perlin
Several of my posts this year have focused on the importance of plain language for our profession. Good, clear communication is a vital component of client management as it helps us better understand our client’s needs and enable the client to make informed decisions. On the other hand, poor communication is a leading cause of professional liability claims against lawyers. Understanding who your audience is and ‘stepping into their shoes’ is a key.
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Jan 7, 2025 | 
slaw.ca | Robert McKay |Heather Suttie |Tania Perlin |Judith Gaskell
INTRODUCTIONIn the midst of writing this post yesterday, January 6th, I thought back to that day in 2021 when Donald Trump attempted a coup in the United States to seize the presidency despite having lost the 2020 election. This year’s certification of the 2024 election involved no such threat to democracy only because Trump won the election. But it may be because I have the concept of “coup” on my mind that I am tempted to describe West Whitby Landowners Group Inc. v. Elexicon Energy Inc. (Ont.
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Jan 7, 2025 | 
slaw.ca | Robert McKay |Heather Suttie |Tania Perlin |Judith Gaskell
Whether or not there is truth in the rumours that upstart, Harvey, has been keen to acquire the much-admired vLex, it was interesting to read the analysis by Isha Marathe, of Legaltech News, on the topic, as reported via legal market heroes, House of Butter. The HoB report concludes, “If Harvey wants to make true on the third item in its tech offerings—workflow automation; an AI assistant, and legal research—it’s going to have to find the data.
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Nov 5, 2024 | 
slaw.ca | Heather Suttie |Canadian Association |Ian MacKenzie |Robert McKay
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
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Nov 4, 2024 | 
slaw.ca | Canadian Association |Ian MacKenzie |Robert McKay |Susannah Tredwell
CALL/ACBD is accepting nominations for the 2025 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing. The Canadian Association of Law Libraries has long had an annual award for excellent legal publishing. Some years ago, we renamed the award we present after Queens University Professor Hugh Lawford (1933-2009) to recognize his contributions to legal publishing in Canada. As a group of legal information specialists, our work depends on being able to access and share high-quality legal knowledge.
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Oct 31, 2024 | 
slaw.ca | Ian MacKenzie |Robert McKay |Susannah Tredwell |Tania Perlin
The Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) has issued ethical guidelines for judges on the use of social media. These guidelines could be a useful template for updating or expanding codes of ethics for tribunal members. In this column I identify some of the key parts of the guidelines as well as some of the shortcomings.
