Articles 2021

Law practice management skills are useful to all lawyers regardless of their role and practice status. This is especially so in our tech-driven age.

A feminist book review on Norm Bacal's Breakdown: The Rise and Fall of Heenan Blaikie.

On January 1, 2017, a new administrative dismissal regime came to Ontario. Actions in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice are now administratively dismissed pursuant to Rule 48.14 if the actions have not been set down for trial (or terminated by any means) by the 5th anniversary of the commencement of the action. Read on for a review of Rule 48.14 and its Small Claims Court counterpart, Rule 11.1.01.

In the context of constructive dismissal, what amounts to “substantial” change to an "essential" term of an employment contract? Specifically, when does a refusal to pay or reduction in employee compensation qualify as constructive dismissal? Recent case law suggests that while refusal to pay a bonus or vacation compensation may be a breach of contract, they may not be "essential" enough to trigger a constructive dismissal. Read on to learn more.

On May 24, 2018, the Law Society of Ontario (“LSO”) released “Options for Lawyer Licensing: A Consultation Paper”. In the paper, the LSO provides four lawyer licensing options for consideration. What are the four options? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each one? Read on to find out more.

There were two wrongful dismissal cases this week. One was brought by a physician against Sick Kids Hospital. The second involved the breach of fiduciary duty of a senior officer of a public company who was found to have been self-dealing. Other topics included spousal support and dismissal for delay.

As everyone will have heard by now, the Court of Appeal stayed Justice Belobaba’s decision in Toronto (City) v. Ontario (Attorney General). Other topics this week included notice of termination in the context of a mass termination of employees, municipal liability for non-repair of a highway (two decisions), administrative law in the WSIB context, and causation in the medmal context.

From Airbnb to Uber and Lyft, members of the sharing economy are finding that their privacy is not as well-protected as they might expect.