Pulse
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April 07, 2025
A critique of Ontario’s Civil Rules review | Allan Rouben
Excessive cost and delay have become so endemic to our civil justice system that the authors of the Civil Rules Review consider that the only remaining solution is to redesign the rules “from the ground up.” The fault for this is placed squarely at the feet of lawyers who, aided and abetted by the existing rules, adopt a “maximalist” approach to documentary and oral discovery.
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April 07, 2025
Leading digital justice transformation: New Brunswick puts users at centre | Daniel J. Escott
In August 2023, I had the distinct privilege of co-organizing the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice’s (CIAJ) New Brunswick Access to Justice Summit at the University of New Brunswick’s Faculty of Law. Our final report on this groundbreaking summit, aptly titled Digital Transformation: Putting People at the Heart of the System, was a watershed moment for New Brunswick and Canada. It marked an essential commitment to ensuring digital transformation serves as a catalyst for genuine, meaningful access to justice, rather than merely institutional modernization.
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April 07, 2025
More on mental health and the practice of law | Gary S. Joseph
I want to get onboard with the movement to bring more attention to the problem of mental health issues in the profession. In my view, it is undeniable that the practice of law has become more stressful in my almost half century of practice.
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April 07, 2025
FEDERAL INCOME TAX - Business and property income - Expenses - Legal fees
Application by applicants for permission to appeal a court order affirming a review officer’s decision on the legal fee for tax planning advice related to a business sale.
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April 07, 2025
Kristi Wong joins Roper Greyell
Roper Greyell has welcomed Kristi Wong to the firm as an associate. According to a statement from the Vancouver-based firm, Wong joins Roper Greyell with extensive employment and labour law experience
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April 04, 2025
New Brunswick investing in start of courts’ digital upgrade
New Brunswick is spending $5 million to kick-start the digital transformation of its courts. In what is being called an investment in greater access to justice, New Brunswick’s government will spend more than $32 million over six years for the technological revamp of the province’s court system, which will include various digital upgrades to the courts, as detailed in an April 3 news release.
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April 04, 2025
Who piked the drinks? | Marcel Strigberger
A fish story follows. Flanders fish.
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April 04, 2025
Are law firms involved in politics fair game? | Sergio R. Karas
President Donald Trump issued a memorandum titled “Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court,” which threatens sanctions and other unspecified actions against attorneys who represent asylum seekers or who litigate against the Trump administration’s policies regarding illegal aliens. The memo makes the assertion that immigration attorneys are acting improperly in their efforts to represent people in an increasingly complex and restrictive immigration system. It also ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to recommend revoking attorneys’ security clearances or terminating law firms’ federal contracts if she deems their lawsuits against the administration are “unreasonable” or “vexatious.”
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April 03, 2025
Gatlin Smeijers joins Bennett Jones as partner
Bennett Jones has welcomed Gatlin Smeijers as a partner in the firm’s Toronto office.
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April 03, 2025
New tool from Ontario Bar Association aimed at demystifying AI for lawyers
The Ontario Bar Association has launched a new learning tool aimed at helping lawyers adopt and create artificial intelligence to advance their practices.