By Julius Melnitzer | August 31, 2025 INSURER PUNISHED FOR “HARDBALL” APPROACH The Ontario Court of Appeal has awarded $300,000 in partial indemnity costs to a claimant who recovered only $16,000 by way of a jury award in a motor vehicle accident proceeding in which she had sought over $1 million. In doing so, the […]
Photo from Pexels By Murray Gottheil | August 28, 2025 In this Part, I would invite you to live in an imaginary world where you respect and appreciate all of your partners, each of them is a phenomenally talented lawyer who is also productive, respectful, collaborative, ethical, and has an amazing client base. And they all love […]
Photo by August De Richelieu at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | August 27, 2025 Becoming a partner in a law firm is easy enough. You pay your money, you take your chances. But what exactly have you bought into? We all know that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Partnership meetings are much the same. […]
By Julius Melnitzer | August 26, 2025 $900M COUNSEL FEE APPROVED IN TOBACCO LITIGATION Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz, who is presiding over the CCAA proceedings brought by victims of tobacco-related diseases against the tobacco companies, has approved (2025 ONSC 4497) a request by plaintiffs’ lawyers in the two Quebec class actions for […]
By Jeffrey Leon | August 22, 2025 Editor’s Note: The author, Jeffrey Leon, is an active arbitrator and mediator at Arbitration Place in Toronto, capping a 45-year career as a trial lawyer and strategic advisor who recently retired from Bennett Jones LLP, where he formerly led the litigation group. He is a past president of […]
Photo by August de Richilieu at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | August 23, 2025 In Part One of this series, I said that becoming a partner in a law firm is no longer the goal of every young lawyer. In Part Two, I wrote about the advantages of equity partnership. Now, let’s talk about the disadvantages […]
By Murray Gottheil | August 21, 2025 In Part One, I explained that as a young buck, becoming a partner was the ultimate goal of every young lawyer. I suggested that this type of thinking is, for good reason, falling from favour. There are good and bad things about being a partner in a law firm, and […]
By Murray Gottheil | August 19, 2025 At my first law firm, there were three partners. After one moved on and another passed away, the remaining owner announced that he had no intention of making any associate a partner soon. So I left. At my next firm, it was my job to create a corporate […]
Photo by Martino Battista at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | August 15, 2025 I understand that newbies to the legal profession who have student debt and no client base often feel locked into jobs that they hate. I do not understand mid-level and senior lawyers who are financially stable and have a client base that stay […]
By Marcel Strigberger | August 14, 2025 Hey humans! Should AI be declared a separate legal personality? The Law Commission in the U.K. is studying the notion, noting that the thought is not far-fetched. This means the entity can be a “person” in the eyes of the law, such as corporations, sovereign states, etc., all capable of […]