Working From Hell
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko at Pexels I was at the receiving end of a rant from a young associate recently, whom I will call Mike. I don’t mind when Mike calls me to rant, usually late at night on his commute home from work. He needs to unload, and I am happy to be a […]
Judge deems boy’s injuries at Grande Prairie daycare “unfortunate fluke”
By Marcel Strigberger | April 16, 2026 911. No, not a distress call. Just the age of the parties in a recent Alberta Court of Justice case, Robinson v. Fellin, 2026 ABCJ 2. Nine-year-old Dominic Robinson sued Xavier Fellin, age 11, who struck him with a small toy dinosaur during an argument at a Grande Prairie, AB, summer […]
Hate Everything or Risk the Consequences
Photo by Bastian Riccard at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | April 10, 2026 I would have to guess that some of the people at the law firm where I toiled for 34 years like what I write on LinkedIn and some don’t. The reason that I have to guess is that, with the very occasional […]
Septuagenarian lawyer’s AI caution: Requires child supervision
By Marcel Strigberger | April 9, 2026 I am a septuagenarian who is uncomfortable adapting to technology. I thought we had it all with the invention of the sticky note. I never use self-checkout at supermarkets or big box retailers, as not only do I prefer the banter with a live cashier, but that voice […]
Pro Bonzo
Photo by Arindam at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | April 8, 2026 A brave articling student once quipped that, “If you say ‘pro bono’ near Murray, you’d better be talking about Sonny and Cher”. Now that was a tad unfair. It was not that I was against our firm doing pro bono work, but I did […]
Can AI Prompts Attract Copyright?
By Julius Melnitzer | April 7, 2026 AI prompts may seem like new territory for the law, but in the end the very old principles that define originality work just fine — Vincent Bergeron For all the growing ubiquity of artificial intelligence in our society, its relationship to the law is still nascent. Although AI is […]
How do OECD remote-working guidelines impact Canadian employers?
By: Julius Melnitzer | April 2, 2026 The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development has introduced new guidelines for determining whether a remote employee’s home office amounts to a permanent establishment that attracts tax for a foreign employer. The guidelines formulate a two-part test for use in determining whether a permanent establishment exists. The tests consist […]
How Agentic Prior Art Searches Have Changed Patent Practice
By Julius Melnitzer | April 1, 2026 What stands out about agentic technology is the extent to which it has allowed penetration of a system that has so frequently seemed impenetrable. — David Hughes It’s no surprise, perhaps, that the advent of AI-driven agentic prior art searches marks a turning point in patent law practice. How, […]
Australia’s Plant Breeders Protection Regime: Promoting Innovation
“Breeders who make decisions without the benefit of patent attorneys’ advice risk not having the strongest protection for their rights and risk losing competitive advantages.” — Dr James-Robert Cram Plant breeding sits at the intersection of science, agriculture, and global trade – an intersection where intellectual property settings can either enable innovation or quietly undermine it […]
New Brunswick assault charge involves accused offering police ‘a present’
By Marcel Strigberger | March 24, 2026 Penalty: Jeremy Robert Weldon, 75 hours of community service for farting. I suppose some elaboration is in order. This is part of the sentence imposed by a provincial court judge in Moncton, N.B. on the gentleman who decided to lead the Mounties on a bit of a chase after driving […]