B.C. court rules remote working arrangement an essential term of employment
By: Julius Melnitzer | July 17, 2026 The British Columbia Court of Appeal has ruled that an unwritten but long-accepted work-from-home arrangement can become an essential term of employment, so that a unilateral return-to-office order — without notice or agreement — can trigger constructive dismissal. “The decision in Cressey Construction Corporation v. Parolin is getting a lot of […]
Unsuccessful political candidate can pursue civil action against Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer, SCC rules
By Scott Lemke | July 15, 2026 Election officials, including a Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), are not categorically immune from civil claims merely because they are exercising authority under their governing legislation. In Resler v. Anglin, 2026 SCC 23, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) permitted a civil claim that was brought by an unsuccessful […]
The Implications of My Ice Cream Diet on Law Firm Management
By Murray Gottheil | July 14, 2026 I have been over-weight for a good long while. My wife, Maureen, is not shallow. She loves me exactly as I am. But she is smart, beautiful and talented, and her marketability far exceeds mine, so why take chances? For about 15 years, I stopped eating chocolate, cake, pie, […]
Capital punishment without the Capital
By Marcel Strigberger | July 13, 2026 While in practice, a frequent question laypeople asked me was, “Do you support capital punishment?” My answer is that I am a staunch advocate of capital punishment — as long as nobody actually gets executed. In fact, I believe this is doable. I recently watched a performance of Gilbert […]
More Sinister than Just Hatred
Photo by Cottonbro at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | July 11, 2026 I recently wrote an article titled, Hate Everything or Risk the Consequences, in which I lamented that law firms restrict their lawyers’ social medial activity. But then I spoke to Tony Albrecht, who knows a lot about this stuff and I now realize that […]
Dissecting Intangible Assets’ Market Dominance
By Julius Melnitzer | July 9, 2026 A vast spectrum of industries now counts intangible property as a major part of their value — Matthew Zischka Ocean Tomo’s Intangible Asset Market Study for 2025 revealed that intangible assets constituted approximately 92 percent of S&P 500 market capitalization by year’s end. That represents a 75 percentage point shift from […]
Should lawyers be buying their AI lunch?
By Murray Gottheil | July 2, 2026 Frank Ramos, a Miami litigation lawyer, writes intelligently on LinkedIn. Recently, he posted that potential legal clients are moving away from using Google searches, and toward AI, to find lawyers. His conclusion is that lawyers should stop worrying about SEO and start writing intelligent commentary so that AI will […]
Career tip: What to do when the Sunday evening blues start on Friday afternoon
By Marcel Strigberger | June 27, 2026 On my first day of practice, I bought a leather armchair that I fully intended to use forever. Retirement was something that happened to senior partners, disgruntled lawyers, or cranky old judges. Years later, I realized Shakespeare had already mapped it out. As he observed in As You Like It, […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Norton Rose bigwig leaves for Torys | LSO liable for costs of “unarguable” prosecution | Complaints against lawyers at record high | Study: Legal Aid is essential poverty relief | Rotfleisch releases new edition of Canadian Tax Facts
By Julius Melnitzer | June 23, 2026 NORTON ROSE ENERGY CHIEF JOINS TORYS Robert Froehlich, who led Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP’s energy practice and was chair of the firm’s business law group from 2019 to 2025, has joined Torys LLP’s Calgary office as a partner. His experience embraces some of Canada’s most significant and […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Women in law, silent suffering | Hallucination catcher? | Court: AI can’t replace workers | AI beats law profs | Arbitration Place launches in Brazil
By Julius Melnitzer | June 21, 2026 EXHAUSTED WOMAN LAWYERS FEAR SPEAKING UP Some 70% of women in law suffer frequently from exhaustion or low energy, and 65% of those affected, fearing the impact on their careers, won’t speak up, says a report from the Law Society of England and Wales that surveyed 533 legal […]