BARE BONES BRIEFS: Law firm branding mania: Are Leafs Next? | Five years: Harshest sentence ever for OHS criminal negligence | Div. Ct.: LST has power to order compensation for pending claims | Taliban: Chess not compatible with Islamic law | Lexis+ AI fuels revenue growth – says Lexis Nexis
By Julius Melnitzer | May 22, 2025 LAW FIRM PAYS $11.4M FOR STADIUM NAMING RIGHTS CITY AM reports that Liverpool’s Hill Dickinson, a top-50 UK law firm whose profits exceed C$95M, has paid $11.4 million for the naming rights to soccer team Everton’s new stadium. The move is apparently part of law firms’ realization of […]
Pivoting From Big Law
Photo by Allison Browning on Pexels By Murray Gottheil | May 20, 2025 Sometimes I meet a young lawyer whose career goal is to work in Big Law. That might not be my first choice, but they should go for it as long as they know what they are getting into. This article is not about those […]
Ontario court rules employer’s termination clause enforceable due to clear language, entitlements
By: Julius Melnitzer | May 19, 2025 A recent Ontario Superior Court decision demonstrates that it remains possible for employers to insert enforceable termination clauses in employment contracts. For some five years now, a host of decisions have struck down as unenforceable termination clauses that purport to displace employees’ right to reasonable notice or pay in […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: “Woman means woman” as UK Supreme Court refuses to recognize gender identity | Alberta lawyer challenges “woke” Law Society rules | World’s first AI law firm says system can do “anything” | AI video of murdered man gives his impact statement | Training AI on someone else’s headnotes is copyright infringement: USCA |
By Julius Melnitzer | May 12, 2025 “GENDER RECOGNITION CERTIFICATE” DOES NOT A “WOMAN” MAKE The United Kingdom Supreme Court has ruled that “woman” in the Equality Act (EA) means a biological woman. The ruling strikes down guidance from the Scottish government stating that a gender recognition certificate issued to an individual brings that person […]
Attention Walmart Shoplifters
By Marcel Strigberger | May 8, 2025 “My object all sublime I shall achieve in time — To let the punishment fit the crime” — The Mikado Interested in a free car wash? You might be able to get one if you’re willing to travel to Genesee County, Michigan. And maybe not yet. A judge, one Jeffrey […]
For all the brouhaha, law firms – and especially Canadian firms – are still “missing the boat” on wellness – and profit
By Julius Melnitzer | May 7, 2025 Sadly, the International Bar Association’s (IBA) Workplace Wellbeing Survey 2024 Analysis and Discussion reports that law firms still don’t understand “the importance of addressing workplace well-being challenges”. The heart of the problem seems to be that line managers, who are crucial to supporting mental health, “currently lack the […]
Canadian Arbitrators run Paris Marathon for Cure Leukaemia
The Leon Brothers By Barry Leon and Jeff Leon | May 4, 2025 As a fitting finale to attending the world’s largest arbitration conference–Paris Arbitration Week 2025–we gave our support to Cure Leukaemia, the blood cancer charity, by completing the Paris Marathon on Sunday, April 13th. Runner’s World described the 26.2-mile event and its 56,950 […]
Sometimes, I Just Don’t Care About The Client’s Damn Budget
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | May 1, 2025 A young lawyer named Eve called me today about a fee dispute. She had quoted an hourly rate without providing an estimate and issued an interim bill for the time spent. The client did not think it should have cost that much […]
Artificial unintelligence
By Marcel Strigberger | April 29, 2025 New York Court not crazy about surprise AI presentation. Humans 1, Technology 0. Sort of. A New York State appellate court allowed James Dewald, the plaintiff in an employment case, to submit his argument via video. The presentation, however, lasted but a few seconds after Dewald represented himself […]
A Masterclass on Quoting Fees For Lawyers Who Bill by the Hour
By Murray Gottheil | April 28, 2025 Estimating is what you do when you don’t know ~ Sherman Kent A young lawyer named Eve called me today. She had made the same mistake I had made numerous times in my first years of practice. She quoted an hourly rate for reviewing and reporting on a draft […]