When lawyers are in trouble, to whom do they turn?
Wednesday, September 16, 2020 | By Julius Melnitzer This is the first of a three-part LegalWriter.net series on lawyers who represent other lawyers. So many people don’t like them. No surprise, then, that lawyers need lawyers. The problem is that more than a fair number of lawyers don’t care for or respect each other. So […]
Today’s law firm recruiting takes massive stakeholder co-operation
Tuesday, September 1, 2020 | By Julius Melnitzer A monumental, pressure-packed collaboration has headed off the threat that COVID-19 presented to the 2020 law firm recruiting season. In a concentrated endeavour that began in March, law firms, public sector employers, legal departments, law students, law schools and law societies have come up with a solution […]
Will COVID turn lawyers from Luddites to leaders?
Lawyers are known for their resistance to change. But COVID-19 has forced a great deal of change, technological and otherwise, on the profession. The key question is whether the evolution will continue. And that’s where reluctance to change becomes an asset: after all, reluctance to change and reluctance to change back are, if you ask […]
Bucking the trends: BCF’s model for sustainability breeds profitability
This is the second in LegalWriter.net’s continuing series Bucking the Trends: Lawyers who make a difference – – – their own way Growth – – – organic, sustained and profitable – – – has hardly been the order of the day for Canadian law firms in the last decade or so. So forgive me for […]
Bucking the trends: the gentle way to fierce advocacy
August 19, 2020 This is the first in legalwriter.net’s continuing series called Bucking the Trends: Lawyers who make a difference – – – their own way “Gentleman”, “lady”, or “stand-up comic” is rarely found in the lexicon describing the virtues of great counsel. That’s especially true in an era when regulators keep reminding lawyers that […]
Justice and the pandemic: what needs to change
July 30, 2020 This article is the last of a five-part series examining our courts’ response to the pandemic and what it means for the future of the civil justice system. There’s no doubt that COVID-19 gave us “an excuse to do things differently,” in the words of Chantelle Cseh, a partner in the dispute […]
Justice and the pandemic: stakeholders in the system
July 16, 2020 This article is the fourth of a five-part series examining our courts’ response to the pandemic and what it means for the future of the civil justice system. Endemic problems of delay aside, a significant new challenge faces our civil justice system as the country’s courts tiptoe their way to reopening. In […]
Justice and the pandemic: pushing for modernization
June 24, 2020 As Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz sees it, Canada’s poor ranking in the Enforcing Contracts indicator found in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 study is but one measure by which the effectiveness of our courts should be gauged. The study, which tracks the time and cost for resolving a commercial dispute through […]
Justice and the pandemic: How Canada ranks
Friday, June 19, 2020 This article is the second of a three-part series examining our courts’ response to the pandemic and what it means for the future of the civil justice system. What’s we’ve learned from the pandemic, in the justice system and elsewhere, is that we’re going to have to make do with less […]
Justice and the pandemic: The new gold standard
Tuesday, June 02, 2020 This article is the first of a three-part series examining our courts’ response to the pandemic and what it means for the future of the civil justice system. When COVID-19 set the world askew, Canada’s justice system seemed ill equipped to confront the warnings and restrictions that emanated from public health […]