BARE BONES BRIEFS: Lawyers’ rights & dating sites; No consent, no videoconference, says OCA; Alexander Holburn joins Legalign; Best law firm webinars & bulletins
By Julius Melnitzer | March 31, 2021 Lawyers’ dating sites Can’t find love because practising law takes too much out of you? Try Lawyr, the UK-based international dating site “For lawyers and the people who want to date them”. The Times says the site “is perfect for those seeking a brief encounter”. Lawyers, says Jonathan […]
Homegrown data-driven advice is the new normal at Lenczner Slaght
By Julius Melnitzer | March 22, 2021 Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP is incorporating homegrown data-driven decision-making as a key part of the firm’s litigation strategy. The prominent litigation boutique is certainly not the first firm in the country to use machine-learning predictive outcomes – but they appear to be the first to have […]
The interplay of profit & relevance: post-COVID opportunities for law firms
By Julius Melnitzer | February 23, 2021 The economic and social upheaval wrought by the pandemic has driven home the notion that good corporate citizenship and profitability go hand in hand. “There’s a gathering consensus that the economy should be ‘better’ than before,” says Tony Williams, who leads Jomati Consultants LLP, a U.K.-based international management consultancy […]
Ten key tips: how to pivot your legal career
February 10, 2021 | By Rafeena Bacchus, guest contributor I’ve been a Toronto-based insurance defence and human rights counsel for more than 15 years. I’m now transitioning to a focus on mediation. The first installment of this two-part series will provide a general roadmap to pivoting a legal career; the second will specifically apply the […]
Writing & practice tips for paralegals
January 23, 2021 | By Julius Melnitzer Recently, I appeared as a guest presenter on an episode of Justice in Pieces, presented by triOS College’s Paralegal Program, and hosted by its coordinator, award-winning lead legal instructor, John-Paul Rodrigues. The discussion included writing , formatting, marketing, practice and practical tips for paralegals who intend to strike […]
COVID-19 puts courts, integrity of Ontario’s civil jury system on trial
December 15, 2020 | By Julius Melnitzer Citing the uncertainty as to when civil jury trials might resume during the pandemic, motions to strike juries have proliferated. Critics pointed to the extra effort, co-ordination, length and expense jury trials required, as well as the strain on jurors and demanded their elimination. “Since COVID began, judges […]
Lawyers insecure about data security: study
Talk about lawyers’ hubris: although 49 percent of legal businesses believe they will experience a data breach in the next five years, almost as many – 46 percent – report they have left confidential documents out in the open. The hubris, disclosed in Shred-it’s 2020 Data Protection Report, has practical consequences: 24 percent of clients […]
Japan: a black hole for legal advice?
November 17, 2020 | By Julius Melnitzer “Bizarre” is how Steven Maddex, a Canadian lawyer, describes his five years in the legal department at a jewellery company in Kyoto. “Most Japanese business people view lawyers’ roles as perfunctory at best,” says Maddex. “Many of the lawyers are unlicensed, have only a basic understanding of the […]
Jones Day & Trump: Thank God for the lawyers
November 13, 2020 | By Julius Melnitzer Full disclosure: I hate Donald Trump. Further full disclosure: Democracy is lucky to have lawyers who will represent the jerk. I was among many who couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing in the last four years: disruption, disregard, disrespect, dishonesty, denigration, deflection and denial, all in […]
Is SCC looking like SCOTUS?: The language in Fraser v. Canada
November 5, 2020 | By Julius Melnitzer There’s something afoot in the Supreme Court of Canada. And it adds heavy fuel to the debate about the extent to which the court is becoming politicized. In their recent judgment in Fraser v. Canada (Attorney General) 2020 SCC 28, both the majority and the minority accuse each other of departing […]