FP Dealmakers: Law firms on overdrive amid ‘hunger and urgency to get deals done’
By: Julius Melnitzer | February 1, 2022 It’s rare for lawyers to be unequivocal. But then, when it comes to capital markets activity, 2021 was a rare year for law firms. “We certainly had not planned for what occurred this past year, which produced one of the best capital markets ever, and we’re talking all […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Judges: counsel still wasting courts’ time | Post-Pandora crackdowns target lawyers | Survey: Lawyers profit most from class actions | Top 5 law firm bulletins & webinars
By Julius Melnitzer | January 10, 2022 JUDGES: LAWYERS STILL SCREWING UP COURTROOM PROCEEDINGS “The file is in a state of near total disarray”: these are nothing less than the opening words in a recent Federal Court judgment. That’s perhaps not surprising in a case where the applicant was unrepresented. But what is surprising is […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: OCA reverses heroin trafficker’s conviction after judge delays reasons for 4 years | Women lawyers working 100 more hours than men | 90% of UK lawyers resisting return to office | EU pushes gig workers’ rights | Top 5 law firm bulletins & webinars
By Julius Melnitzer | December 6, 2021 JUDGE TAKES FOUR YEARS TO DELIVER REASONS AFTER THREE-DAY TRIAL The trial involved only three days of evidence. But Judge Kofi Barnes of the Ontario Superior Court took four years to deliver reasons. And that was some 31 months after Shane Artis appealed his conviction and 10-year sentence […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: BLG to manage Ivanhoé Cambridge leasing legal services | Study: junior counsel beat senior counsel as often as seniors beat them | Litigation funding fees capped | Judges need safety too | Top law firm bulletins
By Julius Melnitzer | November 11, 2021 IVANHOé CAMBRIDGE IN-HOUSE LAWYERS MOVE TO BLG “In-house” gets new meaning as part of Ivanhoé Cambridge’s (IC) law department moves to Borden Ladner Gervais LLP offices in Montreal and Toronto. All this pursuant to an agreement for BLG to manage legal services for shopping centres owned by IC, […]
Fossil fuels may be in doldrums but energy lawyers are adapting to the new environment
By Julius Melnitzer | October 25, 2021 Fossil fuels may be in the doldrums with a precipitous future ahead, but energy law and the demand for energy lawyers is alive and well. “Generally speaking, recruitment activity in the overall energy sector has increased,” said Carrie Heller, president of The Heller Group Legal and Executive Search, […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: FC dismisses murdered Indigenous women’s class action, certifies class for feds’ negligence to Indigenous in custody | Divisional Court dismisses ‘intrusion upon seclusion’ class action against Equifax | Lawyers fined $33,500 for missing fraud at firm | ICC touts arbitration as part of international minimum tax framework | Best of: law firm bulletins
By Julius Melnitzer | June 25, 2021 MIXED RESULTS IN INDIGENOUS CLASS ACTIONS Indigenous class actions seeking to impose liability for mistreatment on governments and police have achieved mixed results. On June 23, the Federal Court certified a class consisting of Aboriginal persons assaulted by the RCMP while in custody in the Northwest Territories. The […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS | LSE: “Mediocre” male managers hold women back | Court: Receiver can monetize public shell listing | 3rd ed. of Kaplan, Frazer’s Pension Law published | Canadian start-up tops InsurTech awards | Best law firm webinars and bulletins
By Julius Melnitzer | June 21, 2021 “inadequate” men suit financial services prototypes “Mediocre” male managers practising “fake empathy” are holding back women in the finance industry, says a new report from Women in Banking and Finance and the London School of Economics (LSE). Apparently, the men were more likely to succeed because they fit […]
The Advocacy Club: virtual reality for law students
By Julius Melnitzer | June 9, 2021 Law school and the practice of law, it often seems, have only the law in common. But as many inductees to the profession have discovered, that’s not necessarily enough – practically or psychologically. “I was astounded how different the practise of law is from what we’re told in […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS | Survey: full-time remote work off the table | Osler bulletin: corporate diversity tanks | Law firm gives away profits | OCA: “No escape” supports inmate’s duress defence | legaltrot: helping lawyers on the go get help on the go |
By Julius Melnitzer | May 16, 2021 REMOTE WORK: THE DISCONNECT The Littler 2021 Annual Employer Survey Report has uncovered a “disconnect” between employers and employees about what the return to physical workspaces should look like. The following paragraph says it all: While 71 percent of employers surveyed believe that most of their employees who […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS | FCA: The West Bank is not Israel | OSC blasts law firms’ lack of cooperation in LTC class actions | BLG buys AUM Law | Condemned? Choose your poison in South Carolina | Can’t-miss: McMillan webinar
By Julius Melnitzer | May 7, 2021 FCA : West Bank wine is not necessarily “Product of Israel” The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court ruling that “Product of Israel” labels on wines produced in the West Bank were “false, misleading and deceptive”. The court remitted the matter back to the Complaints […]