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 […]
Nunavut considering full mobility for Quebec lawyers
November 2, 2020 | By Julius Melnitzer The Law Society of Nunavut (LSN) may grant full mobility to Barreau du Québec members. The LSN will consider the matter at a virtual special meeting to be held on Thursday, November 26 @ 6 PM ET. Nunavut is not currently a signatory to the National Mobility Agreement. […]
Practising law with your children: tips for survival
October 27, 2020 | By Julius Melnitzer Many are the parents, lawyers certainly among them, who wished their kids would follow in their footsteps. Just as many are the parents – and children – who regretted that they did. The difficulties of inter-generational co-operation in the workplace are legend. They need not be repeated here. […]
The Case Doctor: a new legal species
October 19, 2020 | By Julius Melnitzer Richard Shekter of Shekter Legal, a Toronto mediator and arbitrator, has put an interesting twist on the notion of a “second opinion”. After 44 years as an all-purpose counsel with a reputation for taking on anything with merit that came through the door, he set up shop as […]