Called to the bar and grill
By Marcel Strigberger | January 21, 2025 Can a judge make peace between hostile lawyers by ordering them to have lunch together? In the Alabama case of McCullers v Koch Foods of Alabama, the two lawyers involved were not getting along too well. Defense counsel moved to amend his pleading and plaintiff’s counsel opposed the request unless defendant agreed not […]
Top 10 business decisions for 2024 – – and the law firms involved, Part I
By Julius Melnitzer | January 20, 2025 Here is Law360 Canada’s annual list of the Top 10 business decisions in Canada for the year just ended. This is a two-part series, which begins below with our honourable mentions, followed by the cases ranked 6-10, in ascending order. Part II will deal with cases ranked 1-5. Honourable mention […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: No charging order for fees though client refuses to direct settlement to firm; Judge orders duelling counsel to lunch together; Lenczner Slaght obtains $259 million judgment in Manitoba’s first electronic trial; BLG hires Hélène Deschamps Marquis to co-head privacy and cybersecurity group
By Julius Melnitzer | January 5, 2005 BAD WAY FOR LAW FIRM TO START NEW YEAR On New Year’s Eve, Ontario Superior Court Justice Todd Robinson denied Woodrbridge, ON law firm Capo Sgro LLP‘s application for a charging order over settlement fees, brought after the client sought an assessment (still pending) of the firm’s total […]
Yes, We Have No Insurance Coverage Today
By Marcel Strigberger | November 26, 2024 The following is an excerpt from Marcel Strigberger’s new book, First, Let’s Kill the Lawyer Jokes: An Attorney’s Irreverent Serious Look at the Legal Universe I detest life-insurance agents: they always argue that I shall someday die, which is not so – Stephen Butler Leacock As lawyers, many of us either fight […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: ECJ: Accountants’ communications not privileged | Alexi AI cuts routine litigation task time by 80% | Legal Risk Assessments: tackling risk proactively | OCA: No appeals of court-ordered arbitrator appointments | Singapore to establish international appeals body for commercial cases
By Julius Melnitzer | October 30, 2024 ECJ RULES THAT PRIVILEGE DOES NOT EXTEND TO TAX ADVISORS WHO ARE NOT LAWYERS The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that privilege in tax matters extends only to lawyers and not to other professionals, even if they perform similar advisory tasks. The court concluded […]
Bare Bones Briefs: Federal Court grants injunction protecting kosher meat supply | CLIO breaks Canadian software financing record with $900 million funding
By Julius Melnitzer | July 28, 2024 CFIA’S SLAUGHTERHOUSE GUIDELINES MAY INFRINGE JEWS’ FREEDOM OF RELIGION RIGHTS Federal Court Justice Guy Régimbald has granted an interlocutory injunction against the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s enforcement of guidelines that have reduced kosher beef production in Canada by 55% and kosher veal production by 90%. Canadian law has […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Litigation funder out $2.1 million when client discontinues litigation | Dentons gets menopause accreditation | UK regulator: lawyers who swear betray the public trust | Musk compensation foes seek $7 billion in legal fees
By Julius Melnitzer | July 17, 2024 DIVORCING PARTIES STIFF LITIGATION FUNDER FOR $2.1 MILLION The Law Society Gazette reports that Level, a litigation loan provider, found itself without remedies to recover the $2.1 million it had advanced in an eight-year long divorce proceedings when the parties reached a settlement that did not include repayment […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Appeal panel: Jeremy Diamond denied procedural fairness – Mercer should have recused | Report: international and domestic arbitration growing in Canada | “Most positively reviewed” lawyer misconduct hearing set | BLG appoints Canadian law firms’ first chief AI officer | Jason Kroft joins Gowling as head of structured finance
By Julius Melnitzer | June 4, 2024 DIAMOND WILL GET NEW PENALTY HEARING A new panel will determine the penalty Toronto lawyer Jeremy Diamond will face in his advertising misconduct case. A split (3-2) Appeal Division of the Law Society Tribunal has sent the case back for re-hearing after finding that the original panel’s chair, […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Trump judges, citing university’s failure to condemn antisemitic acts, won’t hire Columbia grads | European Human Rights Court opens floodgates for climate change litigation | Kielburgers’ mother can proceed with defamation claim | Federal Court certifies class action for “mental illness stigmatization” by Canadian Armed Forces | Bennett Jones appoints new office managing partners
By Julius Melnitzer | May 21, 2024 TRUMP APPOINTEES BOYCOTT COLUMBIA GRADS NBC reports that 13 federal judges appointed by Donald Trump chose Holocaust Remembrance Day to announce that they would not hire students who graduated from Columbia University, which they called “an incubator of bigotry” in which “professors and administrators are on the front […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: 60-year-old lawyer seeks Miss Universe crown | OCA to trial judges: don’t call parties’ testimony ‘self-serving’ | No correlation between ‘attack dog’ counsel and success | AI legal robot sued: lacks license to practice
By Julius Melnitzer | May 2, 2024 SEXAGENARIAN IN-HOUSE COUNSEL CROWNED MISS BUENOS AIRES Alejandra Rodriguez, a 60-year old Argentinian hospital lawyer, pictured above, has won the Miss Buenos Aires contest. If she wins the next round in the Miss Universe competition by becoming Miss Argentina, she will enter the final, international round as the […]