BARE BONES BRIEFS: McCarthy partners’ earnings top $1.4M | Canadian lawyers flunk Rule of Law pledge test | Quebec class counsel seek $900M in fees in tobacco litigation | Dentons partners with AXL in AI venture | Alexi launches Alexi Private Cloud
By Julius Melnitzer | July 10, 2025 MCCARTHY TOPS CANADIAN PROFIT-PER-EQUITY-PARTNER RANKINGS McCarthy Tétrault LLP’s equity partners lead Canadian law firms’ profit pool – and by a stretch. The US$1.42M PPEQ haul in 2023 topped the $986K earned at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP by over $400K and more than doubled the Gowling WLG figure […]
The importance of a well-drafted confidentiality clause, and the dangers of AI
By Julius Melnitzer | July 8, 2025 A recent US$3.1-million award by a Florida jury in favour of Pliteq, Inc. (Pliteq, Inc. v. Mostafa, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60316), a Canadian international engineering services and manufacturing enterprise, against a high-ranking Dubai-based employee who stole trade secrets demonstrates that — despite cross-border tensions — Donald Trump’s America may […]
The Real Estate Correction’s Domino Effect: Perspectives from an Expert Witness
By Andy MacDonald | July 3, 2025 I was recently hired to write an expert witness report for a case that perfectly illustrates the domino effects of the real estate correction that started in 2022. As you may recall, the Bank of Canada began to raise interest rates in the spring of 2022, signalling the […]
AI in court: Just your humble serpent?
By Marcel Strigberger | June 9, 2025 You must remember this, a hiss is still a hiss. Maybe in Casablanca. But not in Sandston, Va. And certainly not for Carletta Andrews. Carletta was enjoying a margarita at a Mexican restaurant with her husband. Suddenly, something descended from the ceiling and bounced off her forehead. She […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Mandatory mediation undermines experts’ reports | DEI malaise infects UK | Susskind wrong: AI not lawyers’ demise | Law firm bet on the Leafs | Rap sheet for rapping lawyer
By Julius Melnitzer | May 27, 2025 GETTING EXPERT WITNESSES BACK ON TRACK There’s little doubt that courts have manifested an increasingly critical look at expert testimony lately. Gerald Genge, a claims adjudicator and expert witness with 25 years’ experience, is not surprised: he says the quality of experts’ reports has dipped with the introduction […]
Artificial unintelligence
By Marcel Strigberger | April 29, 2025 New York Court not crazy about surprise AI presentation. Humans 1, Technology 0. Sort of. A New York State appellate court allowed James Dewald, the plaintiff in an employment case, to submit his argument via video. The presentation, however, lasted but a few seconds after Dewald represented himself […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Facebook withdraws targeted ads that revealed woman’s pregnancy | Lawyer fined for AI misuse | Massive penalties for tax advisors who facilitate non-compliance | Tax crackdown on lawyers follows AML crackdown | China hit with $24B judgment for unleashing COVID-19 | Arbitration Place opens in Miami
By Julius Melnitzer | March 27, 2025 FACEBOOK CAVES ON TARGETED ADS Faced with a landmark lawsuit alleging that its targeted ads offended privacy laws, Facebook has agreed to stop personalized ads aimed at a UK woman. Tanya O’Carroll, an expert in tech policy and human rights, first took offence in 2017 when she became […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Dentons faces AML charges | Is private equity taking over the profession? | Historic Shell emissions judgment overturned – but landmines remain | Hogan Lovells mistakenly discloses 4,321 privileged documents | Sun Life report: Canadian pension risk transfers exceed $3 billion in 2024
By Julius Melnitzer | March 23, 2025 DENTONS MUST FACE AML CHARGES The Law Society Gazette reports that the UK’s High Court has overturned the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal’s (SDT) dismissal of anti-money laundering charges against Dentons. The SDT ruled that Dentons’ breach was “inadvertent” and did not amount to professional misconduct. But on appeal by […]
Top 10 business decisions for 2024 – – and the law firm players, Part II
By Julius Melnitzer | January 29, 2025 Here is the second part of 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 began in Part I with our honourable mentions and the cases ranked 6-10. What follows are the Top 5 […]
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 […]