BARE BONES BRIEFS: | Litigation funders in 80% of cases | Humans not necessary: AIs negotiate contract amongst themselves | Fani Willis clone? | Lawyer elevates courtroom tardiness | IBA wellness guidelines |
By Julius Melnitzer | March 18, 2024 LITIGATION FUNDING PROLIFERATING The Law Society Gazette reports on a London Solicitors Litigation Association report which concludes that 80% of London litigators are working on cases where a litigation funder has financed at least one party. Although a recent UK Supreme Court decision makes some such arrangements unenforceable, […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Single mother sacked for sandwich “theft” from law firm| Re-admitted drug-dealing lawyer faces new LSO allegations | Study IDs ‘Burning Issues’ for law firm leaders | Is it time for an inquiry into public inquiries? | Creditors allege Sullivan & Cromwell enabled FTX crypto fraud |
By Julius Melnitzer | February 29, 2024 FOOD FOR THOUGHT: WILL LAWYERS EARNING MILLIONS MISS LEFTOVER GRUB? Gabriela Rodriguez, a 39-year-old single mother, lost her cleaning job after eating a leftover sandwich valued at $2.50 and found on a discarded platter in the kitchen of London, UK law firm Devonshires, where lawyers earn up to […]
Court of Appeal upholds $1.5 million punitive damages award in LTD claims case
By: Julius Melnitzer | February 3, 2024 The Ontario Court of Appeal’s affirmation of a $1.5 million punitive damages award — reportedly the largest of its kind in a Canadian long-term disability case — may signal greater exposure for employers and insurers that fail in their duty to treat such claims in good faith. “The court had no […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: “Most positively reviewed” lawyer faces new misconduct allegations | Law firm openly adopts slippery slope | Calling colleague “pathetic human” is professional misconduct | FCA boosts climate litigation | FC certifies “older inmates” class action
By Julius Melnitzer | January 31, 2024 SAMFIRU TO FACE MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS IN ALBERTA Lior Samfiru, the Toronto-based national co-managing partner of employment law boutique Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, a firm that claims to be the “most positively reviewed employment law firm in Canada”, must now contend with allegations of professional misconduct in Alberta in addition […]
Judges as gatekeepers of expert evidence
By Julius Melnitzer | January 29, 2024 This article was produced in partnership with Bogoroch & Associates LLP The approach of Canadian courts to expert evidence has undergone a sea change since the 2015 decision in White Burgess Langille Inman v. Abbott and Haliburton Co., where the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed that an expert’s awareness of […]
Top 10 business decisions of 2023, Part II – and the Law Firm Players
By Julius Melnitzer | January 23, 2024 What follows is Part II of Law360 Canada’s annual list of the country’s Top 10 business decisions ranking cases 1-5 in ascending order. Part I, which ranked cases 6-10, was published earlier. 5. Markowich v. Lundin Mining Corporation; Peters v. SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. (ONCA) These sister cases represent the Ontario Court of […]
Top 10 business decisions of 2023, Part I – and the law firm players
By Julius Melnitzer | January 15, 2024 What follows is Law360 Canada’s annual list of the Top 10 business decisions in Canada for the just-ended year. This is a two-part series, which begins below with numbers 6-10, in ascending order. 10. Benjamin Moore & Co v. Canada (Attorney General) In this case, the first time […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: No kidding: $50 million counsel fee ruled “excessive” in $23 billion class action | CEO mismanagement is grounds for tax relief: FC | M&A activity lowest in decade | PE activity slows to pre-pandemic levels: Blakes | COVID inventory losses not insured: OCA
By Julius Melnitzer | January 7, 2024 FEDERAL COURT SLASHES $50 MILLION COUNSEL FEE Justice Mandy Aylen of the Federal Court of Canada has denied approval of a $50 million fee sought by Sotos LLP; Kugler Kandestin LLP; Miller Titerle+ Co.; Nahwegahbow, Corbiere; and Fasken Martineau Dumoulin LLP, class counsel in the $23 billion settlement […]
Jury providing particulars of findings in med mal cases remains controversial
Mahsa Dabirian This article was created in partnership with Bogoroch & Associates By Julius Melnitzer | December 30, 2023 For some time now, it has been standard practice for judges to instruct Ontario juries to provide particulars or an explanation of their findings on standard of care and causation in medical malpractice and other professional negligence […]
Amendments to Ontario’s Rules of Civil Procedure aimed at improving trial readiness
Courts no longer amenable to parties coming to pre-trials without their experts’ reports ready This article was produced in partnership with Bogoroch & Associates By Julius Melnitzer | November 28, 2023 Amendments to Ontario’s Rules of Civil Procedure enacted in March 2022 have served to establish firm boundaries around the delivery of expert reports and […]