SCC rejects presumptive ceiling for post-verdict sentencing delay
Joseph Neuberger | Daniel Brodsky Unanimous court adopts ‘markedly longer’ test in R. v. R.B.-C.; sentence reduction is the ordinary remedy for delay By Julius Melnitzer | September 14, 2026 The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the right of individuals to be tried within a reasonable time is not subject to a presumptive […]
FCA: EI rules stripping new mother of job-loss benefits discriminate
Stephen Moreau Six Employment Insurance Act provisions violate Charter equality rights; Parliament has one year to fix them By Julius Melnitzer | September 12, 2026 A veteran Toronto litigator believes a recent Federal Court of Appeal decision could force the federal government to redesign the country’s employment insurance scheme. “Parliament will have to revisit certain […]
Licensees may obtain disclosure in interlocutory suspension proceedings
LSO tribunal accepts LSO reading of disclosure rule but refuses its ‘exceptional circumstances’ test By Julius Melnitzer | September 10, 2026 The Law Society Tribunal has ruled that licensees may be entitled to disclosure in support of their responses to interlocutory suspension proceedings. The Tribunal accepted the Law Society of Ontario’s submission that it had […]
Collapse of the U.K.’s Woodville a cautionary tale for Canadian law firms
By Julius Melnitzer | September 5, 2026 Woodville Consultants Limited, which called itself a litigation funder and has been widely and wrongfully described as such in the media, has collapsed and is in administration in the United Kingdom. Still, its demise raises serious questions for Canadian law firms who have or are seeking loans. The High Court […]
Ontario court rules executive entitled to stock options that vested following notice period
By Julius Melnitzer | August 27, 2026 An Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled that a senior executive was entitled to compensation for restricted stock unit and share option incentives that wouldn’t have fully vested until after the reasonable notice period. “This is the first time that I am aware of where an employee recovered […]
Quebec Regulators Can Now Order Deepfake Ads Offline
By Julius Melnitzer | August 19, 2026 The Bill confers a new power to issue orders usually reserved for courts of law, allowing the regulator to intervene at any time before a ruling and order the cessation of a representation falsely linked to an individual, in accordance with the principles of procedural fairness. — Thomas Chagnon […]
IP Rights in VR and AR Gaming
By Julius Melnitzer | August 18, 2026 “A common issue in VR gameplay arises when a headset receives images and media streams from, and transmits user-movement data to, a remote server rather than processing everything locally. That round trip creates latency. An invention that reduces that latency or computing demand may provide a patentable technical […]
The Value Is in the IP: Protecting Australian Agritech’s Real Asset
By Julius Melnitzer | July 31, 2026 Once the product is out in the field, the marginal cost of copying it is close to zero. That’s a textbook appropriability problem, and it’s more acute here than in most tech sectors — Dr Chris Vindurampulle Few industries are as woven into Australia’s economy and identity as agriculture, […]
Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way
By Murray Gottheil | July 24, 2026 “Lead, follow, or get out of the way” is an expression which some attribute to Thomas Payne. Tommy died in 1809, so this is hardly a new turn of speech. And yet, back in my law firm (and I suspect in many others), there were partners who never came […]
I Heard it Through the Gripe Vine
By Julia Volk at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | July 23, 2026 A long time ago, when I had a modicum of influence in a law firm, I used to include a sentence in every offer letter to associates to the effect that we expected our lawyers to be part of the solution to issues […]