Should AI be declared a separate legal personality? Ask your motherboard
By Marcel Strigberger | August 14, 2025 Hey humans! Should AI be declared a separate legal personality? The Law Commission in the U.K. is studying the notion, noting that the thought is not far-fetched. This means the entity can be a “person” in the eyes of the law, such as corporations, sovereign states, etc., all capable of […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Smaller firms’ hourly rates outstripping Big Law | 87% settlement rate for mediations | Trump punishes immigration lawyers | Pension risk transfers down 60% | Rule of Law pledges growing slowly
HOURLY RATES NEAR RECORD RISE A Thomson Reuters study reveals that lawyers’ hourly rates in the US have soared by 7.4% in the last year. What’s surprising is that the growth for the profession as a whole considerably outstrips the 5.0-5.5% rise at top-100 US firms. While the number for the firms outside the top-100 […]
Law Firms Marching Obliviously into Oblivion
Photo by Akin Akdag at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | August 8, 2025 Back in the day, when law school cost very little and you could rent an apartment in Toronto for a reasonable amount, law firms hired newly qualified lawyers at modest salaries and gave them simple assignments. The firms also provided mentoring and training, so […]
Putting a contract out on contracts
By Marcel Strigberger | August 7, 2025 I do not like entering into contracts. The prospect of signing an agreement checks most of the boxes for a PTSD diagnosis. Mention the words “offer and acceptance”, and I quiver. I would say I have had these sentiments since I was 10 years old. Why, you ask? I have […]
How Can I Help You?
By Murray Gottheil | August 6, 2025 One day, several years ago, I was out for lunch with a banker whom I will call Neil. Neil was a commercial account manager at a large Canadian Bank. As I always did at such meetings, I asked Neil, “How can I help you?” (For those of you who need […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Ottawa lawyer defaces Holocaust memorial | Is a drink at lunch during trial break a no-no for counsel? | AI Knowledge Exchange passes on partners’ insights to associates | Turning Parties’ AI Against Them? | Lawyer swims – but not with the sharks
By Julius Melnitzer | August 5, 2025 OTTAWA LAWYER’S VANDALISM RAISES FEARS IN JEWISH COMMUNITY CBC News reports that Iain Aspenlieder, a 46-year-old lawyer fired by the City of Ottawa after being accused of vandalism, has pleaded guilty to mischief to a war memorial after defacing the Holocaust National Monument in June by painting the […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Law firms’ changing bonus criteria | AI rolls out to thousands of law firms | Vampire lawyer fired | BCSC rebukes LSBC for treating lawyer unfairly | DLA Piper boosts Toronto RE practice
By Julius Melnitzer | July 31, 2025 BONUSES: GOODBYE, HOURS; HELLO, COLLABORATION, INCLUSION & LONG-TERM PERFORMANCE A recent report by Innecto Reward Consulting and HR Network People in Law suggests that law firms may be shifting their bonus criteria from billings, personal performance and profit to structures that are fairer, more transparent, and contribute to […]
Supreme Court could determine how employee termination impacts profit-sharing agreements
By: Julius Melnitzer | July 31, 2025 In a recent case, the Supreme Court of Canada is being asked to consider a question that has long divided courts and vexed employers: are agreements that forfeit employees’ unvested equity-based compensation on termination enforceable, even if the vesting is scheduled to occur during the reasonable notice period? “The […]
7 Reasons Why the Legal Profession often gets No Sympathy
Image from Shutterstock.com. By Marcel Strigberger | July 30, 2025 The legal profession is a noble one. But is that the impression the public has of lawyers? What images generally come to mind? Let’s start with Noah’s Ark. A biblical theme park called Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky, is suing its insurers for insufficient coverage […]
AI Hallucinations are Proliferating, and IP is Not Exempt
By Julius Melnitzer | July 28, 2025 It was likely inevitable: artificial intelligence (AI) hallucinations are permeating intellectual property (IP) law. Falsely generated legal research first came to the world’s attention in 2023 when an American lawyer appeared on the front page of the New York Times after he included references to non-existent cases in his court […]