2018 to be a busy year for pension reforms
January 3, 2018 If there’s one thing that’s clear about pension reform in 2018, it’s that sponsors will have their hands full, particularly in Ontario. “There’s no question in my mind that impending changes to Ontario’s pension laws will motivate administrators and service providers to up their game,” says Mary Picard, a partner at Dentons […]
Pensioners of insolvent companies left out of contingency fee debate
Friday, January 05, 2018 Something’s been lost so far in the debate about contingency fees that the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) calls “[protecting] access to justice for the public, while ensuring protection from unscrupulous practices and unreasonable fees.” Unfortunately, what’s been lost are a lot of people. They’re called “pensioners,” a group that […]
CBC doc on forced resignation of Justice Le Dain a scathing look at legal profession
Friday, January 12, 2018 One Judge Down, CBC Radio’s revealing documentary about the shocking circumstances surrounding former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Gerald Le Dain’s abrupt resignation from the court in 1988, is both a sorrowful reflection about how even the most enlightened among us treat mental illness and an eye-opener about misplaced values that still […]
The devil is in the details of the #MeToo Movement
Friday, February 02, 2018 The #MeToo Movement, a cause so noble in its aim of correcting the historical abuse heaped on women, should never have become mired in the controversy that now threatens it. But it did, the day that some of the movement’s proponents and publicists overstepped the boundary between “MeToo” and “YouToo.” It’s […]
U.S. tax reform to bring double taxation to some Canadians
Changes will hit those with American property, dual citizens with Canadian earnings and even needy startups hoping for VC funds from U.S. February 6, 2018 While much of the commentary on U.S. tax reform has focused on the impact on business, some nasty surprises are in store for individual Canadians, particularly those with dual citizenship […]
When sexist, racist robots discriminate, are their owners at fault?
Artificial intelligence has the potential to wreak havoc on diversity initiatives February 20, 2018 Artificial intelligence (AI), it seems, has become the cutting-edge target for proponents of diversity in the workplace. Some experts claim that AI is increasingly biased against women and non-white people. Even robots, they claim, are being sexist and racist. The bias […]
Lack of law profession transparency preventing necessary culture change
Tuesday, February 27, 2018 If you’re Law Society of Ontario (LSO) treasurer Paul Schabas, you’ve got to be frustrated by the results of the recent LSO survey that prompted 20 per cent of responding articling students to reveal that they had received “unwelcome attention.” The results evidence the culture of a profession lagging precariously behind […]
Lawyers’ class action over unpaid employment benefits masks regulatory inaction over unauthorized legal services
Deloitte argues its use of such lawyers does not constitute unauthorized provision of legal services March 7, 2018 The strategy driving an employment class action between Deloitte and more than 400 lawyers is masking an issue fundamental to the future of the legal profession. On its face, the case is about whether Deloitte misclassified the […]
Canadian pension funds increasingly using co-investments to diversify real estate holdings
March 6, 2018 In their constant search for diversification, Canada’s largest pension funds seem to be continually restructuring their Canadian office building portfolios. “The goal has been to redeploy their investments by expanding internationally and developing new class A office buildings in Canada as well,” says Ayres Gonsalves, vice-president of commercial at Dorsay Development Corp., a […]
Rush to adapt misses the profession’s biggest problem: Unrepresented litigants
Monday, March 12, 2018 Even genuine self-examination runs the risk of succumbing to navel gazing. So it is with the legal profession these days. Never before have lawyers been so caught up in rapid change. And never before have they taken such a long, hard look at themselves. Should non-lawyers be allowed to own law […]