Sometimes, I Just Don’t Care About The Client’s Damn Budget
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | May 1, 2025 A young lawyer named Eve called me today about a fee dispute. She had quoted an hourly rate without providing an estimate and issued an interim bill for the time spent. The client did not think it should have cost that much […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Law firm risked becoming a terrorist agent | Fearful lawyers refusing cases against Trump | FBI criminalizes environmental groups | Legal Aid can’t refuse to pay for 90% of firm’s document review | Avatars are the new court spokepersons
By Julius Melnitzer | March 26, 2025 CENTRAL LONDON FIRM HIT WITH C$47,000 ALM FINE The UK’s Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has imposed a maximum fine of C$47,000 on PCB Lawyers LLP, a central London property law specialist, for breaches of anti-money laundering regulation that exposed the firm to being used as a conduit for […]
Quebec’s approach to remote workers’ rights holds lessons for other provinces: lawyer
By: Julius Melnitzer | March 13, 2035 Quebec’s approach to legislation impacting remote workers’ rights holds lessons for the rest of Canada, says Geneviève Beaudin, a Montreal-based partner in Lavery de Billy LLP’s labour and employment law group. “There have been five cases in Quebec that focus on the meaning of ‘establishment’ [in a remote working […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: ECJ: Accountants’ communications not privileged | Alexi AI cuts routine litigation task time by 80% | Legal Risk Assessments: tackling risk proactively | OCA: No appeals of court-ordered arbitrator appointments | Singapore to establish international appeals body for commercial cases
By Julius Melnitzer | October 30, 2024 ECJ RULES THAT PRIVILEGE DOES NOT EXTEND TO TAX ADVISORS WHO ARE NOT LAWYERS The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that privilege in tax matters extends only to lawyers and not to other professionals, even if they perform similar advisory tasks. The court concluded […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Abusive firm leader disbarred for insulting juniors | Vancouver bar icon dies before facing laundering charges | Trending: return to office | UK Court of Appeal: ANNs not patentable | Arbitrator: Taking a diving course counts as “union business”
By Julius Melnitzer | July 24, 2024 TREAT JUNIOR COLLEAGUES WITH RESPECT – OR ELSE! Domenic Pisano, a lawyer with 23 years’ experience and a director of Domenic Levent Solicitors in London, has been disbarred by the UK’s Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for “offensive, intimidating and insulting” behaviour towards junior colleagues. His sins included shouting at […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: 60-year-old lawyer seeks Miss Universe crown | OCA to trial judges: don’t call parties’ testimony ‘self-serving’ | No correlation between ‘attack dog’ counsel and success | AI legal robot sued: lacks license to practice
By Julius Melnitzer | May 2, 2024 SEXAGENARIAN IN-HOUSE COUNSEL CROWNED MISS BUENOS AIRES Alejandra Rodriguez, a 60-year old Argentinian hospital lawyer, pictured above, has won the Miss Buenos Aires contest. If she wins the next round in the Miss Universe competition by becoming Miss Argentina, she will enter the final, international round as the […]
Feminists – Honesty Is Not Always The Best Policy
Photo by Markus Spiske at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | April 28, 2024 I was speaking to a newbie lawyer the other day. I am going to call her Sue, which is definitely not her real name. Sue is an intelligent young woman, but like many of us when we are starting out, is perhaps just a […]
What employers need to know about determining remote workers’ province of employment
By: Julius Melnitzer | March 20, 2024 The Canada Revenue Agency’s guidance for determining a full-time remote worker’s province of employment for payroll deduction purposes, which came into force on Jan. 1, could prove burdensome to employers. “While the intention is to create certainty, whether it will do so remains to be seen,” says Sarah Mills, […]
Law Firm Primer For Articling Students and New Associates – Part Four: The Chief Technology Officer
Photo by Murray Gottheil By Murray Gottheil | November 14, 2023 This is the fourth in a series about questions that articling students and new associates should ponder in determining whether they have landed in the right place. This time I will address the chief technology officer (the “CTO”). Of course, being lawyers we need a […]
Canada Labour Code amendments will exempt some employees from hours-of-work requirements
By: Julius Melnitzer | October 31, 2023 New amendments to the Canada Labour Code will exempt some employees from the legislation’s hours-of-work requirements. “These amendments are a rare example of changes that employers in the federal sector will welcome and, in some respects, [will] align the CLC to Ontario’s Employment Standards Act,” says Landon Young, managing […]