How about Legal Literacy for High School Student?

I’ve been reading and hearing a lot lately about the call for financial literacy classes in high school. This involves teaching the basics of budgeting, what credit cards are, etc. I think this is a great idea.

However, I also think it would be a great idea if we taught legal literacy as well. Right now, Law classes in High School are often only offered at the University level stream. This class involves general concepts of law and an introduction to criminal law. It’s meant for students who are possibly interested in a future career in law and it is great. However, not everyone is going on to a career in law.

Everyone will, however, die. This means everyone will need a Will. That should be covered in High School.

50% of marriages fail. Basic family law rights and obligations should be covered in High School.

Most students will rent an apartment or house during their lifetime. Basic residential Landlord and Tenant rights and obligations should be covered in High School.

Currently, through my work chairing the Ontario Justice Education Network (OJEN) Halton Committee, we are able to work with Law Teachers to bring that information to the school on an ad hoc basis. This means some Halton High School students will emerge legally literate, however, many will not.

Let’s add legal literacy to the conversation about financial literacy in highschool.

Inga B. Andriessen JD

Civility between Lawyers in the Age of Donald Trump

The Law Society of Upper Canada has been working very hard to improve the civility between lawyers. This is something most of us practicing law always strive towards, yet occasionally, fail to achieve.

One of the interesting things of living in the age of the Donald Trump campaign for President is how running that type of campaign is “mainstreaming” the inappropriate behaviour he frequently displays. For eg, in Toronto, one of the local Councillors proudly displayed a photo flipping the bird on his home page: this has become “o.k.” int ath Councillor’s mind.

Similarly, I recently found myself in the lawyers lounge at Court House. I was the only female lawyer and the male lawyers thought it was great to toss around Donald’s “grab them by the p” comment. Wow. That was a new Courthouse low for me.

As lawyers in Ontario, we need to strive towards civility and avoid name calling and inappropriate outbursts. Of course, every now and then a Bad Hombre may bring out the Nasty Woman in a lawyer and when that happens, the only proper result is clearly to deny it ever happened, or claim that the Court decision was rigged, if it happened in the Court Room.

Or maybe, just maybe, we can all take a look at the behaviour of The Donald and decide we are better than that. We are more civil than that and we can argue opposite sides of an issue without taking it personally and without personal attacks.

Now, if you’re a Trump fan, then I know your reaction to this blog is “wrong”. I’m o.k. with that: you do you and I’ll be civil.

Inga B. Andriessen JD

Its been 25 years since I graduated from law school ….

Next week, the Class of 1991 is holding its’ 25th Reunion. Our Class has organized it on its’ own because our Law School dropped the ball. It seems it was unable to reach people in our Class to tell them about the reunion. Strangely, the people who didn’t learn about the reunion, continue to receive emails asking for donations. I’m guess those people are probably not responding to those emails. I digress.

Twenty-five years sounds like a long time and to be fair, it is, though looking back on it, it flew by in the blink of an eye (oh boy do I sound old).

During my career to date, I’ve seen some big changes in the law and how we practice law in Ontario. Unfortunately, I’ve also seen many things stay the same and that is troubling. We still don’t have computerized filing of Court proceedings in Ontario. We still don’t have enough Judges. We still have Court Houses that are too small for the population they serve.

On the positive, we have wide ranging, meaningful legal research data bases available to us online. We have legal education that is available province wide through Webcasts. We have the Law Practice Program (LPP) as an alternative to Articling (for now). We have a push to embrace technology and use it to strengthen our legal skills.

From a personal point of view, I’m proud to have contributed to the case law applying the Oppression Remedy to Creditors. I’m proud of having worked to create a High School Mentor Lawyer program in Halton and I’m proud of working with the LPP Candidates to Mentor new, young lawyers to achieve their potential.

Given how quickly these twenty-five years flew by, I am excited (though not in a rush) to see how incredible the next twenty-five will be!

Inga B. Andriessen JD

Maybe job interviews should be "Blind Auditions"

If you’re a fan of The Voice (or forced to watch it because your spouse is a fan) then you’re familiar with The Blind Auditions that start this singing competition. If not, it’s not complicated: four judges have their backs to a singer who walks on stage and the judges cannot see them. The judges only base their decision as to whether the singer should continue in the competition on the sound of their voice: not their name, appearance or performance, just their ability.

Lately I’ve been hearing from many lawyers who are facing challenges obtaining job interviews, despite having incredible resumes, marks and being educated at some of the top law schools in Canada and around the world. These lawyers who are having challenges are, like me, people whose names are not “traditional Canadian names”. When people see the name Inga Andriessen, they often presume (wrongly) that I was not born in Canada. I don’t think they presume that my English will be accented, but they might think I’ll sound like an Ikea Commercial (again wrong, I’m of Dutch descent, not Swedish and the only accent I have is Canadian,eh) or they might think that I’m tall and blonde … well, that’s a bad example as I am both.

Regardless, assumptions are made based on names and despite all the talk about treating everyone equally, that’s not what is actually going on in the world. People are still being discriminated against based on their presumed lack of English skills, lack of training or, in the worst case scenario, because they are the wrong colour.

I’ve never understood employers making decisions based on race, presumed country of origin or any other factor other than ability. You lose out on great talent that way: it just doesn’t make sense.

So, my clever solution is this: let’s conduct job interviews like Blind Auditions. If the candidate has the right degree and level of achievement, then do the interview without knowing the person’s name, without actually seeing them, and make your decision based on ability, not stereotypes. Personally, I’d like to get a special “The Voice” chair with a red button I can press to spin around once I’ve decided to hire the candidate: that would be awesome !

I’m not actually suggesting this happen, but I’m pointing out, if you’re pre-judging candidates based on their name and don’t even bother to read how accomplished they are on their resume, you’re likely missing out on some great talent.

Inga B. Andriessen JD

The Law Practice Program (LPP )- Should it stay or should it go ?

Over three years ago, the Law Society of Upper Canada agreed to a three year trial of an alternative to Articling for lawyers seeking to be Called to the Bar in Ontario. This program is called the Law Practice Program, or shortened to LPP.

The Sub-Committee of the Law Society has recommended that the LPP not be continued. I disagree.

When one Articles, one works under an Articling Principal (one responsible lawyer) for 10 months. That one person then signs off on whether the lawyer is ready to be Called to the Bar in Ontario.

In the LPP, the lawyers are mentored by two different lawyers for the first four months of the program. The lawyers also have their work evaluated by over 15 other assessors who independently decide if those lawyers are ready to be Called to the Bar in Ontario. After that first four months, the lawyers then have a work placement where the supervising lawyer again has an opportunity to decide if the lawyer is ready to be Called to the Bar in Ontario.

As a Mentor in the LPP, I have had three years of first hand experience in the program and believe that it produces a lawyer who is better prepared to be Called to the Bar than most Articling positions. As a result, I was initially confused as to why the Sub-Committee recommended against the continuation of this licensing option .

After thinking about it, I concluded, the reason must be because the Law Society wishes to limit the number of lawyers being Called to the Bar in Ontario.

When I went to Law School 25 years ago, very few Canadian students chose to study abroad and then come back to Canada to be licensed. Part of that was due to the fact that the requirements to have your foreign degree accepted in Ontario were much higher back then. This lead to a natural “cap” on the number of lawyers seeking admission to the Bar each year as it was based, in part, on the number of Canadian Law School graduates each year.

Today, however, it is not uncommon for many Canadian students to study law in schools in the UK and Australia, then return to Canada seeking to become licensed in this country. This has resulted in a huge influx of lawyers seeking to become licensed in Ontario. At the same time as the huge increase in lawyers seeking to become licensed, there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of Articling positions available.

If the intention of the Law Society is to limit the number of lawyers Called to the Ontario Bar, that can still be accomplished by having the LPP being the only licensing stream and capping the number of lawyers who are accepted into the LPP each year.

The LPP produces a more prepared lawyer and one who is evaluated by many assessors, not just the opinion of one lawyer.

I vote that the LPP stay.

Inga B. Andriessen JD

Access to Justice in the Civil Context – Let's all work together!

I was recently in Court, on a Civil Motions list. If you’re not a lawyer, you likely don’t know that in Order to get your case on a Civil Motion list you must:

1. Serve the motion;
2. File the motion and pay $ 127.00 at the Court House;
3. Serve and file a motion confirmation form by 2:00 p.m., 2 “Court Days” prior to the hearing of the motion.

The motion confirmations described in step three can be sent by email or fax. Most law firms use fax because you then have a fax confirmation sheet. Why would you need that you ask?

Well, for example, on the day I was recently in Court, five matters were not on the Motion list because the Court Office did not have any record of them being confirmed on time: yet two of them were. Those files were “added to the list” for the day.

Sounds good, right? Wrong.

Because the Court Office made an error, those lawyers (at their hourly rates) were now sitting around for at least three hours longer, until the Judge had a chance to read their materials and hear their arguments.

Years ago I was in a situation where, despite having proved I confirmed on time, the Judge refused to hear my matter. I had to come back two weeks later.

The Attorney General talks about Access to Justice. The Judges, Law Professors and most lawyers talk about Access to Justice. Perhaps we can all think about that when doing our jobs in the legal system and make it work in the most efficient way (both monetarily and time wise) to accomplish that goal.

Inga B. Andriessen JD

The Power of a Power of Attorney

Did you hear the story about the entrepreneur who went skiing with their family over the holidays and unexpectedly hit a tree on their decent and suffered a debilitating brain injury? After a lengthy hospital stay and another month of care at home, this unfortunate individual was bombarded with calls from unpaid suppliers and frustrated employees who were waiting for missed paychecks because the entrepreneur did not have a power of attorney for property.

A power of attorney is an important legal document that provides a plan in the event you become injured, infirmed and unable to make decisions regarding your health and finances. With a continuing power of attorney for property, you can appoint someone to make financial decisions for you, such as paying your bills. If you fall ill or become injured and cannot make decisions regarding your health and medical care, a power of attorney for personal health and care can give someone else the right to act on your behalf to make such health and medical decisions. Powers of attorney can be invoked on a permanent or temporary basis to help you make decisions in the time of need.

The entrepreneur’s brain injury unfortunately did not recover and the doctors found the entrepreneur lacking the mental capacity to create a valid power of attorney. Without having the powers of attorney in place, the entrepreneur’s eldest son had to go through a lengthy and costly experience by applying to the courts to be appointed as the entrepreneur’s guardian to help manage the company finances and property. All of this could have been avoided if the entrepreneur had powers of attorney in place while mental capacity was not an issue.

We encourage our clients to have powers of attorney created, especially when planning for their estate. It not only makes good business sense, but it provides a clear plan for you and your loved ones if an unfortunate event occurs and you are unable to make health and financial decisions.

If you would like to learn more or would like to create powers of attorney for yourself, we would be pleased to be of assistance.

Michelle Eames, LLB, LLM

An Ode to our Business Litigation Paralegal !

Yesterday our Paralegal, Murray Brown, celebrated 5 years with our firm. A “workiversary’ of this length is something that needs to be celebrated and certainly, our Paralegal needs to be celebrated.

In Ontario, the relationship between Lawyers and Paralegals has been a tough one since I’ve been practicing law (23 years) and likely before that. The tensions are flaring again in Ontario as Paralegals push to take on roles in Family Law. We don’t practice in that area of law, but I can understand why it is important a Lawyer be involved when there are complicated assets and custody issues.

In the area of Business Litigation, Murray is an asset to our firm as he handles all of our Small Claims Work. Small Claims is a tough Court to practice in. As with all Courts in Ontario, it doesn’t have enough Judges, so dockets are long and adjournments are frequent. Murray’s patience to guide our clients through the system is one of the things that makes him so good at what he does.

The title “Small Claims” does not accurately describe the types of cases that Murray handles in Court. The monetary limit of our Small Claims Court is currently $25,000.00. That is a lot of money to many Small Businesses. The issues in Small Claims Court can be complicated, particularly when dealing with contracts that are not in writing: this is where Murray’s experience as a Business Litigator really kicks in.

Yes, your business can represent itself in Small Claims, however, with someone like Murray who has over 13 years experience and knows how to get results, why would you, particularly when all of our Small Claims Work is on a flat fee basis.

Congratulations on 5 years with our firm Murray – we look forward to celebrating the next 5 with you as well !

Inga B. Andriessen JD
Lawyer & Proud Co-Worker of Murray Brown, Paralegal

The Cost of Doing Business – when not to cheap out.

Recently we have heard of many businesses being hit with Crypto Viruses. This is a computer virus that holds your data ransom until money is paid to hackers and you receive some but hopefully all of your data. Each of the businesses that were hit did not have a professional running their IT. It was often someone’s brother, who was doing it “on the side” or in the worst case, a business owner who “doesn’t believe in paying for IT.”

Interestingly, after paying to get Data back, people start believing in paying for professional IT.

Similarly, over the years we’ve had clients who “incorporate themselves” …. and do it wrong ….. and pay us to “do it right.” That is the opposite of “saving money”.

The “best” examples of when not to cheap out are the clients who decide they don’t want to pay for us to prepare an employment contract (between $ 500.00 and $ 2,000.00 depending on how complex) and end up paying well over $ 10,000.00 to defend wrongful dismissal law suits and payout judgments for not complying with the law in Ontario.

Remember, sometimes the cheapest solution is not the most cost effective solution in business law.

Inga B. Andriessen JD

It's almost September – time to get those receivables in line

September is a busy month for our firm: many businesses who were content to let receivables age over the summer turn the page on the calendar and think “gotta get that fixed before December 31”. This leads to a lot of demand letters and claims flying out the door of our firm.

If you’re looking to collect from a customer, these are the important pieces of information we need to get to work quickly for you:

1. copy of your contract, if you have one;
2. copy of your invoice(s);
3. copy of the credit application, if you have one;
4. copy of any emails promising to pay or saying why they are not paying;
5. copy of any cheques used to pay earlier invoices.

We usually conduct a writ search to see if there are already judgments against your customer before recommending whether to sue or not. If you believe the customer owns property, we recommend a property search as well to see if there really is a pot of gold at the end of the lawsuit rainbow (or if the spouse of the customer owns the property).

Many times a demand letter and follow up phone call from our firm is all it takes to get payment, but there are also times we have to move quickly to obtain judgment or prevent assets from being moved out of Ontario.

If you need help getting paid, give us a shout, we are happy to help.

Inga B. Andriessen JD