Our Take On Things

A recent development has taken place in the realm of residential tenancies since our last blog about the exclusion of marijuana use in residential tenancies. On April 30 2018, all new residential tenancies in Ontario must use the same standardized lease, which was...

I started my career as a litigator and that remains about 70% of my personal practice these days. Our firm employs other lawyers who do not practice any litigation and focus on the document side of law. When I started out, 25 years ago, most contracts I litigated on...

As a firm that has clients that have head offices all over the country, and even in the US, we are often asked if we can assist them with matters where the jurisdiction lies within Ontario. There are many areas of law that our firm can assist our out of...

David Frum is a Canadian born, living in the USA, author who just released a book about Donald Trump that details his attacks on the pillars of Democracy in the USA. There has been a lot of press about this lately and it has all been focused on the USA. Last week,...

The Canadian Federal Government is legalizing recreational marijuana use the year. The issue of marijuana use in rental units is an issue residential landlords need to be aware of. The Ontario Provincial Government has indicated it will ban the use of recreational...

Many times when we meet with our clients to discuss their estate planning, the question of what happens if your spouse and all of your children fail to survive you, triggers a blank reaction. More often than not, this consideration of a common disaster occurring is...

Have you noticed all the outrage going around these days? Minimum wage increase in Ontario, Diversity Statement for Lawyers, #MeToo for many women - there is a lot of outrage and protest and the message is often getting lost in all of the noise. One topic, as a...

I was recently successful representing a client at a Trial where they were sued for an alleged misrepresentation of the product they sold the plaintiff. The plaintiff purchased Product A from our client, but claimed they expected Product B. The only difference between...

When you hire new employees, how do you make sure they are made aware of policies and procedures within the company? How do you make sure they know what is expected of them as an employee within your company? The Company Handbook is how. Important topics to be covered...

When we are looking to sign a contract, it is easy to become lost in the business details to ensure that the key contract terms reflect business discussions and expectations. Although it is important to ensure that the key contract terms are accurate as you enter into...

Often we are asked by clients to register Construction Liens for them. This generally is not a problem, except for when we find out that the day of last attendance at the construction site was 44 days ago. Why is that a problem? Because of the due diligence searches...

Over the years, I have assisted vehicle owners in getting their vehicles back from parties (lien claimants) who have allegedly repaired, stored or towed their vehicle. These owners have never agreed to the amount(s) charged by the lien claimant, or someone else had...

In the Province of Ontario there is a lot of talk about Access to Justice and concern about how many self-represented litigants there are in the Courts. One of the solutions has been to increase the number of lawyers in the Province. Not surprising to me, this has not...

When spouses decide to prepare their wills together, there may be a concern that once one of the spouses die and the surviving spouse later remarries, that the surviving spouse may not live up to the joint intentions and promises she or he made to the deceased spouse...

I'm fortunate that as part of my career I have the opportunity to Mentor students, beginning at the High School level and carrying on to lawyers about to be Called to the Bar. I've recently encountered some questions during Mentoring interactions that have led me to...

What is the difference between a lawyer and a paralegal? That is one of the most common questions I am asked by clients. One of the most obvious differences between lawyers and paralegals is education; however, this blog will focus on the scope of practice of a...

Lawyers provide a service. We do many things including conducting research, advocating for our clients and providing legal opinions. While these services are essential, they are not always welcomed nor are they always appreciated. Many businesses that are not law...

I previously talked about why I became a Law Clerk and my role with corporate matters in the firm. This is a big part of what I do for our clients and I wanted to expand on that thought, so that's what today's Blog is about. As a Corporation, Federal or Provincial,...

Back in July, the Liberal government issued draft legislation for proposed tax reforms aimed at private incorporated businesses that fell primarily into 4 categories: Income splitting, Capital gains exemption, Capital gains within a corporate group, and Deferral of...

The title of this Blog is often used in terms of data management to mean that if you input garbage your results will not be impressive. As a litigator, this also applies to the information provided to me by my clients. If my client does not give me full disclosure,...

We as humans have a great attribute to persevere. We like to think that everything will work out in the end if we keep fighting for what we believe is right. This idea can get you far in life but it can also cost you a lot especially in the legal field. One of the...