Our Take On Things

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...

I was recently successful in a Small Claims law suit where our client was sued for alleged damages to a vehicle the plaintiff claimed were caused by our client. It was obvious after reviewing the Plaintiff’s Claim that the plaintiff had no reason to sue our client....

Ontario lawyers all recently received the email from the Law Society telling us we have to create a Statement of Principles that acknowledges our obligation to promote equality, diversity and inclusion generally, and in your behaviour towards colleagues, employees,...

If you thought by the title of today’s post that we were jumping ship and reviewing the American reality television show of the same name, rest assured we are not! Today’s post is a reflection of some of the recent contract negotiation work we have assisted our...

There are so many people out there who have not given serious thought about Estate Planning. They question “what will happen if I die?”, “what will happen if both myself and spouse dies, my child(ren) will get the property , right?”. Before that happens (I mean before...

There are numerous situations where a client walks into a law office with a valid issue but is unable to receive the outcome they desire. In this profession, clients do not always get the results they want however they should never be robbed of their day in court due...

Our firm is a Professional Corporation. The Canadian Government has declared we are therefore tax cheats. I disagree. Many of our clients are also Professional Corporations or Small Business Corporations. They are not tax cheats either. Over the past twenty-four year,...

One thing that we have noticed with our corporate clients is that they are often operating under a name different than that which has been incorporated. For example, incorporating “ABC Company Incorporated” and then operating under “DEF Co”. What’s the problem with...

We recently had a request from client who is a condominium owner to proceed with an eviction because their tenant was not only failing to pay them rent, but they also had listed the condominium for rent on the Airbnb website. The question they asked was: Can a tenant...

When entering into a services contract, you may be focused on the business terms such as the scope of services and the fees to be paid and gloss over the provisions towards the end of a contract that look like boilerplate provisions. These provisions include the...

Throughout my fifteen year career as a paralegal, I have had to deal with many unprepared and inexperienced lawyers and paralegals. Based upon my recent dealings with those representatives, here is my top 7 list of things not to in Small Claims Court: #7 - Do not...