Our Take On Things

I'm feeling in a "Festivus" mood - if you didn't watch Seinfeld, Google it, then come back. The specific part of Festivus I'm in the mood for is the airing of grievances, so let's all gather around the Festivus pole, tired after the feats of strength and begin: "I...

Occasionally this Blog draws on recent cases in the firm and this Blog is one of them. A fraudster provided a fake cheque as form of payment for a piece of equipment and the company selling the piece of equipment (XYZ Co.) gave title to the fraudster. The fraudster...

Effective December 10, 2016, Ontario corporations that hold legal or beneficial interests in land that is located in Ontario, must prepare and maintain a register of these ownership interests pursuant to new record-keeping requirements under the Ontario Business...

Oh wait, isn't the title of this week's post the way that song goes? I suppose it's not, but it could be. Ah, the holidays. Yes, all of them, not just Christmas, Channukah & Kwanza - all of them. Nothing brings out good will towards all in some and the worst behaviour...

In July of this year, the Supreme Court of Canada made a ruling in a case called R. v. Jordan. This case has impacted our Civil Justice system in the Province of Ontario, in addition to the Criminal Justice system to which it was targeted. In the Jordan decision, the...

Dear future client: We look forward to helping you collect the money you're owed from that customer you are about to do business with. We understand that the customer doesn't want to put your deal in writing, preferring to work on a handshake. We also understand that...

Most Ontario High Schools are now sending out codes for students to use to apply to University. This is an exciting time and one full of a lot of decisions for students. Many of those students want to be lawyers. Many are being lied to by the Universities they're...

This is quite a week. November 11 is Remembrance Day in Canada. We stop to remember the men and women who fought in wars in order to ensure we have our freedom. Freedom is not free and many paid the ultimate sacrifice. Of course, today, November 8 is the US...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Sometimes you just can't fix stupid. I'll double down on that statement and say all the time you cannot fix a fraudster. Recently, our firm was contacted by an individual who was convicted of fraud while he was a Chartered Accountant and expelled from membership as a...

On September 8, 2016 Ontario Employers must comply with the changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Act that address Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. The changes are not difficult to comply with, they essentially involve ensuring your current workplace...

It's that time of year - students are getting ready to start Law School, Law Practice Program (LPP) Candidates are getting ready for their first in person week. It's time to Law. (I know, Law is not a verb, but really, it should be.) If you're about to enter law...