Our Take On Things

First impressions: you never get a chance to make a new first impression. A couple of older teenagers I know recently decided to go to a Toronto restaurant for Summerlicious. The restaurant was Fred's Not Here. When they met the host, they were asked if they were...

A few weeks ago the City of Toronto floated an idea (which has become common in many circles) that 50% of all of its Board Members must be women. I am a woman. I am a lawyer. I sit on Boards. I do not like that idea at all. The reason I don't like the idea is that it...

As a Business Firm, we frequently represent employers in Wrongful Dismissal law suits and we also help them implement policies to avoid those law suits. One of the issues that often comes up is failing to put discipline issues in writing. For some reason, many...

It's summertime and that means it's time to think about hiring Law Students for 2017. Wait, that's not what summertime means? For law firms, this is the time of year that students apply, interview and are hired for their mandatory work experience after they have...

You don't have to use a lawyer to buy a business. Lately our firm has seen many creative alternatives to using a lawyer to buy a business. Some of these include using a Realtor or selling on your own. The Realtor situation, which we have seen more than a few times...

A few weeks ago the newspapers were buzzing with the decision of the Honourable Mr. Justice Nordheimer to halt criminal charges against an individual until Legal Aid paid the bill for his lawyer. The basis for this is that the $ 11,000.00 income limit before you are...

Effective July 1, 2016, if your business is a "storer of a Motor Vehicle for which there is an Ontario Vehicle Permit issued" you must give notice of the fact you're storing the vehicle to the owner within 15 days and not the current 60 days that you obtain the...

Our firm's fantastic Paralegal, Murray Brown, is various Ontario Small Claims Courts each and every week. When we discuss many of his files, I can't help wonder: is this system broken? Small Claims Court is mandatory for claims $ 25,000.00 and under. Most of the...

As Business Lawyers our firm often has to tell clients there are certain things they have to do, even if they don't want to. The most frequent conversations of this nature are: 1. You cannot contract out of the Employment Standards Act Yes, that means everyone. Yes,...

I came across a Blog recently that talked about an American law regarding Poisoned Workplaces and how "not everything your boss asks you to do is poisonous." The article suggested employees should contact their boss before a lawyer when alleging a poisoned work...

We do a lot of collection litigation and we're good at it. (Hey, if we were humble, we would not be lawyers.) This past week, however, has driven home the frustration of bankruptcy in the collection process. We are always up front with our clients when they bring us a...

Like many law students in Ontario, I completed my Articles of law in private practice. In fact, I completed my Articles with Andriessen & Associates over ten years ago, the time when Gwen Stefani dropped her debut solo album and I spent many car rides home singing...

This week is a busy week for me. I'm the Chair of the Ontario Justice Education Network (OJEN) - Halton Committee and it is Mock Trial Championship time. On Wednesday, the top 8 Halton High School teams will compete for the championship. On Friday, teams from Halton,...

This week has been set aside by the greeting card companies to celebrate Admin Professionals day. We will be joining in, however, in our firm we appreciate our Admin Professionals every day. Since starting this firm over 23 years ago, I have always been of the belief...

If you're reading this Blog and not sure what "The Panama Papers" are, please do a quick Google Search and then return to this Blog. I'll wait. O.K. Everyone on the same page then? Good. I'm bothered by The Panama Papers, for reasons other than the outrage people have...

Our law firm is frequently in the Milton, Ontario Court House. Milton needs a new Court House. There is one elevator in the Court House that goes to the third floor. It is out of service more often than it works. This prevents people with mobility issues from easily...

Last week, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (ONHRC) conducted a trial by twitter. A restaurant had allegedly posted, on twitter, an ad for a female restaurant worker. To be clear: one is not allowed to do that in Ontario and job ads must be gender neutral. The...

Many of our clients are entering "Deal Mode" these days which often leads to questions about the value and enforceability of documents prepared in anticipation of doing a deal. These questions are often about the binding nature of a letter of intent or, in more...