Our Take On Things

Today is Bell's "Let's Talk Day" and the entire month of January has brought mental health issues to the forefront of the media - seems like the perfect time to talk about the legal aspects of Mental Health. A mental health problem is a tough problem for an Employer...

I don’t practice criminal law for a reason. The extension of Charter rights to every facet of police and detention procedure in dealing with an accused, and the resulting dismissal or stay of charges for minor breaches, has always infuriated me. When I was in law...

The news this week included the Canadian Bar Association report that called for more funding for Legal Aid given the increase of unrepresented litigants before the Courts. This lead to much discussion about the number of people who are representing themselves before...

Did you know that there are time limits that can prevent you from suing a party, if you wait too long? Unfortunately, many businesses learn that lesson the hard way and it is so unavoidable. Most lawsuits in Ontario must be started within two years after the event...

'Twas the night before Christmas (or the holidays if Christmas is not your thing), When all through the firm, Not a creature was stirring, not even Paul Voorn. The files were stored in the file room with care, The desks were all tidy, each had a pushed in chair. The...

As Ontario lawyers, our profession is regulated by the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC for short - oh yeah, we pronounce it that way too ). The proclaimed goal of the LSUC is to regulate the profession to protect the public: if we don't, the government would step in...

22 years ago when I was an Articling Student, the Small Claims Court limit was $3000.00 except in Toronto where it was $ 6000.00. I forget exactly when (I'm old) but it was bumped up to $ 10 000.00 across the province and of course, a few years ago, up to $ 25 000.00....

Have you seen the Microsoft Gift Shop Mugs yet? They say "Keep Calm while We Steal your Data". As a lawyer the thought of someone stealing my data is a bigger problem that the mug suggests. As a lawyer, everything my client and I discuss is confidential (yes, there...

Rob is the R word, of course. If you live in the Greater Toronto area there is no escaping that word these days. In the rest of the world Rob is making his presence known, but there are other news stories that have the headlines. I've watched this drama unfold with...

I’ve been a lawyer for 20 years now. When I was a new lawyer I thought lawyers who were in practice as long as I have been were ancient. I was right. I recently enjoyed an out of Court examination with a relatively young lawyer. That lawyer didn’t know the rules that...

Tomorrow is take your Grade 9 to work day. Our firm is participating and looking forward to exposing a student to the reality of what being a lawyer is: it's not all Courtrooms & cross examinations, they will learn there is a fair amount of "boring desk work"...

It's one of those weeks again for me, a hurry up and wait week. I have a matter on a Court list in Hamilton. The matter could be called at any time this week, or it could not be called at all, in which case it gets put on a list for another week. Maybe with priority...

If you own a company with another shareholder who you are not married to, you need a Shareholder's Agreement. Why? That is easy: it lets you control your destiny, rather than someone else. Without a Shareholder's Agreement you could find your shareholder's ex-spouse...

A "hot topic" of conversation in the GTA Litigation community is the delay in the Toronto Court System. That delay means over 7 months to book a procedural motion before a Master and that of course can lead to delays in law suits for years. Yesterday I was in Motions...

This morning the lawyers in our firm attended a great continuing legal education seminar about Civil Litigation in the Milton Court House. This was fantastic as it provided real information about our area of practice. Unfortunately, meaningful seminars are difficult...

I enjoy reading many Newspapers, each coming at the news from a different view point. Some have a clear agenda, some hide it better than others. This morning's Toronto Star contains an article that reads a little bit like a Law Student's first attempt at a factum...

One of the things I love about owning our firm is that I can make the rules. One of the rules I have always followed is that we must have fun, at least once a year. (I'm kidding about the frequency) To that end, every year we have a Summer Fun Day. We choose an...

The big topic of conversation this morning in the GTA news was that three Firepersons (you'll understand why I'm being extra gender neutral shortly) were terminated from their employment by the City of Toronto for tweets sent from their private Twitter accounts. These...

Decisions made in anger are rarely the correct decision, yet we often find ourselves talking to clients who have decided to start a law suit in a fit of anger. While ultimately the law suit may have merit, we always talk the client through the potential pitfalls of...

Yes, I know technically summer does not end until September 21. However, I'm just back from two weeks vacation in Nova Scotia & New Brunswick, so I'm feeling that my summer is at an end and my focus is shifting to the upcoming Fall. Many of our clients shift their...