Canada

Supreme Court of Canada Grants Shield Law for Confidential Sources

Journalists in Canada now have the right to shield confidential sources—provided the protection is in the public interest—after a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada on Friday. The judgment was described as “an important victory for investigative journalism in Quebec and for every Canadian who believes in the public…

Oct 22, 2010 9:55 PM CDT

Reporters Can Tweet & Text Trial Plea, But Can’t Broadcast Audio, Ontario Judge Rules

Journalists will be allowed to tweet and send live-text accounts of an expected guilty plea in a high-profile murder trial of an air force commander, a Canadian judge has ruled. And they will even be allowed to take audio clips of the proceedings concerning Col. Russell Williams, 47, Ontario Superior…

Oct 15, 2010 12:00 PM CDT

Canadian Court Ponders Whether Woman Must Remove Niqab to Testify at Sex Assault Trial

Overturning a lower court order requiring a Muslim woman to remove her niqab before testifying against two male relatives at a sexual assault trial, the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that a preliminary hearing judge should ponder the issue further before making a determination. While facial demeanor is important…

Oct 13, 2010 9:19 PM CDT

Ex-Dean Makes Amazing Prediction: 25 Law Schools in Canada by 2025

A former Canadian law dean has looked in his crystal ball and made some predictions about legal education in a country that currently has only 16 law schools, all of them public institutions. Some predictions by Brent Cotter, the former dean of the College of Law at the University of…

Oct 7, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Canadian Judge Strikes Down Ban on ‘Bawdy Houses’

A Canadian court has struck down a law that bans “bawdy houses,” saying it endangers prostitutes by forcing them to work on the streets. A Toronto judge ruled in a constitutional challenge by two prostitutes and a dominatrix who ran a “Bondage Bungalow,” the New York Times reports. Prostitution is…

Sep 29, 2010 4:22 PM CDT

Lawyer Sues ‘Sex Object’ Ex-Client, Wins Ruling Requiring Him to Return Nude Photos of Judge

Accused of harassment by a former client in a civil suit, a Canadian lawyer has now fired back, contending that Alex Chapman breached the terms of a $25,000 settlement agreement in 2003 and has violated his privacy. Additionally, attorney Jack King also won a ruling yesterday from a Manitoba Court…

Sep 3, 2010 5:53 PM CDT

‘Sex Object’ Ex-Client Sues His Ex-Lawyer, a Judge & Their Ex-Firm, as Jurist Steps Aside, for Now

Updated: After reporting yesterday the jaw-dropping details of an ex-client’s legal ethics complaint against his former divorce attorney and the lawyer’s wife, who is now a family court judge in Canada, CBC News reports that the man filed suit today against the lawyer, the judge and their former Winnipeg law…

Sep 1, 2010 11:12 PM CDT

‘Sex Object’ Client Complains: My Lawyer Showed Me Nude Photos of His Wife, Now a Judge

Corrected: When Alexander Chapman retained a family lawyer in 2002, he was seeking a divorce. But he got a lot more than he bargained for from his then-counsel at Thompson Dorfman Sweatman in Winnipeg, Canada, the computer specialist contends in ethics complaints against husband-and-wife attorneys Jack King and Lori Douglas,…

Sep 1, 2010 12:37 AM CDT

Canadian Lawyer Told to Hand Over Computer Used to Create False Online Personas

A crusading Canadian human rightslawyer has been ordered to turn over a laptop computer he used to create false personas on far-right websites to search for evidence that he may have secretly authored a racist comment against a black Canadian senator from Toronto. The ruling came in a libel suit…

Aug 20, 2010 6:09 PM CDT

Accused of Partying Too Hearty at Law Firm Event, Partner Sues 2 Associates Who Complained for $2.3M

Accused of inappropriate conduct at an alcohol-fueled law firm event at a Toronto nightclub, a partner at a well-known labor and employment boutique has sued the two associates who complained internally at Mathews Dinsdale & Clarke but not the Canadian law firm itself. By filing suit for defamation and intentional…

Jul 15, 2010 5:07 PM CDT

Facebook Faces Litigation from Canada, Germany Over Privacy Issues

Remember those photos you posted on Facebook years ago? They may have been private then, but they could be public now, according to a pending lawsuit against the super-popular social networking site. In the wake of worldwide concern over Google’s admitted interception of personal data from unsecured Wi-Fi portals in…

Jul 8, 2010 5:57 PM CDT

Attorney Incivility Report Bemoans Tardiness, Eye-Rolling & ‘Dismissive Body Language’

American lawyers don’t seem to worry too much about the finer points of civility, and they have the right idea, says the author of the book Lawyers Gone Bad. With all the serious issues that court systems now face, an incivility crackdown on lawyers in Canada distracts from other more…

Jun 25, 2010 10:47 PM CDT

Retired Appellate Judge, 75, Charged with Murdering His Wife

A retired appellate judge has been charged with murdering his wife, in the first such case ever brought against a judge in Canada. Jacques Delisle, 75, faces charges of first-degree murder charge and illegal possession of a weapon, in a case that will be handled with exceptional legal procedures, reports…

Jun 16, 2010 7:34 PM CDT

Canadian Lawyer Files Suit Claiming Westlaw Has ‘Purloined’ Lawyer Documents

A Toronto lawyer who represents a Canadian engineer alleging he was wrongly accused of terrorism and sent to Syria for torture is pursuing a separate but related suit that claims Thomson Reuters Corp. is improperly asserting a copyright in lawyers’ documents. Lawyer Lorne Waldman claims Thomson Reuters posted a document…

Jun 15, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Law Firm Destroyed by Fire Has Hard Drive, Will Practice in Unknown New Location

Where Roebothan McKay Marshall stood on Friday is now a pile of rubble with a lovely view of the waterfront. But the destruction of its offices in St. John’s, Newfoundland, over the weekend is an inconvenience rather than a tragedy, partner Steve Marshall tells the St. John’s Telegram in a…

Jun 14, 2010 8:26 PM CDT