On August 4th, Katie Baker published an article in the Ringer declaring the demise of Google search (and search generally), and with it, the end of the internet as we know it. In this article, Baker describes the effects of Google’s pivot away from search in favour of “AI Overviews,” where AI summaries are delivered to the top of search pages, and “AI Mode,” which replaces search results altogether with a chatbox. With these changes, Google has displaced its core offering with services that, in Baker’s words, seek “to aggregate the entirety of, oh, all historical human knowledge into . . . [more]

Several times each month, we are pleased to republish a recent book review from the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR). CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD), and its reviews cover both practice-oriented and academic publications related to the law.

Madam Justice: An Inside Look. By Suzanne Handman. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2025. xviii, 267 p. Includes index. ISBN 9781487569464 (softcover) $35.00; ISBN 9781487569471 (PDF) $35.00; ISBN 9781487569488 (ePUB) $35.00.

Reviewed by Jennifer Walker
Head Librarian
County of Carleton Law Association

In Madam Justice: An Inside Look, Judge Suzanne Handman . . . [more]

I have had conversations recently with lawyers at small firms about how they’re using AI and have noticed that they’re facing a common conundrum. They’re finding tools like ChatGPT and Claude more useful for legal work and relatively inexpensive, but they’re not sure they can upload client documents or information without violating their duty of confidentiality. Can this be done?

The draw to these less expensive and more versatile forms of AI, rather than tools like Westlaw’s CoCounsel or Lexis+ with Protégé, is that they’re more flexible and are becoming more powerful for legal work.

Connecting Claude or ChatGPT with . . . [more]

Long have we sought to convince our fellow lawyers to act with civility. The exercise is futile and lacks the universality we seek. Consider the oft-invoked principle of reciprocity, supposedly a ground upon which one ought to be civil. “Treat others as you would treat yourself”, so goes the golden rule. It is wonderful when uttered by a person at peace with himself, and it is folly otherwise. Have we not all heard of the lawyer who hated himself, who drank himself to oblivion every night, who never saw nor cared for his family, who indulged upon his basest desires, . . . [more]

Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award­-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from more than 80 recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible.

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. Labour Pains 2. Great LEXpectations 3. David Whelan 4. Lash Condo Law 5. Administrative Law Matters

Labour Pains
General Description of Categories of Confidential Information is Inadequate when Claiming Misappropriation and Misuse of Confidential Information

In a statement of claim, in an action for misappropriation and misuse . . . [more]

Every week we present the summary of a decision handed down by a Québec court provided to us by SOQUIJ and considered to be of interest to our readers throughout Canada. SOQUIJ is attached to the Québec Department of Justice and collects, analyzes, enriches, and disseminates legal information in Québec.

PÉNAL (DROIT) : L’appelant échoue dans sa contestation constitutionnelle des articles 150.1 (1) et 150.1 (2) C.Cr.; la distinction faite par le législateur entre les personnes de 12 ou 13 ans et celles qui ont 14 ou 15 ans n’a rien d’arbitraire, n’a pas de portée excessive et n’est pas . . . [more]

As a supplement to our Sunday Summary each month, Supreme Advocacy LLP in Ottawa presents Supreme One-Liners, a super-short descriptive guide to the most recent decisions at the Supreme Court of Canada. Supreme Advocacy LLP offers its more comprehensive weekly electronic newsletter, Supreme Advocacy Letter, summarizing all Appeals, Oral Judgments and Leaves to Appeal granted.

Appeals

Constitutional/Labour Law: Division of Powers
Quebec (Attorney General) v. SGS Canada inc., 2024 QCCA 460, 2026 SCC 37 (41334)

Clarifications as to derivative jurisdiction re division of powers. . . . [more]

I have written previously about the open court principle and tribunals. The principle is a presumption in favour of public access to judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings, either through direct access or via media reporting.

The application of the principle is where the challenges arise. What exactly is a “quasi-judicial” tribunal or process? The Federal Court of Appeal addressed this in 2023 (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation v. Canada (Parole Board), 2023 FCA 166) and, more recently, in a decision involving the complaints process for air travel (Air Passenger Rights v. The Attorney General of Canada, 2026 ONSC . . . [more]

Each month, we tell you which five English-language cases and French-language cases have been the most viewed* on CanLII in the previous month and we give you a small sense of what the cases are about using CanLII-published AI-generated summaries of the case or case excerpts.

For this past month, the five most-consulted English-language decisions were:

1. R. v. Cope, 2026 SCC 32

AI-generated summary:

Facts: An Indigenous man stops taking prescribed medication and resumes illicit drug use. He violently assaults his Indigenous intimate partner in public, causing serious facial and torso injuries. He pleads guilty to aggravated assault . . . [more]

The first of my series of Slaw contributions was entitled “Legal and Professional Publishing – It’s the Money, Stupid” and, it being from an era long-since forgotten, focused on the madness of small, low or negligible-profit law publishers trying to compete with the market giants. Of course, everything has changed since then, with all the focus being on new start-ups being massively funded and quickly acquiring outrageous market values. Yet, making actual profits from trading is something else. Extant owners and shareholders, if they are lucky, are able to profit hugely, as the startups in question are . . . [more]

More and more people are seeking that access to justice efforts be people-centred: They should be designed around people’s needs, culturally aware and responsive. This can mean legal and other services being co-designed with those who will use them. It can also mean organizations collaborating across sectors, rather than expecting individuals to navigate disconnected systems.

Such ambitions are also reflected in international frameworks. In Making Justice Systems More Effective and People Centred, a 2025 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), they call for justice pathways that respond to people’s circumstances, including through cross-boundary and multidisciplinary . . . [more]

Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award­-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from more than 80 recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible.

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. Environmental Law and Litigation 2. Canadian Combat Sports Law Blog 3. Eloise Gratton 4. Michael Geist 5. Family Health Law Blog

Environmental Law and Litigation
The Canadian consumer: Regional differences and buying behaviour

A franchise system opens its first Canadian location in the Greater Toronto Area and . . . [more]