I watch a lot of hockey – but mostly on television. This year I attended a playoff game of the PWHL’s Ottawa Charge at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. It was an exciting game, but for me there was one concerning moment, when I heard thousands of people chanting, “Refs, you suck!”, after a call on the ice against the home team. As a hockey fan, I too did not like some of their calls, or non-calls, but there is a critical difference between attacking a decision and attacking the person who made the decision.

Before the game started, . . . [more]

Not all mystery cases are caused by a mistyped citation or AI hallucination. Sometimes people remember only the vague details of a case (“it was an employment case involving someone who insisted on dressing up as a clown at work”) but not the names of the parties. While they may have a vague idea of when it happened, people tend to remember events as being more recent than they actually were.

If you’re missing crucial information about a case and can’t seem to track it down with the information that you have been given, it can be helpful to check . . . [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. Sport Law Blog 2. Slaw 3. Lash Condo Law 4. Vincent Gautrais 5. SOQUIJ | Le Blogue

Sport Law Blog
Beyond Cultural Intelligence: Why Highly Relational Teams Will Help Sport Thrive

I’ve been writing about better ways of leading, coaching, and competing for over three decades. And . . . [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) : La juge de première instance n’a pas erré en concluant que l’Unité permanente anticorruption et le poursuivant avaient transgressé de manière délibérée des principes jurisprudentiels connus en matière de communication de la preuve ni en ordonnant l’arrêt des procédures contre les intimés, lesquels faisaient l’objet de sérieuses . . . [more]

This past CBA National Immigration conference in Ottawa marked the 20th year I have attended this rendezvous. Every year, the conference is packed with updates from IRCC and brainstorming with colleagues from across Canada. After each conference, I meet with my team to review new programs and innovations from other law firms.

AI issues started to creep into the conference in 2023. A friend and colleague, Will Tao, did excellent work at that time reporting on the use of Chinook at IRCC and he published the article, AI statecraft heating-up: the automation of governance through Canada’s Chinook case study.  Back . . . [more]

Forum shopping, that taboo practice in which a litigant chooses the most favourable jurisdiction to try a case, is generally looked down upon. Indeed, courts frown upon the practice even if the sole reason is to stem delay; that is, that a case can be tried faster in one jurisdiction than another. From a system-wide lens, this challenges common-sense. We need only look in the medical field, where patients can shop for medical services like MRIs, specialists, family physicians, anywhere they like. Yet the courts prefer to treat themselves as islands.

What do we look for in a justice system? . . . [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.

Beach Politics: Social, Racial, and Environmental Injustice on the Shoreline. Edited by Setha Low. New York: NYU Press, 2025. 336 p. Includes bibliographic references and index. ISBN 9781479821952 (softcover) US$35.00; ISBN 9781479821945 (hardcover) US$99.00; ISBN 9781479821969 (eBook) US$25.00.

Reviewed by Emma Cornelius
Reference Librarian
Lawson Lundell LLP

Beach Politics answers two . . . [more]

Artificial intelligence is making its way into courtrooms around the world, and not always for the better. Judges have been caught embedding AI-generated fictitious case references in judicial decisions, in Canada and internationally; and there are no doubt other, more subtle, machine delusions slipping into case law undetected. Judicial misuse of AI tools has profound consequences for the administration of justice and for public confidence in the courts. But a less obvious threat also deserves our attention: a growing body of research indicates that large language models (LLMs) have a homogenizing effect on writing and analysis, meaning that judges’ . . . [more]

Artificial intelligence has become, in one way or another, a part of many dispute resolution practices. Counsel use AI to prepare mediation briefs, assess litigation risk, test settlement ranges, or draft suggested terms. Parties use it to understand the process or evaluate options. Some mediators may use it to organize information, draft correspondence, test language, or reflect on process choices.

The discussion about AI in mediation has also become more urgent and comprehensive. Much of it properly focuses on confidentiality, neutrality, party autonomy, disclosure, competence, and human judgment. For working mediators, however, the next step is practical: distinguishing between lower-risk . . . [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. ReconciliAction YEG 2. Robeside Assistance 3. Canadian Privacy Law Blog 4. Barry Sookman 5. Double Aspect

ReconciliAction YEG
Alberta Justice Finds that Alberta Independence Would Contravene Treaties with First Nations (Chief Electoral Officer of Alberta v Sylvestre, 2025 ABKB 712)

On December 5, 2025, Justice Feasby of . . . [more]

In previous articles, I introduced the RECLAIM model as a cultural operating system for law firms and explored the first four elements: Respect, Equity, Clarity, and Learning. This month, I turn to A: Autonomy.

Let me introduce you to Priya.

Priya is a fifth-year associate with a busy corporate practice at a mid-sized firm. She is capable, hardworking, and well-liked by clients. She has recently found her work coming from one partner, and the working relationship follows a pattern. He hands her a file and tells her it is hers to run. Then he rewrites her drafts, . . . [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) : La peine de 21 mois d’emprisonnement avec sursis infligée à un jeune homme de 23 ans n’est pas manifestement non indiquée; celui-ci, par le biais d’un média social et d’une fausse identité, a eu une liaison avec une adolescente de 15 ans, laquelle a comporté plusieurs relations . . . [more]