Mediators are often asked by parties or their counsel to send them a copy of their “standard Agreement to Mediate” for review. But is there such a document?

If by “standard” we mean some prescribed form followed by all mediators, the answer is no. Virtually every mediator has his or her own Agreement. Some are based on agreements provided in mediation training, while others are quite customized.

This article has its origin in a recent mediation. One of the three lawyers attending had clearly not read the Agreement to Mediate, although it had been sent to him weeks earlier. When . . . [more]

INTRODUCTION

The Ontario Court of Appeal’s (“CA”) recent decision in Knauff v. Ontario (Human Rights Tribunal) (“Knauff”) sought to resolve two CA panels’ disagreement about the continuing relevance of the test for leave to appeal in Sault Dock Co. Ltd. and City of Sault Ste. Marie (Ont. CA) (“Sault Dock”). (I considered the two CA decisions, West Whitby Landowners Group Inc. v. Elexicon Inc. [“West Whitby”] and Davis v. Aviva General Insurance Company [“Davis”] in my January 7, 2025 Slaw post, “Tension on the Ontario CA: Thwarting a Judicial Coup?”.) My focus . . . [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’omission de la juge de première instance d’aborder le critère du consentement de l’accusé à la présence de l’arme à l’intérieur du véhicule dans lequel il était passager constitue une erreur de droit; il y a lieu d’appliquer la disposition réparatrice (art. 686 (1) b) (iii) C.Cr.). . . . [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.

Leaves to Appeal Granted

Criminal Law: NCR; High Risk
G. v. R., 2025 ONCA 873 (42341)

High-risk accused designation in NCR context.

Criminal Law: Restraint & Management Orders
Nest Exchange Limited (formerly known as Nest Services Limited), et al. v. R., 2025 ONSC . . . [more]

Professional services firms spend a lot of time developing strategy. There are leadership retreats, partner interviews, market assessments, client discussions and competitive reviews. There are conversations about growth, succession, technology, culture, new markets and the future of the firm.

Once the strategic plan emerges and the most significant priorities identified, the plan is presented to the partnership, everyone agrees, and then everyone goes back to work.

So why do so many firms that created a perfectly good strategic plan, struggle so much with execution? This is typically because the strategy exists at one level of the organization while the work . . . [more]

For Professor Seánna Howard, Director of the International Human Rights Advocacy Workshop, international legal research begins with a simple but important recognition: the most valuable sources are not always the most familiar ones. Her research has taken her to Tucson, where she joined the renowned Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy (IPLP) Program at the University of Arizona College of Law. Along the way, she has worked as an advocate, lawyer, researcher, independent expert, and educator on issues involving Indigenous Peoples, international human rights law, and social justice.

Her work also reflects the importance of developing research strategies for areas . . . [more]

Can a lawyer be disbarred for misconduct that is directly caused by mental illness? Until recently, my educated guess would have been no.

In May and June of 2026, a Hearing Panel of the Ontario Law Society Tribunal issued an important pair of decisions that carefully and deliberately resynthesize the role and impact of mental illness in lawyer regulation.[1] These decisions set out and apply a “unified approach” to alleged misconduct by lawyers where mental illness may be a factor.[2] At first glance, this new approach seems to reject case law, including case law by the Appeal Panel . . . [more]

Preoccupation with the ongoing armed conflict in Iran has diverted attention from the grim aftermath of Iran’s nation-wide protests that began on 28 December 2025, during which tens of thousands of protestors were killed, arrested, or disappeared.

Lawyers were prevented from reaching their detained clients. Lawyers themselves were among those detained simply for trying to do their jobs. Protestors are now being tried without legal representation before courts that lack any semblance of independence or impartiality. Frequent executions are now being carried out following hasty and grossly unfair proceedings.

Dissidents who flee Iran may be subjected to transnational repression in . . . [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.

Leaves to Appeal Granted

Arbitration: Same-Issue Estoppel; Standard of Review
Vancouver School District No. 39 v. Kingsgate Property Ltd., et al., 2026 BCCA 98 (42350)

Same-issue estoppel & standard of review in arbitration context.

Family Law: Common Law Relationships
Tanguay v. Zicat, 2025 QCCA . . . [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) : Dans une affaire de voies de fait graves commises à l’endroit d’une inconnue à la sortie d’un bar, en se limitant à énoncer les conséquences indirectes de la peine et en les qualifiant de facteurs neutres, sans les analyser véritablement dans l’exercice de détermination de la peine, . . . [more]

A perpetual question from clients is whether a new development should be protected by filing a patent application or kept as a trade secret?

Patents are granted by national patent offices for new, useful and not obvious inventions. Patents require a full and public description of the idea and the details needed by a skilled person to put that idea into practice. For example, Section 27(3)(c) of the Patent Act requires that for machines, the patent “explain the principle of the machine and the best mode in which the inventor has contemplated the application of that principle”.

This quid pro . . . [more]

The new federal omnibus bill on the economy – Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act – contains in Part 2 (“Keep Canada Moving”) Division 8, the Enabling Digital Trade Act.

This text implements for international trade in Canada the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR). It allows, though does not require, the use of electronic versions of transferable records. Transferable records transfer title to the goods or sums mentioned in them by the transfer of the records themselves. Bills of lading are a common example, promissory notes another.

The provisions are a pretty straighforward reproduction of MLETR. . . . [more]