Much of the work of the BC Family Justice Innovation Lab (FJIL) has focused on our Youth Voices initiative. Coming out of an intensive design process centering the lived experience of young people, the Youth Voices Initiative aims to improve the well-being of children and youth experiencing parental separation. An important lesson learned was that while the family justice system formally acknowledged the importance of the “best interests of the child”, and there were some programs that sought the view of kids about decisions which affected their lives, the kids’ experience was often that it was “too little, too late”. . . . [more]

I learned what a “third place” was long before I knew the term. At the time, it didn’t feel like a lesson. It felt like a demotion.

When I was practising law at the City of Toronto, space was at a premium. New hires were placed wherever a desk could be found

As a junior lawyer, it was only a matter of time until a more senior hire bumped me out of my office.

But I wasn’t expecting to be reassigned to a desk in the law department library.

To add literal injury to insult, this happened just after I’d . . . [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. IFLS at Osgoode 2. Family LLB 3. Canadian Appeals Monitor 4. Double Aspect 5. Legal Feeds 

IFLS at Osgoode
Osgoode honours alumni making an impact across law and society

The 2026 Alumni Awards recognized graduates whose careers reflect leadership, service and a commitment to justice. Across . . . [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) : Les peines minimales obligatoires de 1 an d’emprisonnement pour les infractions de production et de distribution de matériel de pornographie juvénile sont incompatibles avec l’article 12 de la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés et sont déclarées invalides en vertu de l’article 52 de la Loi constitutionnelle . . . [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.

Appeal

Torts: Intimate Partner Violence
Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia, 2026 SCC 16 (41061)

New tort: intimate partner violence

Leaves to Appeal Granted

Criminal Law: Homicide
R. v. Dussault, 2025 QCCA 1433 (42169)

Sentencing issues re consecutive jury trials. . . . [more]

Those familiar with my writing will know that I usually write about artificial intelligence in terms of regulation, governance, and risk. This piece is a slight departure. What follows is a set of reflections for young professionals working in AI, or considering work in the field, at a moment when the pace of change, the visibility of the space, and the pressure to find one’s place in it can easily create more anxiety than clarity. I use the phrase “young professional” in a broad sense. It follows a familiar tradition in reflective writing, but I do not mean it strictly . . . [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.

Trial by Numbers: A Lawyer’s Guide to Statistical Evidence. By Adam Chilton & Kyle Rozema. New York: Oxford University Press, 2024. 207 p. Includes list of figures and tables, notes, glossary, and index. ISBN 9780197747858 (hardcover) $90.00; ISBN 9780197747865 (softcover) $35.00.

Reviewed by Katarina Daniels
Research Lawyer, Library Services Lead . . . [more]

The legal services sector is in for rough times for the foreseeable future after which we will see a rebirth of legal services entities that bear little resemblance to those operating in the market currently. This is why your firm’s foundational rebuild must happen now.

Law firms are in the midst of grappling with a tsunami of changes within the legal services market that are impacting both practice and business. This is especially true after coming to terms – if we can honestly claim that – with the ravages of the pandemic. I understand that many people would like . . . [more]

Early in my career in education, I was introduced to a learning scale that offered both my students and me a different way of thinking about competency. The scale looks like this:

Understanding the Competency Continuum

Let’s consider this through a real-world example: learning to drive a car.

Before you begin learning to drive, you have little understanding of either the process itself or the rules of the road. At that stage, you are unconsciously incompetent. You do not yet know what you do not know.

As you begin to learn, however, you quickly realize how much there is . . . [more]

With Chief Justice Morawetz set to ride off into the sunset, the Ontario Superior Court will soon be graced with a new leader. While it can be anticipated that the new Chief will continue the court’s mission to prioritize form over substance, it is respectfully suggested that the new Chief Justice focus on a more pressing, if less intellectually stimulating endeavor, namely working to make the Ontario Superior Court less terrible.

As a branch of government entirely dependent on the public purse, the Court finds itself with a dwindling number of friends or supporters. Part of this results from . . . [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. Robeside Assistance 2. Timely Disclosure 3. The Court 4. Barry Sookman 5. Reconciliation Syllabus

Robeside Assistance
Recently Published Ottawa Decisions

In a family law dispute, the Court dismissed a father’s motion for DNA paternity testing, finding it lacked evidentiary support and served no useful purpose. The Court . . . [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) : Il existe une preuve à l’appui d’une conclusion de culpabilité mais, en raison des multiples faiblesses de cette preuve contradictoire, celle-ci ne peut satisfaire à la norme de la preuve hors de tout doute raisonnable de l’actus reus d’attouchements sexuels; la déclaration de culpabilité prononcée par . . . [more]