International Law

PM Announces Supreme Court of Canada Nominee: N.S. Appeal Court Justice Thomas A. Cromwell

Posted on September 05, 2008
Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced his nomination of the Honourable Mr. Justice Thomas A. Cromwell of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal to fill the existing judicial vacancy at the Supreme Court of Canada.More on the nomination from this Government of Canada press release: ?Thomas Cromwell?s candidacy was highly recommended by judges, lawyers and other Atlantic Canadians,? said Prime Minister Harper...

Introducing the Wise Law Office Quarterly Journal

Posted on September 05, 2008
Today, we are very pleased to be launching the Wise Law Office Quarterly Journal, our firm and blog's long-planned newsletter.Q.J. will be published four times a year, and will feature a compilation of articles on each season's most significant and interesting legal developments, as published here at Wise Law Blog, at Bar-ex, and other locations online and elsewhere...

Ontario Court of Appeal Sets Aside $1.9 Million Award for "Client Poaching:" Restrictive Covenant Unenforceable

Posted on September 04, 2008
In an important decision that reaffirms the limited enforceability of non-competition covenants in Canadian employment agreements,  the Court of Appeal for Ontario has reversed a September, 2007 trial ruling of Mr. Justice G.E. Taylor of Ontario' Superior Court of Justice...

Canada's Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines: Final Version Online

Posted on September 04, 2008
The final version of Canada's Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines has been published online at the federal Department of Justice website.For the sake of easy access, I am reproducing the Guidelines' table of contents, with links embedded, below:TABLE OF CONTENTSEXECUTIVE SUMMARYINTRODUCTION1 BACKGROUND ? THE CURRENT LAW OF SPOUSAL SUPPORT1...

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Quotable: On Sarah Palin, Again

Posted on September 04, 2008
What Canada's bloggers are saying about Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's introductory performance yesterday at the Republican Party's national convention:Aiden Maconachy reviews the speech: The right wing claptrap she dished for the benefit of the Republican base is what America should be trying to deliver itself from, not embrace...

On Sarah Palin

Posted on August 30, 2008
The irreplaceable Billmon, (now back at Kos after far too long an absence) weighs in on the Republican nomination of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate:...McCain has picked a 44-year-old ex-mayor, with a grand total of two years of gubernatorial experience, in a state with a population of less than 700,000 (and a sane population that's quite a bit smaller than that) and wants the voters to put her the proverbial heartbeat away from the presidency...

Barack Obama's DNC Speech - Video

Posted on August 29, 2008
For those who missed it, here is Barack Obama's acceptance speech last evening in Denver: - Garry J. Wise, Toronto Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net EMPLOYMENT LAW ? CIVIL LITIGATION ? WILLS AND ESTATES ? FAMILY LAW & DIVORCEORIGINALLY POSTED AT WISE LAW BLOG ? SUBSCRIBE TO WISE LAW BLOG

Quoteworthy

Posted on August 19, 2008
Law Society of Upper Canada bencher Robert Aaron, on new U.S. border regulations that allow search and seizure of electronic devices that may contain solicitor-client privileged materials:A newly announced policy of the United States Department of Homeland Security presents a significant threat to the solicitor-client confidentiality to which Canadians are entitled...

The "Secret" is Out... Lawyers Use the Internet

Posted on August 13, 2008
It's hardly breaking news, but as a top-line overview of the numerous web-based resources lawyers now employ in our daily routines, I think this article from the Vancouver Sun is timely.See: The Internet has become indispensible to the legal world. - Garry J...

Privacy Concern Over Police GPS Use

Posted on August 13, 2008
A Washington Post article considers the privacy implications of increasing use of GPS technology by U.S. police in investigative pursuits:Across the country, police are using GPS devices to snare thieves, drug dealers, sexual predators and killers, often without a warrant or court order...

Explosions Rock Toronto: Fires Reported at Keele/Wilson

Posted on August 10, 2008
Explosions loud enough to shake our residence kilometers away were heard in Toronto at 3:45 a.m. Sunday morning.Radio reports indicate that evacuations in the neighbourhood are ongoing, after a reported series of explosions at a propane depot that were "lighting up the sky like fireworks...

Anthrax Questions Unanswered

Posted on August 08, 2008
Iowa's Republican Senator, Charles Grassley, poses some very penetrating questions in this letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and F.B.I. Director Robert S. Mueller regarding the FBI's investigations into the 2001 Anthrax letter attacks:Dear Attorney General Mukasey and Director Mueller:Thank you for ensuring that Congressional staff received an advanced briefing yesterday of the information released to the public in the Amerithrax investigation...

DNA 'Infallibility' Questioned

Posted on July 20, 2008
A Los Angeles Times article suggests that the odds of unrelated persons sharing similar DNA profiles may be considerably higher than previously believed:State crime lab analyst Kathryn Troyer was running tests on Arizona's DNA database when she stumbled across two felons with remarkably similar genetic profiles...

Auction Rights and Obligations Clarified, Expanded

Posted on July 09, 2008
How can a bison auction possibly be relevant to antique collectors?A 2007 Saskatchewan Court of Appeal decision broadened the liability of auction houses regarding their obligations to purchasers, and summarized the law concerning the three main legal relationships within the auction context...

Sex for 25 Gallons of Gas

Posted on July 08, 2008
Believe it or not, it happened in Kentucky.As reported by National Post (quoting the Smoking Gun), a 34 year old woman is facing prostitution charges for allegedly trading sex for $100 gas card.Read the story here.- Shashi K. Raina, Toronto Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www...

Truscott Compensation: $250,000 for Each Year in Jail $100,000 for Each Year on Parole

Posted on July 08, 2008
Steven Truscott, who spent 10 years in jail after being wrongfully convicted of rape and murder of schoolmate Lynne Harper was awarded $6.5-million compensation from the Ontario government.After announcing the award yesterday, Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley said "It is my hope that Mr...

Neocon Nostalgia

Posted on June 28, 2008
Yearning for the 'good old days' at The Corner:Where?s Dad? Not the ?fathers? of these unfortunate pre-borns, but the fathers of these pregnant girls. Where, in other words, is the shotgun?Back in the day when birth control and abortion weren?t readily available to high-school kids, fathers were pretty good deterrents to pregnancy...

Montreal Gazette: SCC Bell Ruling a "Stinging Rebuke" to Quebec Court of Appeal

Posted on June 27, 2008
From a June 26 Gazette op-ed:The rapidity with which the Supreme Court heard the Bell buyout case, and the unprecedented speed with which it overturned the Quebec Court of Appeal's ruling that would have derailed the deal, sends an unmistakeable message to the appeal bench to get its act together on commercial law...

US Supreme Court Strikes Down D.C. Gun Control Law

Posted on June 27, 2008
WSJ Law Blog:In District of Columbia v. Heller, the hotly-anticipated case over the D.C. gun ban, a 5-4 majority affirmed the D.C. Circuit?s ruling that the District of Columbia?s ban on handguns violated the Second Amendment. The majority opinion was written by Justice Scalia...

'Free at Last:' Canadian Human Rights Commission Dismisses Complaints Against Mark Steyn, Macleans Magazine

Posted on June 27, 2008
This Globe and Mail report will come as no surprise:The Canadian Human Rights Commission has dismissed a complaint against Maclean's magazine over a controversial article on the future of Islam, magazine officials said yesterday.Meanwhile, a decision from the B...

Honda and Keays: Supreme Court of Canada Rules for Honda, Punitive Damages Awards Set Aside

Posted on June 27, 2008
The Supreme Court of Canada has today released its long-awaited decision in Honda and Keays. By a 7-2 majority, the court ruled in favour of the employer, Honda. The trial court's award of punitive damages against Honda in the sum of $500,000, subsequently reduced to $100,000...

He's Just a Politician, After All

Posted on June 26, 2008
MSNBC Jonathan Alter, on Barack Obama's policy reversal and new-found support for the telecom immunity provisions of a FISA "compromise" bill that will shortly be debated in the US Senate:It was only a matter of time before the left was disappointed in Barack Obama, at least in a limited way...

SCC: Honda and Keays Update

Posted on June 26, 2008
The Supreme Court of Canada will be handing down its ruling in Honda and Keays tomorrow, according to an online report.- Garry J. Wise, Toronto Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net EMPLOYMENT LAW ? CIVIL LITIGATION ? WILLS AND ESTATES ? FAMILY LAW & DIVORCEORIGINALLY POSTED AT WISE LAW BLOG ? SUBSCRIBE TO WISE LAW BLOG

Manitoba Life Support Litigant, Samuel Golubchuck Passes Away

Posted on June 25, 2008
Samuel Golubchuck, the gravely ill Manitoba man whose family waged dramatic, ongoing, litigation against Winnipeg's Grace Hospital to require continuation of life support over the hospital's objection, has died. Mr. Golubchuck who was 84, had been on life support since last fall...

Google Search Stats, Community Standards and Obscenity

Posted on June 25, 2008
ABA Journal Top Stories:A lawyer for a pornographic website operator plans to use statistics from Google to establish community standards in Florida. Lawyer Lawrence Walters plans to introduce evidence that Pensacola residents are more likely to search Google for terms like ?orgy? than for ?apple pie? or ?watermelon,? the New York Times reports...

Child Support Spies Down Under

Posted on June 25, 2008
An interesting update from The Australian describes aggressive enforcement measures to be adopted in Australia to secure payment of child support arrears from defaulting payors:Private investigators will be used by the Child Support Agency (CSA) to spy on parents who are not meeting their child support payments...

Judge Recuses Himself from Obscenity Trail

Posted on June 24, 2008
Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Los Angeles, California, has recused himself from an obscenity trial after sexually explicit photographs on his own Web site became public.The judge was presiding over a federal case against Los Angeles film maker Ira Isaacs, who is accused of selling and distributing obscene films involving bestiality and defecation, when a newspaper published details of his Web site's content...

Workplace Thesaurus Update

Posted on June 23, 2008
Apparently, it's not called "downsizing" any more.It's now known as resizing.- Garry J. Wise, Toronto Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net EMPLOYMENT LAW ? CIVIL LITIGATION ? WILLS AND ESTATES ? FAMILY LAW & DIVORCEORIGINALLY POSTED AT WISE LAW BLOG ? SUBSCRIBE TO WISE LAW BLOG

More Carlin

Posted on June 23, 2008
Modern Man:- Garry J. Wise, Toronto Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net EMPLOYMENT LAW ? CIVIL LITIGATION ? WILLS AND ESTATES ? FAMILY LAW & DIVORCEORIGINALLY POSTED AT WISE LAW BLOG ? SUBSCRIBE TO WISE LAW BLOG

George Carlin - Seven Words

Posted on June 23, 2008
American comedian, George Carlin, has died of heart failure at age 71, according to the Associated Press.The AP's report chronicles Mr. Carlin's brushes with legal notoriety and his legendary comedy routine, Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV:Carlin's jokes constantly pushed accepted boundaries of comedy and language, particularly with his routine on the "Seven Words" ? all of which are more or taboo on broadcast TV and radio to this day...

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