International Law

Wind Turbines and The Green Energy Pushback

Posted on September 10, 2010
CTV News reports on protests yesterday by Lindsay, Ontario residents who confronted Premier Dalton McGuinty on the alleged health concerns arising from local wind turbines:"Have you heard about the children who are getting nosebleeds from these (turbines)?" asked Pontypool resident Mary Cowling...

California Same-Sex Marriage Stay To Be Lifted August 18

Posted on August 13, 2010
Reports from around the web:ABA Journal:The federal judge who ruled California's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional has declined to permanently stay his ruling. But he did allow a temporary hold on his order, giving Prop 8 supporters time to appeal the ruling...

B.C. Court: Loss of "Promising" Law Career Assessed at $5.1 Million

Posted on August 12, 2010
In a decision released August 9, 2010, a Britsh Columbia Supreme Court Judge assessed the value of a young lawyer's loss of income capacity, after injuries arising from an unfortunate dance hall accident essentially ended her budding career. In assessing damages of $5...

Ruling Today on Stay Pending Appeal of California Prop 8 Decision

Posted on August 12, 2010
Washington Post reports: SAN FRANCISCO -- The federal judge who overturned California's same-sex marriage ban is set to rule Thursday on whether gay marriages should resume immediately in the state or await an appeals court's input.Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker announced late Wednesday that he would issue his decision by noon on requests to impose a stay that would keep Proposition 8 in effect while its sponsors appeal his decision...

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Correction re: Court of Appeal on Twitter

Posted on August 11, 2010
Our report yesterday on the appearance of Twitter feeds for the Court of Appeal for Ontario and Supreme Court of Canada erred in crediting the fine folks at CanLii for these pages. Via Twitter, we learned today that: CanCourtsSCC  The CanCourts/ tweets are provided by @slaw_dot_ca and @fodden They make use of RSS feeds from CanLII...

Ontario Court of Appeal on Twittter

Posted on August 10, 2010
A nice discovery today. CanLii has set up a Twitter page for the Court of Appeal for Ontario, featuring  concisely indexed links to current decisions by Ontario's highest appellate court. It looks like decisions have been posting for several months, but the CanCourts ONCA Twitter site hasn't come to my attention until now...

Shorter David Frum

Posted on August 09, 2010
Bristol and Levi broke up (again) because of same-sex marriage: The harm feared from same-sex marriage has already arrived: Whether same-sex marriage is accepted or not, opposite-sex marriage as a norm and expectation has already collapsed.The Bush speechwriter has once again left me speechless, as he apparently pines for the days when propriety alone would have forced a shotgun wedding upon this highly publicized, ill-fated couple...

NHL Arbitration Nixes Kovalchuk's Suspect 17-Year Deal

Posted on August 09, 2010
Arbitrator Richard Bloch has sided with the NHL and rejected a suspicious 17-year contract between Ilya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils. The Toronto Star's Damien Cox reports: Talking to people throughout the hockey industry this morning, it was clear most expected that while Ilya Kovalchuk's 17-year contract with the New Jersey Devils was a rather obvious - blatant? - attempt to circumvent the NHL's salary cap system, a number of similar contracts allowed in recent years by the NHL was going to make it difficult for arbitrator Richard Bloch to side with the league in its rejection of Kovalchuk's deal...

Bill 68: Proposed Changes to the Ontario Employment Standards Act

Posted on August 06, 2010
Ontario's Bill 68, the Open for Business Act, 2010, which passed second reading in June, proposes significant changes to Ontario's Employment Standards Act.   The legislation is described in a provincial government backgrounder: The Ministry of Labour is proposing amendments to the Employment Standards Act, 2000, that would:Allow the Director of Employment Standards to require claimants to provide specific information and let their employer know about their Employment Standards complaint before the claim is assigned to an officer...

Thomson Reuters Acquires Canada Law Book

Posted on August 05, 2010
In a development that will shock many in Canada's venerable legal publication industry, Thomson Reuters today announced that it has acquired Canada Law Book. A Thomson Reuters press release tells the tale: Toronto, Canada, Aug. 4, 2010 ? Thomson Reuters today announced the acquisition of Canada Law Book, a division of the Cartwright Group Limited...

Sanctimony, Hypocrisy and the Proposition 8 Ruling

Posted on August 05, 2010
AmericaBlog's Joe Sudbury, on Newt Gingrich's vocal opposition to yesterday's Proposition 8 decision and the legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.S.:Newt thinks marriage should be the union of one man and three consecutive women.- Garry J. Wise, Toronto Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www...

Kagan Appointment to US Supreme Court Confirmed

Posted on August 05, 2010
By a vote of 63-37, the U.S. Senate has today confirmed the appointment of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. - 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

California's Proposition 8 Restriction on Gay Marriage Ruled Unconstitutional

Posted on August 04, 2010
A California federal court today ruled that the State's voter-enacted ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional.  The full ruling of U.S. District Court Judge Vaughan Walker is below: - Garry J. Wise, Toronto Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www...

Conrad Black: The Birth of a Liberal?

Posted on August 01, 2010
Conrad Black reflects, after two years inside the U.S. penal system:"In my 28 months as a guest of the US government, I often wondered how my time in that role would end. I never expected that I would have to serve the whole term, though I was, and am, psychologically prepared to do so," he wrote in the piece that discussed his final hours behind bars...

When Courts Are Not Colour-Blind

Posted on July 31, 2010
Via Steve Benen:"Someone accused of killing a white person in North Carolina is nearly three times as likely to get the death penalty than someone accused of killing a black person, according to a study released Thursday by two researchers who looked at death sentences over a 28-year period...

The Case for Pattern Jury Instructions in Canada

Posted on July 31, 2010
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision yesterday, upholding the B.C. murder convictions of Robert Pikton, Peter McKnight, adjunct professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University, addresses the "inevitability" of judicial error in criminal jury charges and explores the case for pattern jury instructions in Canada:Most American jurisdictions now use pattern instructions, and when they do, they make trial judges' jobs significantly more manageable...

Legal Specialization Watch

Posted on July 30, 2010
Meet Atlanta's botched bris barrister, David J. Llewellyn.- 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

Solos Offline

Posted on July 30, 2010
Robert Ambrogi discusses the A.B.A.'s 2010 Legal Technology Survey Report, and is surprised by some of the data on the nation's sole practitioners:The one finding that I would not expect is that almost half of solo lawyers do not have websites. Given how simple it is to put up a website...

Canadian Bar Association: Keep Mandatory Long-Form Census

Posted on July 30, 2010
The Canadian Bar Association has called upon federal Industry Minister Tony Clement to drop plans to scrap Canada's mandatory long-form census. CTV reports:OTTAWA ? The group representing Canada's lawyers says changes to the census will make it tougher for people who suffer serious personal injuries to get proper compensation...

Social Media Ubiquity Update

Posted on July 22, 2010
From New York Times:Facebook, which surpassed MySpace in 2008 as the largest social-networking site, now has nearly 500 million members, or 22 percent of all Internet users, who spend more than 500 billion minutes a month on the site. Facebook users share more than 25 billion pieces of content each month (including news stories, blog posts and photos), and the average user creates 70 pieces of content a month...

Conrad Black Granted Bail

Posted on July 20, 2010
MSNBC reports: Jailed former newspaper magnate Conrad Black was granted bail on Monday , weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court kicked his 2007 fraud conviction back to a lower court.Last month, the Supreme Court weakened the "honest services" law that was central to Black's fraud conviction...

Major Changes Ahead for B.C. Family Law

Posted on July 20, 2010
The Province reports: B.C. proposes sweeping legal changes for separation, divorce, child custody: Highlights of the government white paper on proposed changes to the Family Relations Act:? Structure the law so that court is not the only implied starting point...

The Divorce Wall

Posted on July 06, 2010
She allegedly hides his heart medications. He allegedly blows out her Shabbat (sabbath) candles.The decision of a Brooklyn, New York court: the couple has been ordered to build a wall down the middle of their house."This could be called the Divorce Wall," said Rabbi Mendel Gold, Pinchs' brother...

TVO's Steve Paiken on G20 Police Action

Posted on July 05, 2010
"It was a sad, bloody day, I'll tell you that much."From TRNN.com, TVO's Steve Paiken describes events on the ground at last weekend's Toronto G20 summit: (via Law is Cool)- 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

The Newest Leaf

Posted on July 01, 2010
Former Chicago Black Hawk, Kris Versteeg, acquired by the Toronto Maple Leafs in a five-player trade last night: - 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

Five Metres of "Evolving" Facts

Posted on June 30, 2010
Impolitical:Since the facts surrounding the tale of the 5 metre perimeter rule seem to be evolving, this is the latest from the Globe. The police chief who publicly represented, on Friday morning, that there was a 5 metre perimeter zone beyond the fence in which people could be searched received information that afternoon clarifying that this was not actually the case...

"Suddenly, You Were a Prisoner"

Posted on June 30, 2010
University Of Toronto Professor, Dan Dolderman, via TVO:If you were there, suddenly, you were a prisoner and there wasn?t a damn thing you could do about it....The power of the state is.....wow. In person, it?s unbelievable. When the hammer comes down, the power of individuals to resist it is basically zilch...

"No, But I Was Trying to Keep the Criminals Out."

Posted on June 30, 2010
Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, via CTV News:Asked Tuesday if there actually was a five-metre rule given the ministry's clarification, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair smiled and said, "No, but I was trying to keep the criminals out."- Garry J. Wise, Toronto Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www...

"Terrified Me and Broke My Heart"

Posted on June 30, 2010
Lawrence A. Griden, a Toronto student-at law, via Law is CoolPreliminary reports of apparent civil rights violations are coming in from all over the city. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association says that these were not isolated incidents.I saw many with my own eyes...

"I Asked for a Lawyer..."

Posted on June 29, 2010
Steve Cruikshank, 28, Newmarket (via the Toronto Star):?I asked for medical attention and they said ?No?, that I was ?barely bleeding.? I asked for a lawyer and wasn?t given access. I asked to make a phone call and they laughed.? About three hours later, he was released without charge...

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