International Law

The Sotomayor Tapes

Posted on July 18, 2009
Politico has obtained and published audio of appeal hearings presided over by U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.The tapes are a fascinating study of the appellate process. For what its worth, I'm not hearing much at all in the way of the storied "temperament" issues regarding Justice Sotomayor, in spite of the headline of the Politico story that introduces the audio recordings, Court Tapes Show Blunt Sotomayor...

Quebec Common Law Spouse Loses Constitutional Challenge, Denied Spousal Support, Property Division

Posted on July 17, 2009
A Quebec billionaire's former common-law spouse has lost her constitutional challenge against provisions of Quebec's Civil Code that narrowly limit the entitlements of unmarried partners in the Province upon relationship breakdown.She claimed payment of spousal support from her former spouse as well an entitlement to sharing of the family's property...

Mother's Refusal of "Required" C-Section: Is it Child Abuse or Neglect?

Posted on July 17, 2009
Volokh reports on New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services v. V.M. and B.G., a fascinating decision by the Superior Court of the New Jersey Appellate Division, reversing a trial judge's ruling that a mother's refusal to consent to a Cesarean section that had been urged by attending physicians constituted child abuse or neglect, justifying intervention by State child welfare authorities...

The New United Kingdom Supreme Court

Posted on July 16, 2009
Times Online reports that Britain's new Supreme Court is readying to open on October 1st:Yesterday Lord Bach, the Justice Minister, welcomed the media for a first glimpse of the newly refurbished court, fashioned from the Grade II listed building that was once the courts of Middlesex Guildhall...

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Canada's Medical Care Lottery

Posted on July 16, 2009
So this is what passes as serious commentary on health care reform in the United States of America. It will be news to all of us on this side of the border, but apparently, Canada has a lottery system to "decide who gets to go see a doctor this month...

Kids in Ontario Summer Camps Screened for H1N1 Flu, 3 Cases Reported

Posted on July 16, 2009
This is a very disturbing report from CTV News on the emergence of H!N1 flu at three Ontario summer camps:Officials at summer camps in areas across Canada are screening new campers for signs of swine flu, after three Ontario camps reported that kids there had become sick with the worrisome flu...

Canada Privacy Commissioner: Facebook Violates Privacy Law

Posted on July 16, 2009
A report released today by Canada's Privacy Commissioner finds that that Facebook is in violation of PIPEDA, Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and calls upon Facebook to comply with Canadian privacy legislation...

When America Selects a Supreme Court Judge...

Posted on July 15, 2009
(h/t - Red Tory)Also see: Sotomayor, Franken both 'Perry Mason' fans- 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

Canada: Employment Law Update

Posted on July 08, 2009
I'll note two good articles on recent Canadian employment law rulings that are of considerable importance:Lawyers Weekly has Suing abusive employers in tort, a fine piece by Steve Levitt on the December, 2008 decision of the Ontario Superior Court in Piresferrerira v...

On Excessive Tweeting Syndrome

Posted on July 08, 2009
WebPro News poses the resounding question of our times: Do you unfollow people who tweet too much?Yes. But only rarely.Especially tempting are some of those hockey writers who just can't seem to help themselves (but even they get a bye during free agent season)...

Alberto Gonzales Lands New Job

Posted on July 08, 2009
Alberto Gonzales, former U.S. attorney general, expected to teach at Texas Tech UniversityMakes me think of that ancient proverb - "Those who can, do. Those who can't teach.... "**(And of course, then there was Woody Allen's memorable take on this: "Those who can't do, teach...

Great Headline of the Day

Posted on July 08, 2009
Farmers blinded by 'Jed Clampett fever from Ottawa Business Journal- 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

Eddie Greenspan on Michael Jackson

Posted on July 07, 2009
From the Edmonton Sun:If a jury says not guilty, that means, in law and in fact, the person found not guilty is innocent. Whether or not people have difficulty accepting this proposition, it is a central tenet in a free country... You don't have to forget his unusual relationship with young boys, but you should remember what an acquittal means...

Quotable

Posted on July 06, 2009
Balloon Juice on Sarah Palin and her conservative boosters:Nothing annoys me more than the conservative myth that to be an ordinary American you have to be a moron. Although it?s probably just a corollary of the myth that to be an ordinary American you have to be conservative...

Wise Law Blog - Profiled and Reviewed

Posted on July 05, 2009
Michael Carrabash of Dynamic Lawyers was nice enough to do a recent profile report on me. Here's the link - Profile on Garry Wise: the Employment Lawyer and Legal Tech Guru talks about how technology has changed the legal industry.Also interesting is Michael's own, personal blog post about our meeting (read it and find out more on lessons to be gleaned from from the sham-wow guy)...

Michael Jackson's Estate

Posted on July 05, 2009
Michael Jackson's will is now posted online for all to see.USA Today chimes in with Michael Jackson's Estate: The fallout will be monumental:Even the valuation of Jackson's most valuable asset ? his stake in a music catalog whose publishing rights includes Beatles songs ? could be subject to protracted debate...

?Catcher? Ruling Will Discourage Other Would-Be Parodies?

Posted on July 03, 2009
A ?sequel? to The Catcher in the Rye written by Swedish author Fredrik Colting, a.k.a. ?J.D. California,? has been kyboshed by Manhattan judge Deborah Batts, the ABA Journal reports..The judge ruled that the new book infringed the copyright of the original novel?s author, J...

Ex-spouse must pay for mental abuse after break up

Posted on July 03, 2009
An Ontario man who "threatened and harassed" his ex-spouse after they broke up has been ordered to pay $15,000.00 in damages for intentionally inflicting mental distress, plus nearly a quarter million dollars in legal costs. Law journalist Cristin Schmitz reports in the Ottawa Citizen that Darko Danicic (also known as Danic) deliberately used abusive tactics in a failed attempt to intimidate Traci McLean, his ex-common-law spouse, into dropping her property and spousal support claims...

Blawg Note: Happy Anniversary, Overlawyered

Posted on July 02, 2009
Congratulations are due to Overlawyered, quite possibly the first law blog, which marked its tenth anniversary yesterday.- 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

Paying the Bar Bill

Posted on July 02, 2009
After successfully passing the New York bar exam, aspiring lawyer Robert Bowman has been denied a license to practice law by the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court - because of an unpaid, $430,000.00 student loan that had accumulated over twenty years, without a single payment ever being made...

On Palin (Again)

Posted on July 02, 2009
This week's must read: It Came from Wasilla, Todd Purdum's Vanity Fair article on Sarah Palin.- 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

Happy Canada Day

Posted on July 02, 2009
We?re The Best: How Canada Stacks Up Internationally- 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 World We Live In

Posted on June 27, 2009
Associated Press on Iran, international attention spans and the real world - as revealed by the modern news cyle:As the protests dwindle amid intensifying official pressure, the opposition may suffer from a decline in international attention. The protests and violence dominated Western news broadcasts for nearly two weeks, with the reports substantially bolstered by videos gleaned from Internet sites and by commentary from social networking sites...

King of Pop Dead

Posted on June 25, 2009
Vancouver Sun reports that Michael Jackon died toady afternoon in his LA mansion after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 50.One of musics most influential and successful artists, Jackson found place in the Guinness Book of World Records for "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time...

U.S. Supreme Court Denies Constitutional Right To DNA Testing

Posted on June 20, 2009
Another sad day for American justice, as a narrow 5-4 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court holds that the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment does not guarantee prisoners access to potentially-exonerating, post-conviction DNA testing:[Chief Justice John] Roberts, joined by Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M...

$1.92 Million Damages for Illegal File Sharing

Posted on June 19, 2009
A Minnesota jury has ordered a Minneapolis woman to pay damages to the music industry of $1.92 million for willful copyright infringement.Jammie Thomas-Rasset had illegally shared 24 songs online. She was ordered to pay damages of $80,000.00 per song...

Ontario Court Nixes CIBC Overtime Class Action

Posted on June 19, 2009
A' class action proceeding by bank tellers against the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce for $600 million in unpaid overtime wages has been dismissed by an Ontario Superior Court judge.Madame Justice Joan Lax ruled against certification of the class action proceeding yesterday, holding that inadequate "common issue" presented among the individual claimants in the class to justify continuation of the class action...

Facebook's "New Rules" for Divorcing Couples

Posted on June 19, 2009
Daniel Clement of New York's Divorce and Family Law Blog provides a nice thumbnail summary of Time Magazine's Five Facebook No-No's For Divorcing Couples.See New Rules for Divorce and Social Networking:The rules, as compiled by Time, can succinctly be boiled to one- ?Discretion is the better of valor...

Video: The War on Jokes - Protesting David Letterman

Posted on June 19, 2009
Funny stuff from Sam Seder:- 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

Montana Town Demands Job Applicants Provide Facebook Passwords

Posted on June 19, 2009
See ABA Journal: Town Requires Job Seekers to Reveal Social Media Passwords:...job seekers for Bozeman city posts are required to sign a background check waiver. In addition to allowing standard criminal records checks and past employment reviews, the applicant is required to do the following:"Please list any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube...

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