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Find out what lawyers really think about their profession in Law360 Canada Pulse’s Lawyer Satisfaction Survey.
The legal profession is going through seismic change as it grapples with things like artificial intelligence, but one issue that has been around for centuries still remains — stress. According to the 2025 Lawyer Satisfaction Survey — which marks Law360 Canada’s third deep dive into the feelings and thoughts that legal professionals have about their jobs — 85 per cent of associates say they are at least sometimes stressed by their finances, along with 77 per cent of those at small firms.
A recent survey of the legal profession is showing high marks on issues like job satisfaction and compensation. According to the 2025 Lawyer Satisfaction Survey — which marks Law360 Canada’s third deep dive into the feelings and thoughts that legal professionals have about their jobs — 63 per cent of respondents report being satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs overall, up from 60 per cent last year.
The association representing Canada’s federally appointed judges decided this week to seek judicial review of Ottawa’s rejection of an independent judicial pay commission’s two key recommendations — including the commission’s advice that a $28,000 salary boost (on top of mandatory annual indexing) is necessary to keep attracting outstanding lawyers to the bench.
In Canada, there is somewhat of a divide when it comes to the armchair rule. When interpreting a will in some provinces, including Ontario and Manitoba, it is now the norm for courts to apply the armchair rule at the outset, even if a will is not patently ambiguous, and consider surrounding circumstances that existed when the will was made. Interpreting a will this way is often referred to as the modern approach to the armchair rule.
On Nov. 4, the federal government tabled the federal budget (Budget 2025), which includes several legislative proposals relevant to charities and not-for-profits (NFPs). Many of these proposals were contained in government releases throughout August 2024, December 2024, January 2025 and August 2025, though Budget 2025 did not explain any specifics of those proposals.
The Carney government’s 2025 legislative to-do list got longer with the rollout of its first budget implementation omnibus bill, which proposes dozens of tax and other statutory measures.
There are times in estate law when the courts have to step in because beneficiary designations for registered plans aren’t drafted or updated properly. My July 18 article touched on a few such cases. Case law suggests that revoking one’s beneficiary designations may also require court intervention if not properly considered by the drafting lawyer.
Cozen O’Connor LLP has welcomed Alexander J. Swabuk as estate and trust counsel in its Vancouver office.
I was an articling student and had my work cut out for me. I worked on a client file to prove adverse possession for a right of way across a house that had existed since the 50s but was being enforced by a neighbour. I brought all the files I had researched myself — surveys of the land, blueprints rolled up, ancient texts, photos I took of the property, transcripts of examinations.
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