Family
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December 08, 2025
Quebec’s young lawyers are suffering psychological distress, report reveals
More than 60 per cent of Quebec lawyers with fewer than 10 years of experience suffer from psychological distress, a comprehensive study reveals, painting a disconcerting portrait of young lawyers overwhelmed by stress and struggling with the pressures of billable hours and long workweeks.
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December 08, 2025
Lavery adds family lawyer Kassandra Roberge in Montreal
Lavery has welcomed Kassandra Roberge to its Montreal office.
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December 08, 2025
The hidden mental health crisis facing Canada’s immigration lawyers
Over the past several years, the Canadian immigration system has been transformed by political volatility, rising refusal rates, increasing automation and a level of unpredictability unprecedented in modern practice. Policies change suddenly, pathways disappear without warning, caps are imposed overnight and entire programs fluctuate depending on the priorities of whichever minister happens to be in office that year.
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December 05, 2025
SCC okays jury charge; whether suicide aiders may face murder charges had ‘no bearing’ on case
The Supreme Court of Canada has affirmed the guilt of a nurse who was convicted in Ontario of attempting to murder both her mother and child via insulin overdoses; however, the top court’s majority declined to decide if and when murder charges can be laid in respect of actions that aid the suicide of others.
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December 05, 2025
Supreme Court rules in R. v. B.F. attempted murder case
When someone has provided a person with the means to take their own life, and that person makes an independent and autonomous choice to do so, the question arises: how are we to distinguish between the offences of culpable homicide and aiding suicide?
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December 05, 2025
Don’t become the next Deepak Paradkar
In family law, we see the best and the worst of human behaviour. Spouses in crisis often come to their lawyers angry, grieving, fearful or determined to “win” — sometimes at any cost. In that emotional hurricane, even the most seasoned family law practitioners encounter clients who are prepared to lie, cheat, conceal assets, manipulate evidence or even rope their own lawyers into conduct that edges dangerously close to perjury or obstruction.
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December 05, 2025
Feds announce steps to strengthen Canada’s firearms regime
The federal government has announced three additional steps to strengthen the nation’s firearms regime, highlighting ongoing consultation with victims, “firearms experts, Indigenous Peoples, industry, firearms owners and hunters.”
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December 04, 2025
What to do when counsel is never available for urgent court applications?
One of the recurring frustrations in family law practice is the increasingly common tactic where opposing counsel is mysteriously “unavailable” for any proposed hearing date.
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December 04, 2025
A manually actuated excavation device and other excuses for legal bafflegab
Let’s call a spade a manually actuated excavation device. Why? Well, I can think of at least four reasons.
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December 03, 2025
Federal judges ‘reluctantly’ take Carney gov’t to court in dispute over pay, judicial independence
In a pay dispute with Ottawa that raises questions about the requirements for judicial independence, the Canadian Superior Courts Judges Association (CSCJA) and the associate judges of the Federal Court separately filed Federal Court applications seeking judicial review of the Carney government’s recent refusal to implement the recommendations of an independent judicial pay commission, including its advice that a $28,000 salary boost (on top of mandatory annual indexing) is necessary to keep attracting outstanding lawyers to the federal benches.