In-House Counsel
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August 18, 2025
Medical advice without assessment: A risky practice
Health professionals should exercise caution when offering medical advice or treatment without conducting a proper assessment. Providing care without seeing or evaluating the patient can have significant professional risks.
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August 18, 2025
Time limits matter: Alberta court establishes lien rights not indefinite
A lien can provide financial security by securing a legal claim for unpaid work against the land itself. The lien clouds title, making it difficult for owners to sell or refinance their property until the lien is resolved. However, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench recently held in 1951789 Alberta Ltd. (c.o.b. Urban Interiors Group) v. Britannia Block General Partnership Inc., 2025 ABKB 324 that the lien can be discharged or reduced if a claimant fails to advance their claim expeditiously.
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August 18, 2025
When is an importer of goods liable for copyright infringement?
A decision of the U.K. Intellectual Property Enterprise Court deals with the copyright in a label of a bottle of wine and an importer’s liability for infringement (Martin v. Bodegas San Huberto SA, [2025] EWHC 1827 (IPEC)).
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August 15, 2025
Rectification: The court’s power to fix a contract
While written contracts are generally presumed to reflect the intentions of the parties that have signed them, this may not always be the case. What happens if one or both parties realize after the fact that the contract into which they entered does not accurately reflect their intended contractual terms?
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August 15, 2025
Beyond the bar: When nobility rings hollow
I recently sat for the New York “bar exam” (also known as the Uniform Bar Exam or UBE), which is a gruelling and high-stakes test that marks the gateway to practising law in the United States. On the second day of this 12-hour exam, a tragic and jarring incident occurred: a fellow examinee collapsed from cardiac arrest while the test continued unabated.
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August 14, 2025
DEI dilemma: U.S. state bars grapple with DEI programs, language amid legal threats
State bar leaders across the U.S. are wrestling with whether to stand firm on their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs or quietly rework programs and language as they face rising political pressure and potential legal challenges.
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August 14, 2025
Yukon looking at public, professional feedback on amending Health Professions Act
Yukon will use feedback from the public and other stakeholders to guide “policy and regulatory development” in revamping legislation governing health care professionals.
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August 14, 2025
Bar ramps up campaign to end ‘Zoom-only’ policy & get intervener counsel back into SCC’s courtroom
Prominent intervener groups are telling the Supreme Court of Canada that its 2022 practice direction confining their counsel to Zoom and barring intervener lawyers from making submissions in person before the judges is hurting their advocacy and restricting access to justice for public interest groups. However, the top court says it’s sticking with its current policy since “virtual appearances have proven to be an effective means of supporting equal access.”
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August 14, 2025
Requirements for U.S. companies ‘carrying on business’ in Ontario
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a shift toward remote work. Now, in the current environment of tariffs and anti-immigration sentiment in the U.S., many Canadians working in the U.S. for U.S. companies are returning to Canada while continuing to be employed by their U.S. employer. This has resulted in many U.S. companies setting up shop in Ontario without necessarily setting up a brick-and-mortar location in the province. This raises questions as to what obligations and liabilities companies have if their employees are working in Ontario, but the company is not registered in Ontario.
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August 13, 2025
Court upholds dismissal of warranty claim against manufacturer over defective toilets
The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a decision striking Ottawa Community Housing Corporation (OCHC)’s warranty and negligence claims over defective toilet systems, ruling the manufacturer was not a seller under the Sale of Goods Act (SGA) and the losses were pure economic loss.