May 04, 2026
Pilkington Law Firm LLP has promoted Helen Fiallos to partner in its Guelph, Ont., office.
May 04, 2026
The Law Society of Ontario (LSO) has started the ball rolling on a process that would see the size of convocation reduced by 16 and would also create three new appointed bencher positions.
May 04, 2026
MLT Aikins has added Merrissa Ollivier as an associate in its Vancouver office.
May 04, 2026
Roughly every four years, voters elect a government and grant it significant powers and responsibilities. But winning an election does not mean one has been given carte blanche to act as they see fit until the next election. Governments must exercise public power in accordance with the Constitution, and voters have the right to know how elected officials are using this power. Ontario’s rushed amendments to freedom of information and privacy laws enacted a few days ago through the government’s Bill 97, Plan to Protect Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2026 directly attack both of these fundamental democratic principles.
May 01, 2026
The Supreme Court of Canada has rejected 8-1 a law professor’s constitutional challenge to s. 12 of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) Act, which eliminates all parliamentary privilege immunity claims that might otherwise have been advanced by committee members or ex-members in defending themselves against allegations that they improperly disclosed information obtained through their role on the statutory committee that oversees Canada’s national security and intelligence apparatus.
May 01, 2026
The federal government has appointed Robert W. Wadden and Karen E. Pritchard as judges of the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario, sitting in Cornwall and Sault Ste. Marie, respectively.
May 01, 2026
The federal government has appointed Giuseppina D’Agostino as a judge of the Federal Court.
May 01, 2026
In Canada, privilege protections are analogous but termed differently. Solicitor-client privilege safeguards confidential communications between a client and lawyer (or agents) made for obtaining or giving legal advice. Litigation privilege covers documents created predominantly for anticipated or ongoing litigation, including third-party inputs if directed toward that purpose. Both require intent to maintain confidentiality and reasonable steps to do so.
May 01, 2026
Newly qualified lawyers are not known for being mature, confident, well-rounded and psychologically sound. And why should we expect them to be? Most of them are young, having just emerged from years of student life. Few have had a significant prior career. They have likely graduated, with substantial debt, from schools that have not adequately trained them to practise law.
May 01, 2026
Heralding a significant shift in the Canadian legal landscape, the British Columbia Supreme Court has rejected the legal profession’s constitutional challenge to the B.C. Legal Professions Act — legislation that would end more than 150 years of lawyer self-governance and self-regulation by benchers elected from the provincial bar.