Pulse

  • September 03, 2026

    Ottawa rolls out ‘national framework’ aimed at guiding the building of data centres in Canada

    Ottawa has unveiled what it calls “a nationally recognized baseline” of five principles — backed by major U.S. and Canadian artificial intelligence and other technology industry players — to help municipal governments and communities assess proposals to build AI data centres in their localities.

  • September 03, 2026

    Upcoming legal conferences to tackle AI, estate disputes

    Upcoming conferences listed by Saskatchewan’s law society will include a look into the emotional challenges in estate disputes, French terminology in family law contracts, and the current state of AI in the legal profession.

  • September 03, 2026

    Luke Chao, Lisa Donaghy, Adèle Gagnon-Leroux and David Yanofsky join Aird & Berlis

    Aird & Berlis had welcomed Luke Chao, Lisa Donaghy, Adèle Gagnon-Leroux and David Yanofsky to the firm.

  • September 03, 2026

    WeirFoulds’ Brad McLellan retires after 44-year career

    Brad McLellan has retired from WeirFoulds LLP after 44 years with the firm.

  • September 03, 2026

    Roland Hung named chair of Torkin Manes’ privacy and cybersecurity group

    Torkin Manes has named Roland Hung chair of its Privacy, Data & Cybersecurity Group in Toronto.

  • September 03, 2026

    Ottawa murder appeal: Appellate review of a jury charge is not a word-search exercise

    A Jan. 13 issue of the Ottawa Citizen reported on the sentencing of Alam Buoc, who had been found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder. Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger described the crimes in exceptionally harsh terms, calling Buoc a “homicidal maniac” and “a monster.” He characterized the July 2017 killings as “cold-blooded and ruthless” and said the motive appeared to be trivial. It involved an alleged dispute over a bullet that Buoc believed one of his friends had taken. The sentence imposed was the same as if the crime had been first-degree murder: life imprisonment without parole eligibility for 25 years. Buoc appealed, and the Ontario Court of Appeal delivered its reasons on July 6, 2026 (R. v. Buoc, 2026 ONCA 492).

  • September 03, 2026

    A lawyer’s life in the billable-hour culture

    Within the legal community, there is growing recognition that the billable hour can negatively impact lawyers’ lives. Billable-hour culture can lead lawyers to make judgments about the value of activities based on whether they are billable. If you are spending the day with your children, your mind might start to calculate how many billable hours you are missing out on. Time becomes a commodity, and you may begin to view meaningful activities as wasteful.

  • September 02, 2026

    B.C. Court of Appeal adopts open-access legal citation guide

    The B.C. Court of Appeal has issued a practice directive adopting the Canadian Open Access Legal Citation Guide (COAL), a free, publicly accessible legal citation guide, as its preferred method for civil and criminal filings in an effort to advance access to justice.

  • September 02, 2026

    New CBABC president putting enhanced advocacy at forefront of time in office

    The Canadian Bar Association, B.C. Branch (CBABC) has a new face at the head of its leadership table.

  • September 02, 2026

    Solitary crosses constitutional line in prisons. Why not in hospitals?

    There is something profoundly unsettling about a society that regards prolonged solitary confinement as unconstitutional in prison yet appears prepared to tolerate the same isolation when the person behind the locked door is a psychiatric patient.