Real Estate
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October 30, 2025
Ontario housing, construction bill impacts municipal powers, climate initiatives: lawyer
The Ontario government has introduced new legislation aimed at accelerating housing and infrastructure projects by granting the province greater control over zoning and planning, which is sparking debate over its implications for municipal authority and environmental standards.
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October 30, 2025
Black magic and black letter: Legal tales of witchcraft, ghosts and haunted houses
It was not a dark and stormy night. It was actually a pleasant fall morning, and I probably should have been entering my dockets. But the Halloween spirit was in the air, and it moved me to see what Canadian law has to say about the occult. Read on if you dare. I promise there won’t be anything as frightening as the Income Tax Act.
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October 29, 2025
The 99th anniversary of the Great Stork Derby
What if we told you having the most babies in a decade could make you a millionaire? In 1926, this wasn’t a hypothetical, it was the premise of one of the most bizarre contests in legal history.
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October 28, 2025
CJ Crampton says Federal Court ‘won’t hesitate’ to impose costs on lawyers for undisclosed GenAI use
Counsel who “thumb their noses” at the Federal Court’s requirement to disclose any and all generative AI they used to create court filings will find that the national trial court “won’t hesitate” to ding them with personal costs or initiate contempt proceedings, warns Federal Court Chief Justice Paul Crampton.
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October 28, 2025
Estate trustee during litigation: The power to make payments from residue of estate
In Ontario, an estate trustee during litigation (ETDL) does not have the power to distribute the residue of an estate, despite having all the rights and powers of a general administrator: see s. 28 of the Estates Act. However, this rule does not mean that an ETDL cannot make payments from the residue of an estate.
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October 27, 2025
Legal practice: Turning the screws because you can
I recently observed a transaction from afar. It was the sale of a small retail shop — a tiny deal for a few hundred thousand dollars. The seller was getting out because they had to. There was not a ton of money to go around.
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October 27, 2025
What is ‘legal advice’ and why is it different than other advice?
How do we determine whether legal advice is good or bad? Outside of basic competence issues (missing statutory deadlines, for example), is there a difference between good advice, good legal advice, bad advice or bad legal advice?
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October 24, 2025
The ‘bundle of sticks’: Legal vs. beneficial ownership in estate planning
As every estate lawyer worth their salt knows, the amount of careful analysis and due diligence that good, individualized estate planning requires cannot be overstated. Importantly, this process involves determining all the assets a testator has an interest in, how such interest is held, and finally how they would like to dispose of or pass on such interest(s) in their estate planning documents.
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October 24, 2025
AI: Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer
Martin is a lawyer who has closed many residential real estate transactions. Back when he was starting out, Martin read the relevant statutes and regulations and prepared all the documents himself. For each transaction, Martin drafted a Statement of Adjustments, adding numbers in his head. Eventually he used a calculator, and then a software program. Then, he hired a law clerk and taught her how to do it.
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October 23, 2025
The case for in-person appearances
I am no fan of in-person discoveries or mediation, purely from a selfish perspective of my time. Virtual discovery and mediation allow us to be more efficient with our time and our clients’ money. While I am not advocating for a return to all discoveries and mediations being in person, there is no doubt that something is missing.