Legal Insight
Current news, cases, and ideas affecting law and practice.

You're working on a case for a client, and you're pretty sure you have almost everything you need — except there is one last specific case you still have to pull.

Whether you're rushing to court, returning client calls, or simply trying to work through your rising pile of yet-to-be-drafted legal documents, there never seems to be enough time in the day.

Office of children's lawyer requested that trial judge provide written reasons to explain why she was prepared to accept consent mid-trial when child, who had rights as party, was opposed to order; Reasons were not provided; Appeal allowed; Trial judge erred in law making final order before competition of trial when child opposed order

[T]he phrase 'who is or may be interested' in Rule 16-46 [of the Rules of Civil Procedure], requires that the interest or possible interest implicated by the Rule be one arising out of or be intrinsically connected to the estate and the devolution of the deceased's property. The interest must be a legal or financial one. The person claiming standing must have a stake in, and be affected by, the outcome of any challenge to the will.

The informal description given to a contemplated arrangement, permitted by the Canada Revenue Agency in certain circumstances, to facilitate the formal transfer of ownership of certain corporate property without immediate tax consequences.

Trial concluded in January 2020 and since then there had been public health directives greatly restricting business operations in British Columbia; Both parties were given leave to return to court to ensure that any prospective support orders reflected any COVID-19 related impacts on incomes that were of more than temporary nature.

Now, more than ever, your focus is on your clients.

COVID-19 is a particularly nefarious virus. It is a hardy virus, staying on some surfaces for more than two days. It is easily transmitted from person to person. It can cause death in a significant number of cases, and anecdotal evidence makes it apparent that any person of any age is at risk from this virus.

Someone living in mother's home didn't properly quarantine after returning from out-of-province; child to stay with father until full 14 day quarantine completed; if no signs of illness, child would be returned to mother's care; once child was returned to mother, father's in-person parenting time with child would be suspended until further review by court

A few months ago, the list of lawyers who had done contract drafting while also running an unofficial classroom out of their kitchen was pretty small.

COVID-19 awareness and meaningful timesharing are not mutually exclusive

Children's lives and vitally important family relationships could not be put on hold indefinitely without risking serious emotional harm and upset. Blanket policy that children should never leave primary residence, even to visit other parent, was inconsistent with comprehensive analysis of best interests of child.