Billions of dollars invested,
not a penny lost.
INVITATIONS
TO COLLUDE
packed with novel cases
Companies face
risks with public
statements on strategy
Majority of top court’s
fall docket deals with
non-criminal matters
PAGE 9
CRISTIN SCHMITZ OTTAWA
When can prosecutors
renege on a plea deal? Can a
person consent in advance to
have sex while unconscious? Is
a writer liable for hyper-linking
to a defamatory post on the
Internet?
These are among the novel
questions facing the Supreme
Court during a fall session dom-
inated by civil cases.
Two-thirds of the court’s fall
docket ( 19 of 28 appeals) to be
heard from Oct. 4 to Dec. 17
deal with non-criminal matters,
covering everything from tax,
family and property law to s. 15
Charter equality rights.
On the criminal front R. v.
J. A., to be argued Nov. 8, asks
whether a person can consent to
sexual activity she anticipates
will occur when she is neither
conscious nor awake.
The Attorney General of
Canada and the Women’s Legal
Education and Action Fund are
intervening in support of the
Ontario Crown’s appeal of a sex-
ual assault acquittal.
ULTIMATE FIGHTING
Ontario legalizes
mixed martial arts
PAGE 14
HABITS
Kick bad work habits
PAGE 21
EGO SURFING
Toronto’ defence counsel Gregory Lafontaine contends the Ontario Court of
Appeal’s ruling “seems to open the door” to the Crown and defence
investigating prospective jurors’ private lives.
PAUL LAWRENCE FOR THE LAWYERS WEEKLY
See story on page 2
Know what’s posted
on the web about you
PAGE 23
Duties of BC articling students and paralegals to be expanded
Law society aims to
improve access to justice
JEREMY HAINSWORTH VANCOUVER
The Law Society of B.C. has
approved recommendations
that would allow for expanded
duties of articled students and a
defining of the scope of work to
be performed by paralegals.
“We’re trying to increase
access to affordable and compe-
tent legal services and we’re
doing it on an incremental
basis,” said bencher Art Vert-
lieb, chair of the Delivery of
Legal Services Task Force. “We
believe this will give us greater
flexibility for the public. It’s
about the public having flexibil-
ity, not us.”
On articled students, the rec-
ommendation is that the cre-
dentials committee be directed
to explore expanded duties.
This includes acting as commis-
sioners for oaths.
“
We believe this
will give us greater
flexibility for the
public. It’s about
the public having
flexibility, not us.
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