Ontario Condo Law Blog : Toronto Condominium Lawyer & Attorney : Gardiner Miller Arnold Law Firm : Ontario, Ottawa, Hamilton, Kitchener

Thoughts on Ontario’s Landlord & Tenant Law by Harry Fine

Most lawyers in the trenches have done some residential landlord/tenant work at some point in their career. While the annotated statutes cite the latest leading authorities on a particular point, those annual tomes provide little insight into what happens at the tribunal, what’s going on at Queen’s Park or the backrooms of the industry associations.  Enter Harry Fine, a paralegal and former member of the old Landlord and Tenant Board.  Harry shares his view on the imbalance in our landlord and tenant law and the legislative thought process going on in the background.  He also provides rare commentary on trends at the tribunal and in the marketplace generally.   Groundbreaking case law is also highlighted.  Any legal professional working in landlord tenant law would find this blog to be useful.  Further, if you’re thinking of becoming a landlord, do yourself a favour and peruse Harry’s blog before you take the plunge.

SQP jeunes avocats | virtual mentor for new lawyers by Lee Akazaki

Lee Akazaki is one of those tireless people who can’t rest on his laurels or take a minute away from doing good things.  Fresh off of his stint as President of the Ontario Bar Association, Lee has set up a blog to provide mentorship to an entire generation of young lawyers and which offers deep insight into trends affecting the legal profession, case comments, war stories and calls to action on hot topics.  In addition to providing high quality stuff, the delivery method is far more efficient than traditional mentorship in that it can reach thousands of people and stand as a valuable resource for years to come.   Even more, the benefit of Lee’s efforts extends far, far beyond the newbies and is of interest and practical use to even the more seasoned practitioners.  

Canadian Charity Law by Blumberg Segal LLP

With the holiday season upon us, charities and their supporters are operating in red alert mode.  They doubtlessly spend the rest of the year getting ready for these busy few weeks.  To be at the top of their game, charities (and their lawyers and any donors wanting to avoid charity scams or pitfalls) should follow Mark Blumberg’s blog for breaking news and resource materials in this niche area of law.  This unassuming little blog is nicely searchable and has been frequently updated since its launch in late 2007. 

These are but three of many top notch Canadian law blogs out there.  If you need a break from the egg nog during the holidays or have a problem that needs solving, visit “the” authoritative list of Canadian law blogs at www.lawblogs.ca.  You’re sure to find something of interest there.

Best of luck to all nominees!

Law of the Lands Blog by John Goudy

I grew up in a farming community and harvested tobacco in the summer to pay my way through college, so I've got a soft spot for the plight of farmers and rural landowners and have always wanted to stay more informed. Until recently, however, it was difficult to find a good single source of interesting legal news and commentary on these kinds of issues.

Luckily, this void is very nicely filled by the Law of the Lands Blog, launched this year by John Goudy, a lawyer at Cohen Highley LLP in London, Ontario.  John covers farm, energy and environmental law, primarily as it affects rural folks, but in a way that is still of great interest and practicality to us city lawyers. His posting frequency is outstanding with about 15-32 posts per month.

Canadian lawyers who service rural communities or act for farmers and landowners should definitely be reading this blog, which has few peers, for expert insight, commentary and breaking developments and news from the courts, regulators and industry all across Canada. With all the concern nowadays about rural areas being under-serviced by the legal profession and the fact that the legal publishers basically ignore rural law issues, John’s blog is a gem of a resource.

Toronto Estate Monitor by Megan Connolly

At some point or another, most lawyers find themselves with a case involving one or more elements of estates and trusts law. That, and the fact that we have to plan for our own passing or incapacity, makes it essential to stay current with this area of law.

Megan Connolly’s Toronto Estate Monitor is a great source of timely commentary, case updates and practice tips on a wide variety of estates and trusts issues. While geared towards Ontario lawyers looking for insight on a particular topic (e.g., obtaining court approval of a settlement for an incapable litigant), the entries are clear and simple enough to be of great benefit to most laypeople, whether for their own affairs or to manage those of someone else. Megan launched her blog in summer 2010 and is generating high quality content at the rate of about 10-13 posts per month.

Ontario Legal Blog by Christopher Caruana

Since early 2007, Toronto commercial litigator Christopher Caruana has run a low-profile but noteworthy personal law blog. After leaving the big law firm culture that forbade lawyers to have their own websites or give anything remotely close to a personal comment in public online, Caruana struck out on his own. He blogs from the trenches, sharing his two cents on law practice or what appears in the papers or the propositions gleaned from his cases. Small business people (his clientele) will appreciate the frank and well-considered comments about litigation matters. Fellow commercial litigators will be struck by the enjoyable, easy-going writing style and crisp conclusions, often peppered with humour.

With entries chock-full of his personal observations, Caruana calls things as he sees them.  All his posts leave readers with something to think about and wanting to come back for more.

Toronto Estate Law Blog by Hull & Hull
Coming up on its fourth anniversary, Hull & Hull’s Toronto Estate Law Blog is a landmark of the Toronto law blog scene and continues to be one of the best resources for estate law in Ontario. This blog provides broad coverage of a wide range of issues in this specialty area thanks, in part, to regular posting by the firm’s members on a rotating basis and by guest bloggers. Regular entries include news pieces, case studies and commentary. Further, this blog is one of the local pioneers of podcasting, offering the audience an audio/video experience while transcripts are always available within a week of the podcast. Any lawyer or layperson with an interest in estate law or a live case to handle is well-served by starting their research here and staying tuned.

Environmental Law & Litigation Blog by Dianne Saxe
Toronto lawyer Dianne Saxe’s Envirolaw blog is a goldmine for environmental law news, analysis and resources. This blog might become best-known for its extensive coverage of Ontario’s recently-enacted Green Energy Act since much of the public input, debate, commentary and analysis for this statute is recorded in this blog, whose author was one of the leading experts in making the bar’s submissions on that Act. When the day comes that a general practitioner needs in-depth analysis of the nuts and bolts of the Green Energy Act or other environmental legislation, they wouldn’t go to the legislative library to read Hansard – they’d go to Dr. Saxe’s blog.

Ontario Real Estate Source by Brian Madigan
Brian Madigan is a real estate broker who practiced law for 25 years. He updates his blog daily with high-quality pieces on the local real estate market, finances, and law. The legal areas covered include real property, agency, contract and much more, with case law studies and commentary. It’s common for a single topic to be covered with a substantive piece for each of several days, which gives readers a very in-depth view of the topic. While this blog’s standard Blogger platform doesn’t provide good search capability (a shame), the content is top-notch and will appeal to lawyers and laypeople alike.

To see the nominations of other bloggers, go to Twitter and search for #clawbies2009.

Good luck to all of the nominees!

SLAW

No lawyer, law student, or anyone interested in justice should spend another day without adding a little Slaw to their life. Slaw, a co-operative effort of the leading minds on legal and technological issues, features a wide variety of news and information about technology, research, trends, and developments in the legal, social and political landscape in Canada. This combination of topics best lends itself to law practice management, but there’s so much more. It is extraordinary to find such a breadth of top-notch information in a single place and to receive it in such an effortless way. Quite simply, this is an indispensable resource.

Solo in Ontario: Criminal Practice (Bo Arfai)

These are the trials and tribulations of a first-year lawyer opening his solo criminal defence practice in Toronto. Bo Arfai eloquently and concisely discusses his experiences and observations on a variety of topics that would be useful to anyone opening any type of business. As an added bonus for lawyers and criminal law aficionados, he offers behind-the-scenes insight on the nitty gritty of criminal law practice, such as visiting clients at the Don Jail and how to get bail on a weekend or statutory holiday!

FP Legal Post (Financial Post)

What goes into this blog, written by journalists at the Financial Post, does not necessarily appear in the newspaper. Featuring short, timely, newsy, and decidedly witty entries covering and commenting on the big cases and developments in law and law practice management, this blog has something for everyone. It appeals not only to lawyers, but to anyone who follows big story legal affairs on either side of the border, including the Conrad Black trial and the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision on the BCE takeover bid this past summer.

Good luck to all!