About AAC LAWPRO
No profile information available.
AAC LAWPRO's Posts
Immigration consequences of criminal convictions: An update
Last November, we published a post about the intersection of criminal and immigration law, and specifically about the Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act – legislation that made it easier to deport non-citizens sentenced to at least six months for a criminal offence. The strict application of the IRPA makes lawyers more vulnerable to claims… Read More »
Categories: Criminal LawNeed something to read to avoid doing that other thing?
When tracking the causes of claims, we at LAWPRO classify certain claims as relating to problems with “time management”. These claims include losses caused by lawyer procrastination: a specific cause of loss at the root of four percent of claims (by both count and cost) over the past ten years. Would you like to be… Read More »
Categories: Wellness and Balance, Law Practice ManagementSurprise! You have a franchise
Are you sure the company for which you’re handling an Ontario commercial transaction is not a franchise? Really sure? Because if you’re wrong, and your client meets the statutory definition of a franchise, the company is bound by the strict disclosure requirements of Ontario’s Arthur Wishart Act. Non-compliance with these can mean that parties entering… Read More »
Categories: Franchise LawCriminal lawyers: Clear communication your best defence against allegations of ineffective assistance
A substantial proportion of professional liability claims against criminal defence counsel are based on allegations of “ineffective assistance”. The jurisprudence makes it clear that poor lawyer-client communication is at the root of many of these claims. Allegations of ineffective assistance are usually first tested in the context of the appeal of a conviction. Few of… Read More »
Categories: Criminal LawDiversify Without Dabbling: Before Expanding Your Practice, Expand Your Competence
Think you have the confidence to bluff your way through a file that’s outside your normal scope of practice? It might work if you were playing a lawyer on TV… but that’s only because your opponent (and the judge, if it’s a litigation file) would be actors, too. In the real world, trying to “fake… Read More »
Categories: Law Practice ManagementCan a criminal conviction make your client inadmissible for residency/citizenship?
Where a client charged with a serious crime is a non-citizen of Canada and is hoping to obtain resident status, criminal lawyers should be aware that recent changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) raise special plea and sentencing considerations. The Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act On June 19, 2013, amendments to… Read More »
Categories: Criminal LawWarning: Insurers can ‘contract out’ of the Limitations Act, 2002 in ‘non-consumer’ policies
The law of limitations applicable to insurance claims has entered a period of uncertainty, arising in part from insurers’ ability to “contract out” of the Limitations Act, 2002 (LA 2002) where the insured is not a “consumer.” Claims on group long-term disability policies may prove especially hazardous. This article by Debra Rolph, Director of Research… Read More »
Categories: Limitations ClaimsLAWPRO Tales of Horror: The Phantom Client Returns…Again and Again
Recent LAWPRO claims have driven home to us the importance of formal retainer arrangements and avoiding the spectre of the phantom client. Unfortunately, these issues are not new. In 1991,William S. O’Hara wrote an article for the Law Society of Upper Canada Errors and Omissions Bulletin entitled “Beware of the Phantom Client.” He wrote: Of… Read More »
Categories: Communication Errors, Civil Litigation