Articles

One hundred years ago, Justice Brewer of the U.S. Supreme Court asked if the ideal lawyer existed, and if so, what qualities constituted this ideal. In 2018, Craig A. Brannagan asks whether Justice Brewer's conclusions apply to lawyers practising in Canada a century later.

Creative abstraction can enable problem-solvers to move beyond stated positions and assumptions by using more than just the power of logic and persuasion as the primary means of conflict resolution in order to uncover the underlying interests, fears and concerns of the parties.

Tips to maximize settlement opportunities at mediation in wrongful dismissal and other employment disputes.

The legal profession may have a significant “blind spot” when it comes to family violence.Family law lawyers must remain vigilant in ensuring that they are up to date on some of the research and training available related to family violence so that they can ask their clients the right questions to canvas for some of these risk factors, and gauge the safety of their clients, as well as their decision-making power.

The mediation brief is a crucial instrument that can make or break mediation efforts. Many counsel make the mistake of treating their mediation briefs as a summary judgment factum, focusing on the legal merits of the case and presenting adversarial arguments. As mediators, we can mitigate against the undermining effects of such a mediation brief by expressly setting out what will be compelling and assistive in the mediation process (and what won’t be) in the pre-mediation conference.