Articles 2020

Chair (2018-2019) of the Ontario Bar Association's (OBA) Young Lawyers Division (YLD) (Central), Dana Lue reflects on her year and provides seven tips for others seeking to take on leadership roles in the OBA and other professional organizations in 2019-2020.

Read this article full of tips and best practices for delegating work to articling students, to ensure that your work is completed in a timely, efficient, and high-quality manner during the upcoming 2019-2020 articling term.

“Diversity and inclusion” (or “D&I”) has become a hot topic in the legal profession, in areas ranging from recruitment, to interactions with our clients, and at the law society. But what does “diversity and inclusion” actually mean and why should young lawyers care? In this post, D&I advocate Rosel Kim shares her story of why D&I is important to her and how young lawyers can promote D&I in the legal profession.

On February 6, 2019, Heather Douglas and Dana Lue of the OBA Young Lawyers' Division chaired the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program "Hard Work is Not Enough: Take Control of Your Career". Read Heather's takeaways from the event here.

Removing and replacing gendered pronouns and gender assumptions is a small but critical way the legal profession can promote equality and respect for gender diverse Canadians. Read on for practical tips and guidelines to be more gender-inclusive using the written word.

What rights and benefits are lawyers and articling students entitled to under Ontario's employment legislation? Read on to find out!

On February 21, the executive members of the Young Lawyers Division East Section traded in their business attire for aprons and hairnets to serve food at The Ottawa Mission as part of Lawyers Feed the Hungry. During this event, hot meals were served to more than 400 individuals over the course of just two hours. With dinnertime done and the tables cleared, I had two lingering questions in my mind: 1) why was that so rewarding, and 2) when could I do it again?

Suppose you own a house and want to open a restaurant on the ground floor. The applicable zoning by-law happens to permit that use on your property so you pull a building permit for the renovations, get a liquor license and start cookin’ with [TSSA-approved] gas. A week later, the City, in its wisdom, amends the zoning by-law to prohibit restaurant uses at your property. What do you do now?

For most lawyers, the result in court is what matters: Did you get the order you were seeking? How much of your argument did the judge adopt in her reasons? But for the client, it’s not the judgment itself that is significant, but the opposing side’s compliance with it. This article provides a roadmap for enforcement, to help you turn your courtroom victory into the desired result for your client.

Law Society of Ontario (LSO) Bencher elections are coming up soon. In our busy world juggling the early years of practice with family life, staying healthy and going to the OBA’s many interesting events, it is hard to engage with everything. Here are some reasons why you should engage with this year’s elections.