With a new Mortgage Brokers Act afoot soon in Ontario, lawyers may have some new marketing opportunities — but there are caveats.

 

From coast to coast, tobacco companies are facing massive lawsuits to recoup smoking-related government healthcare costs. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are the latest provinces to flex their legal muscle.

Did the venerable Canadian steel icon’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act proceedings breathe new life into an ailing enterprise or just a lot of hot air?

He comes across as mild-mannered, but sports lawyer Gord Kirke is tough when it counts – when tempers flare, Kirke is famous for bringing sanity and a much-needed sense of fair play to the multi-billion-dollar sports industry.

Personal relationships and widely shared ideas about ethics and conduct once guarded the integrity of law firms. Not any more. Megafirms, competition and the LLP have changed all that. The question is, what is taking the place of the traditional law firm and the values it was built on?

When it comes to doing business abroad, more and more companies — and their executives — are bumping into conflicting legal environments: as the Enron and Hollinger  cases show, their lawyers need to find out what’s out there, before the trouble starts.

Once a dusty tradition that occurred on an ad hoc basis, if at all, mentoring is making a comeback. In fact, using top judges and lawyers to mentor young lawyers is becoming an important part of training associates at some of the country's best-known firms.

The billable hours approach to compensation, with its emphasis on individual work, is giving way at some top firms to a more collegial model.