Barbara Kincaid heads what she calls the top court’s ‘law firm.’ Photo: Colin Rowe

You can’t really sue a judge, but people do try. So on the rare occasion when one of the justices of Canada’s highest court ends up on the wrong end of a lawsuit, the duty to defend falls to Barbara Kincaid, general counsel of the Supreme Court of Canada. “It happens, but you don’t tend to get very far,” she says. “The principal of judicial immunity [means] you can’t sue a judge.” Defending the Supremes is only a small part of what Kincaid actually does, but it does point out similarities between her work and that of legal departments everywhere. “We are like the court’s law firm,” says Kincaid. “I obviously run a unique practice, but many of the challenges of running an in-house department are the same.”

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford wants to extend the Sheppard Avenue subway by financing it through P3s.

A proposal in Canada’s largest city to complete a huge subway project through a public-private partnership could bring the trend of municipalities using P3s to build new infrastructure to a whole new level.

When the top executives of the London Stock Exchange Group plc. and TMX Group Inc. announced the deal that would see the two companies merge to create one of the world’s largest stock exchanges, it immediately incited debate about the business benefits and regulatory hurdles the deal faces.

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. has reached an agreement with activist shareholder West Face Capital in the boardroom conflict that involved Purdy Crawford, one of Canada’s top business lawyers.

CBA president Rod Snow announced ‘a new CCCA with a focus on the future’ last week.

The Canadian Bar Association has dissolved the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association’s board of directors and dismissed its executive director in a dispute over funding.

Canadian companies need to keep their eyes on the Dodd-Frank law, says Andrew Foley.

If Canadian companies haven’t focused too much on the American Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act so far, they probably need to look into it immediately, say lawyers on both sides of the border.

The Canadian Bankers Association supports the federal government’s move to create a single regulator. Illustration: Shutterstock

The debate over Canada’s national securities regulator heated up last week, as the banking industry threw its weight behind the federal government at the country’s highest court, and two provinces complained the federal government was wasting money on the national entity before the court system rules on its legality.

The Ontario Court of Appeal said the case posed a ‘knotty and interesting question.’ Photo: Gail J. Cohen

Banks should not share clients’ mortgage information without consent when asked by other financial institutions trying to collect on a judgment debt, ruled the Ontario Court of Appeal. Such disclosure would violate the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

Political misunderstandings in the modern world don’t prevent business from carrying on, says Dany Assaf.

Heading to Dubai on business? You had better plan ahead.

Editor Andi Balla discusses the main stories in the December 2010 issue of Canadian Lawyer InHouse, which focuses on some of the latest cross-border business and legal trends.