In this blog, I’ll list some of the legal forums in North America I’ve come across over the past little while.  While some of these legal forums have been around longer than others, I still think it’s important to give the new ones a chance as they might end up growing to be a great source of legal information over time.

So here’s my list:

1. Lawbuzz: deals with news, lawyer stuff, big and small firm issues.
2. Legal Chat Online: online legal forum by law firm Steigerwalt & Associates.
3. Expert Law: offering free legal help on hundreds of topics.
4. Free Advice: free advice legal forum.
5. Law Info: legal discussion boards.
6. Slash Legal: legal information | discussion gateway for law.
7. Advice Scene: online legal resources.
8. The Attorneys Forum: legal help and law discussion forums

Feel free to contact me if you come across any more and I’ll add them to the list.  Thanks in advance!

written by admin \\ tags: law forum, law forums, legal forum, legal forums

The following questions often arise in the course of legal service providers: what is a paralegal and what can a paralegal do?

In this blog, I’ll discuss the following: (1) paralegal definition and (2) the paralegal profession.  Please note that I’ll be discussing these topics as they pertain to Ontario paralegals (please keep in mind that each jurisdiction has its own way of treating paralegals).

Paralegal Definition
In Ontario, a paralegal is a legal person who is licensed by the Law Society of Upper Canada to provide legal services (which includes representation and the preparaiton of documents pertaining to proceedings) in the following matters:

• Criminal - Representation before Summary Conviction Court (i.e. summary offences carry lower fines and prison terms than indictable offences)
• Civil Litigation – Representation before Small Claims Court (claims for $10,000 and less)
• Government/Administrative Law – Representation before tribunal established by the Federal or Ontario Government.
• Provincial Offences (including Highway Traffic Tickets) – Representation before Provincial Offences Court
• Statutory accident benefits

Paralegals are not allowed to represent parties before family law courts.  Paralegals can also perform other legal services (e.g. corporate, wills and estates, family matters) but only under the direct supervision of a lawyer.

Paralegal Profession
Paralegals are governed by the Law Society of Upper Canada and must be accredited and pass exams in order to be licensed to practice as a paralegal.  This change came only recently after it was discovered that anyone without proper training, knowledge, skills, and experiences (and sometimes people with criminal records or dubious pasts) were acting as paralegals to the detriment of their clients.  It is estimated that, in 2008, there were less than 1000 licensed paralegals in Ontario.

If you need a paralegal, go to Dynamic Paralegals and make a post (it’s free and anonymous) and local paralegals will repsond to you with information and quotes (FREE!).

written by admin \\ tags: becoming a paralegal, certified paralegals, how to become a paralegal, paralegal definition, paralegal duties, paralegal lawyers, paralegal profession, paralegal services, what is a paralegal

Please note that the information provided herein is not legal advice and is provided for informational and educational purposes only.  If you need legal advice with respect to small claims court rules, procedures, or representation, you should seek professional assistance (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers).  We have Toronto small claims court lawyers registered on Dynamic Lawyers who can offer information, advice, and assistance with respect to your small claims court matters.

In this blog, I’ll be discuss some of the relevant rules pertaining to costs in Ontario small claims court.  Small claims court matters deal with monetary damages of $10,000 or less.  Beginning in 2010, however, that monetary limit will increase to $25,000 in an effort to speed up the administration of justice and help reduce the backlog in the superior courts.

The rules concerning costs recently changed in Ontario.  At the moment, the following small claims court rules concerning costs are relevant:

• A successful part is entitled to have their reasonable disbursements (e.g. cost of service, expenses for travel, accommodation, photocopying, experts’ reports, etc.) paid for by the defendant: s. 19.01(1) of the Small Claims Court Rules [hereinafter "Rules"].
• Cost awards are limited by s. 29 of the Courts of Justice Act: s. 19.02 of the Rules.
• Section 29 of the Ontario Courts of Justice Act states that an award in small claims court “shall not exceed 15 per cent of the amount claimed…unless the court considers it necessary in the interests of justice to penalize a party or a party’s representative for unreasonable behaviour in the proceeding”.
• The court may award successful party an amount not exceeding $50 for preparation and filing of pleadings: s. 19.03 of the Rules.
• The court may award a reasonable representation fee at trial or at an assessment hearing if the amount claimed in an action exceeds $500, exclusive of interest and costs, and the successful party is represented by a lawyer: s. 19.04 of the Rules.
• The court may award up to $500 as compensation for inconvenience and expense if the successful party is self-represented: s. 19.05(a) of the Rules.

Remember: if you have any questions or concerns about costs in Ontario small claims court (or Toronto small claims court) or other small claims court-related issues, go to Dynamic Lawyers and make a post and get free information and quotes from Toronto small claims court lawyers.

written by admin \\ tags: ontario small claims court, small claims court, small claims court in ontario, small claims court ontario, small claims court procedure, small claims court rules, small claims lawyers, small claims rules, smallclaimscourt, toronto small claims court, toronto small claims court lawyer, toronto small claims court lawyers

If you need a Toronto real estate lawyer or attorney, go to Dynamic Lawyers and make a post (it’s FREE and anonymous) and get information and quotes from Toronto real estate lawyers and attorneys.

Real estate lawyers in Toronto work with Realtors, brokers, lenders and others to facilitate residential and commercial purchases and sales and leases.  Real estate lawyers do a number of things to protect your rights and protect your interests, such as: title search, reviewing clauses and conditions on agreements, dealing with requisitions, and transferring/registering title with the applicable government land titles office.  The types of premises which Toronto real estate attorneys deal with include:

• Residential homes
• Condominiums
• Commercial real estate
• Farms and cottages
• Heritage properties
• Crown land

The types of things Toronto real estate lawyers can help you with include drafting, negotiating, interpreting, and resolving disputes over the following documents/agreements:

• Purchase and Sale Agreement
• Lease Agreement (residential and commercial)
• Mortgage documents

Toronto real estate attorneys can help you by taking the surprises out of a real estate deal.  Among other things, they can find hidden liabilities associated with the property in question, help to protect your rights and promote your interests (and thereby give you peace of mind), and provide you with advice on the best way for you to hold title.  Having a competent real estate lawyer from the get go will end up saving you time and money.

Nowadays, Toronto real estate lawyers can give you fixed fees and quotes with respect to how much it would cost you in legal fees and disbursements to help facilitate a real estate deal.  Typical legal fees for a residential purchase are about $650 to $900 for the cost of an average Toronto home (this means that these fees tend to go up if the price of the house is above average).  Disbursements are extra: these are out of pocket expenses incurred by the Toronto real estate lawyer on your behalf to pay third parties (e.g. title insurance, land titles office, surveyors, etc.).  Disbursements range in the few hundred dollars.  The title insurance is purchased to protect the home buyer from things like old or no surveys, fraud and forgery, unpaid taxes and utility bills, zoning violations, etc.

written by admin \\ tags: lawyer, Real Estate, real estate lawyer, real estate lawyers in toronto, real esteate attorneys toronto, toronto lawyers, toronto real estate, toronto real estate attorney, toronto real estate attorneys, toronto real estate lawyer, Toronto real estate lawyers

Legalline.ca is a great access to justice resource for those wanting to know more about Canadian law in general.  Legalline ® was founded as a federal not-for-profit corporation in 1993 by lawyer Antree Demarkos and her husband and telecom whiz, Ian Levine.  The two established a phone service, whereby everyday people could call in and, through a series of automated prompts, listen to a pre-recorded voice talking about the legal information they sought.  To get to that point, Demarkos and Levine had to enlist the service of 300 top Ontario lawyers to work for free, writing about topics in each’s area of expertise (e.g. criminal law, landlord and tenant law, business law, etc.). Over 1000 legal issues are covered in a simple question/answer and problem/solution format, which allows listeners and readers to get the information they need without the legal jargon. Next, they found people with nice voices to freely record the information.  They also began printing and distributing millions of guides (2 feet by 3 feet) to law offices, police stations, recreations centres, and (with the help of Canada Post) eventually to every home in Ontario. The guide is a directory of all legal topics that is to be used by individuals when calling the Legalline telephone service. Finally, they recruited sponsors to offset the cost of the service and maintain credibility.  Speaking of credibility, there is a very long list of people, corporations, and other organizations that endorse Legalline, and some testimonials can be found here.  In 1997, Demarkos and Levine established Legalline.ca to compliment their phone and fax services.  Most recently, with the help of lawyers and legal writers James Middlemiss (National Post – Legal Post) and Michael Crawford, Demarkos and Levine published Your Guide to Canadian Law: Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions in 2006.  That invaluable book (which is a Canadian best seller) was updated this year.

written by admin \\ tags: Access to Justice, antree demarkos, free legal advice, ian levine, legal advice, legal line, legalline, legalline guides, legalline.ca

Law Firm Search Engine Optimization or “SEO” for short is all about optimizing your website for selected keywords such that it appears high on Google pages when users enter in those keywords.

I’ve been visiting some great websites that deal with SEO in general and I wanted to share some thoughts and resources.

You’ve heard it before, but it’s worth repeating: content is king.  The more high quality content you have, the more that search engines will index your pages higher on their rankings.   This is because other websites will likely link to your content (because of its authoritativeness) and the more links you have, the better.   Also, search engines likely regularly updated content (it treats it as more relevant than static pages).

So the first step is to find out how much content search engines actually see.  This is easy.  Just go to Google and type in the following: site: url.  So, if your website was www.canada.com, then you would type in: site:www.canada.com.  The search engines will display all of the pages they’ve indexed from your site.

Interestingly, Google’s spider (i.e. the bot that crawls the web and indexes pages) is faster and more efficient than the Yahoo spider (called slurp).  No one is really sure why this is the case, but many people have complained that Yahoo is very slow at indexing website pages.  The only explanation that people on the Internet keep saying is: be patient, wait, and eventually yahoo will index your website.

Another tool you can use to determine how Google (and likely other search engines) rank your page is to visit Google PageRank. Just go to the website and type in your url (e.g. www.canada.com).  Within a matter of seconds, Google Page Rank will return a number out of 10 that gives you insight into how well ranked your website is on Google.  Most websites are ranked 0,1, or 2.  You should keep coming back to this tool to see if your law firm search engine optimization techniques, strategies, and perhaps vendors are improving your search engine results.

Finally, I really liked reading Henry Harlow’s 3-part blog series entitled Law Firm Internet Marketing An Executive Summary Via Q&A, wherein Henry discusses things like law firm search engine optimization (what does it all mean), tools like wordtracker, RSS feeds, and selecting proper domain names.

Happy law firm SEOing!

written by admin \\ tags: law firm search engine optimization, law firm seo, lawyers, search engine optimization for law firms, search engine optimization law firms, seo, toronto lawyers

I came across two blog entries today that deal with the issue of buying links, so I thought I’d touch upon them here.

The idea of buying links goes as follows: among many other factors, Google uses links to determine if a website should be ranked higher on its indexed pages.  The idea is that links are the relationships of the world wide web and the more popular your particular page is (because the more links it has), the more relevant it is and hence the higher it should appear for its targeted keywords.

Now what some people – and particularly SEO or Search Engine Optimization companies – offer and do is a service whereby they build dummy website that link to your site.  In effect, they are trying to trick the search engines to ranking a particular website higher because it has links.  By relying on these kinds of links, websites are disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their websites.

I liked Robert Guest’s Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog, wherein he talked about his experience with phony links and SEO companies.  In one particular example, he discussed a spam comment that had been made under one of his blog entries.  It turned out to be his own writing and it actually linked back to a prominent DWI law firm’s web site!  What had happened was that a spam comment bot just copied and pasted his own materials in the comments, but then linked back to the law firm.  All of this was done to trick Google to rank the page higher.

Another example I came across was more eye-opening.  A blog in Lead-Gen SEO described how, in the summer of 2008, popular lawyer referral service FindLaw had been caught selling links to its clients in a bid to increase their search engine rankings.  An email had been sent out – likely without being cleared by FindLaw’s inhouse counsel – that gave a message to the tune of “buy super-link-juice-passing text links from Findlaw and get top rankings in Google”.  The big problem with FindLaw’s actions was that it was also selling web development services; hence, its clients may not have realized the risk they ran (i.e. in case Google decided to punish them) by engaging in FindLaw’s services.

Overall, buying paid links on dummy websites as a form to cheat the system is against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.  Google can (and probably should) be punishing those websites that engage in such conduct and put warnings up not to deal with certain SEO companies who engage in these depective practices.

written by admin \\ tags: google, lawyers, paid links, rankings, referrals, search engine, search engine optimization companies, seo

There are over 17,000 individuals in Toronto who can call themselves a Toronto attorney.  Each Toronto attorney typically has his or her own specialty.  The day of the general practitioner is not as it once was (and is slowly fading away).  In fact, specialization is a preferred strategy to earn above-average returns in any given industry.  Besides, think of how hard it would be for a lawyer who ‘does it all’ to keep up to date with the changing laws in every given legal area.  It’s way too difficult and that’s where negligence cases may arise.

In any event, I thought I’d spend some time discussing the various types of Toronto attorneys that you can come across on a day-to-day basis.  Here’s the first breakdown of types of Toronto attorneys (please keep in mind that this list of the types of lawyers out there is not exhaustive):

• Toronto Real Estate Attorneys: help you buy and sell residential, investment, farm, cottage, recreational, condominium, and cooperative properties.  They also you get a mortgage financing and refinancing as well.

• Toronto Personal Injury Attorneys: help you litigate, settle, or otherwise resolve claims arising from:
  • accident benefits claims
  • dog bites
  • disability claims
  • medical malpractice
  • motor vehicle accidents
  • negligence actions
  • personal injury claims
  • product liability
  • slip and falls

• Toronto Business Attorneys: help you to incorporate and organize, merge/amalgamate, and dissolve your business.  They can help prepare, review, interpret, revise, negotiate, litigate, and resolve the following business documents:
  • shareholder agreement
  • partnership agreement
  • joint venture agreement
  • franchise agreement
  • commercial leases
  • business acquisitions
  • regulatory compliance
  • constructions contracts
  • employment agreements

• Toronto Wills and Estates Attorneys: they offer services from a basic will and powers of attorney  to more complicated tax-planning structures, such as inter-vivos trusts and estates freezes.  They can also help personal representatives in the administration and distribution of estate assets.  Finally, they can litigate on behalf of beneficiaries or the estate trustee on issues such as mental capacity of the testator, validity of a will, etc.

• Toronto Family Attorneys: they can help you with your marriage breakup by drafting a separation agreement.  They can also help you with issues such as divorce, spousal and child support, child custody, possession of the matrimonial home, and the equalization of net family property.
  

• Toronto Criminal Defense Attorneys: they can help represent you against government bodies that have charged you with criminal or provincial offences (e.g. careless driving), including:
  • DUI (driving under the influence)
  • assault
  • sexual assault
  • fraud
  • theft

written by admin \\ tags: accident, accidents, agreement, attorneys, beneficiaries, business, business acquisitions, commercial leases, contracts, criminal, custody, defense, Dynamic Lawyers, family, franchise agreement, fraud, incorporation, incorporators, injuries, injury, investment farm, joint venture toronto personal actions, law, lawyer, lawyers, liabilities, litigants, litigation, marriage, mentality, negligence, negligence cases, negotiating, Negotiations, offence, partnership, personal injury claims, practitioner, preferred strategy, property, revisions, separation, shareholder, shareholders, shareholdings, testator, toronto, toronto attorney, toronto attorneys, toronto business, toronto real estate, Wills and Estates

Please note that the information provided herein is not legal advice and is provided for educational purposes only. If you need legal advice with respect to durable power of attorneys, you should seek professional assistance (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers).

In this blog, I’ll be discussing some recent changes to the Ontario Limitations Act, 2002 as they pertain to  demand obligations.

By means of background, the Ontario Limitations Act, 2002 sets out the rules about the time limit parties have to initiate a lawsuit in Ontario.  The basic limitation period, for example, provides that parties have 2 years from the date upon which they discovered the injuries or damages committed or when a reasonable person with the abilities and in the circumstances of the person with the claim first ought to have known of the injuries or damages: ss. 4 and 5.

The Ontario Limitations Act, 2002 came into effect on January 1, 2004.  If a claim arose before January 1, 2004, then there are a series of tests and rules to be used to determine if the former Limitations Act and the 6 year discoverability rule applies: s. 24(5).

With respect to demand obligations, prior to recent changes via Ontario Bill 114 (which became law when it received Royal Assent on November 27, 2008) the law concerning limitations periods and demand obligations was ruled on by the Ontario Court of Appeal’s case in Hare v. Hare.  In that case, the Court held held that a demand promissory note becomes payable as soon as it was made (subject to payments on the loan) OR on the day the debtor’s last payment on the note is made, thus triggering the limitation period from that day. This meant that the limitation period did not begin to run on the date of default following a demand for repayment. So if no payments were made or required to be made under the demand note, then the creditor’s claim under the note was statute barred two years after the demand promissory note was made.

After Bill 114 passed into law, Hare v. Hare ceased being the law in Ontario. Bill 114 changed the Ontario Limitations Act, 2002 such that the general 2-year limitation period begins to run for a demand obligation on the day in which there is a failure to perform a demand obligation following a demand for performance. This is the present law in Ontario.  The exact wording of the new s. 5(3) is as follows (keep in mind that the reference to s. 1(a)(i) refers to the day on which the party first knew of the injury):

“For the purposes of subclause (1) (a) (i), the day on which injury, loss or damage occurs in relation to a demand obligation is the first day on which there is a failure to perform the obligation, once a demand for the performance is made.”

written by admin \\ tags: limitations act 2002, ontario limitations act, promissory note

Please note that the information provided herein is not legal advice and is provided for educational purposes only.   If you need legal advice with respect to durable power of attorneys, you should seek professional assistance (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers).

In this blog, I’ll briefly review some of the key features of simple durable power of attorneys (also referred to as continuing power of attorneys).  Please note that I use the term “durable” and “continuing” throughout interchangeably.

Revoke Previous Continuing Power of Attorney
First, you’ll need to revoke any previous durable power of attorney.

Appoint an Attorney
Next, you’ll need to identify your attorney.  Use their full legal name and even adding an identifier (e.g. my son, my spouse, etc.) may help.  You can also consider appointing more than one person as your attorney.  This may be to share or divide responsibilities and to make sure there are sufficient checks and balances on decision-making; at the same time, it may overly complicate things and cause headache (diverging opinions coupled with joint decision-making authority may cause delays and turmoil!).

Appoint a Substitute Attorney
For whatever reason, in case the individual you appointed is incapable (e.g. vacation, sickness, death) or unwilling (e.g. through retirement) to act as your attorney at the time they need to, you should appoint a substitute attorney.

Authority of Attorney(s)
This part of your durable power of attorney should outline the powers and restrictions on powers which your attorney will have over your property.  Here, you can specify for example, that the attorney has the power, in his or her sole and absolute discretion, to make investments, to act as your litigation guardian to commence/defend/represent you in court, to take annual compensation in light of being your attorney, to deal with the Canada Revenue Agency on your behalf, etc.  Part of the terms and conditions of the durable power of attorney may also include things like the power to make loans or gifts on your behalf, the power to consult with specific people before decisions are made, and what happens if disputes arise (e.g. are they to be resolved through mediation or arbitration?).

Date of Effectiveness
The durable power of attorney is effective as soon as it is signed and witnesses unless specified otherwise in the actual durable power of attorney.  So you may state a specific date or event upon which the durable power of attorney becomes effective.

Signatures
Use blue ink (to show it’s original) instead of black.  Also, please refer to my previous blog entry on continuing powers of attorney which addressed some considerations which should be taken into account with respect to your witness’ signatures.

In case you were looking for a Continuing Power of Attorney legal form, look no further:

Continuing Power of Attorney for Property (Ontario)

This Legal Form can be used to appoint a person to make decisions on your behalf concerning your property and finances. It can impose limits on your attorney for property. Also, it is called “Continuing” or “Enduring” to signify that, even after you become incapable of making decisions concerning your own property, this Power of Attorney for Property will still be valid and applicable. We also have a Power of Attorney for Personal Care available on Dynamic Lawyers if you need one, as well as a Living Will (these things are typically done all at the same time with your Last Will and Testament). Here’s the sample Video Guide that comes with this Continuing Power of Attorney for Property:

Remember: if you need an Ontario lawyer, go to Dynamic Lawyers and make a post.

written by admin \\ tags: canada revenue agency, continuing power of attorney, durable, durable power of attorney, Dynamic Lawyers, how to make a will, how to write a will, last will and testament, making a will, need toronto lawyer, ontario lawyers, power of attorney, power of attorneys, toronto lawyers, writing a will