Here comes Legal Form + Video Guide #4:

Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement (One-Sided)

This Agreement can be used to restrict ONE party’s use and disclosure of confidential information that is being provided to it.  If both parties are sharing confidential information and want to restrict each other’s use and disclosure of that information, then you can purchase a MUTUAL Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement.   Here’s the sample Video Guide that comes with this Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement (One-Sided):

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

written by admin \\ tags: Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement (One-Sided, download legal form, Dynamic Lawyers, legal forms and video guides, NDA, One Sided NDA

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 drafting, negotiating, or resolving a dispute concerning an agreement, you should seek professional assistance (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers).  We have Toronto, Ottawa, Brampton, Hamilton, and other Ontario family law lawyers registered on Dynamic Lawyers who can offer information, advice, and assistance with respect to your agreement.

As part of our forthcoming legal forms + guides release, we will be including a DL Guide that addresses the issue of the validity and enforceability of legal forms.  So you’ve purchased a do-it-yourself legal form and you’re naturally wondering: “If I use this legal form instead of having a lawyer draft it, will it be valid and enforceable?”  The answer to that question, as it usually is in these situations, is going to be: “IT DEPENDS”.  Think of it like this…You download a template.  It is incomplete.  You read it over and finish it.  Perhaps you even add a few provisions of your own to take into account your particular circumstances.  Then you and all the other parties sign it and deliver it to each other.   So, is it a valid and enforceable contract?  Believe it or not, this simple situation still results in the answer: “IT DEPENDS”.

So what does it depend on?  Well, under contract law, for a contract to be valid, there are a number of basic requirements concerning the SUBSTANCE of the contract (i.e. the terms and conditions of the actual contract) and the PROCESS of how the contract was entered into (e.g. was it entered into fairly and freely).  If there are issues with either the SUBSTANCE or the PROCESS of how it was entered into, then the contract can be challenged in whole or in part.  In what is to follow, we’ll be touching on only SOME of the more important issues.  Bear in mind, however, that there ARE MANY OTHER WAYS a contract can be challenged outside of its terms and conditions and the way it was entered into.  For example, a statute may have minimal requirements that need to be met in order for a legal form to be valid.  For example, the Ontario Substitute Decisions Act, 1992 states that witnesses are required for the signing of a Continuing Power of Attorney for Property and specifies who cannot be a witness.  That’s just one tiny example.  At the end of the day, you should always speak to a lawyer about your particular situation to mitigate against potential challenges.  So here we go…

written by admin \\ tags: Dynamic Lawyers, legal form, legal forms, valid and enforceable

It’s confirmed: Marc Saltzman of Tech Talk (remember the guy who’s always talking about cool technology before the movie starts at the theatres?) is going to have me on for 30 minutes to update listeners on everything Dynamic Lawyers. The show airs live on CFRB1010 on March 14, 2010 starting at noon.  I’m looking forward to it…

written by admin \\ tags: Dynamic Lawyers, marc saltzman, tech talk

Ok sports fans, it’s confirmed.  I’ll be back on CFRB1010 radio next month.  Marc Saltzman has invited me back to do a 1 year anniversary show about Dynamic Lawyers.  We’ve got lots to discuss including the new legal forms + video guides + eBooks project we’ll be releasing this month!  We’ll chat about the first 1,000 posts on dynamic lawyers, how traffic has increased exponentially, and how the future of law is changing (assuming there’s time!).  Very exciting…

written by admin \\ tags: cfrb1010 radio, Dynamic Lawyers, marc saltzman, media attention, tech talk

So we’ve not completed the following legal form packages:

• Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreements
• Settlement Agreements (e.g. Auto-Accident Settlement Agreement)
• Powers of Attorneys

They will be available when we launch our legal forms initiative next month.  We’ll be adding an independent contractor agreement and a residential lease agreement as part of the launch as well.  In terms of price, we’re looking to sell each package for between $30 and $40.  Trust me: it will be well worth it.  We have drafted, simplified, and revised these legal forms.  They are more robust yet simpler than anything else out there on the internet.  That, plus the fact that they come with guidance (eBook and VIDEOS) will make this Dynamic Lawyers the place to go for professional, affordable, and customizable legal forms….VERY EXCITING!

written by admin \\ tags: Dynamic Lawyers, eBook, guidance, legal forms, videos

Thanks and congratulations go out to Garry Wise and Omar Ha-Redeye for the great feature in Law Pro Magazine’s article entitled “Social Media: What?“  Seems like an article like this was a long-time coming.  The article talks about the various social media tools out there (e.g. facebook, twitter, blogging, linkedin, etc.) in terms of uses, benefits, and limitations.  There’s even a swanky picture of Garry Wise in there.  At the top of page 7, I am referenced along with Omar Ha-Redeye because of Garry’s Blog and OMG! Law Talk:

His blog is another means of “getting the information out there” – in a variety of formats. He often includes video clips, for example, and has just added a video series called OMG! Law
Talk, which features “informal, but often emphatic conversations on legal issues, politics, technology and social media” between Wise and fellow law bloggers Michael Carabash and Omar Ha-Redeye.

Great article and every lawyer should definitely give it a read…

written by admin \\ tags: Dynamic Lawyers, Garry Wise, law pro magazine, Michael Carabash, Omar Ha-Redeye

Wow!  I can’t believe the last time I blogged was almost two months ago…well, for good reason: I just finished writing a draft book on Criminal Records in Canada.   It is set to be published next year.  I researched and wrote the book with the help of good friends who know the industry like the back of their hand.  I knew nothing about criminal records when I started.  But I put my nose to the books and made some phone calls and now the book is basically good to go…I’ll even be offering some insights (through my blog) into this strange and unknown topic that impacts so many people.

Now let me give you a quick update on all things Dynamic Lawyers-related:

We were recently featured in The Voice in Diaspora, another free daily based out of Hamilton.  In this article, I talk about how Dynamic Lawyers is the best way to find a lawyer.

We are working on some VERY BIG stuff for the new year.  It’s been a long-time coming and the time and effort may prove worth it.  I’ll make the announcement as soon as it’s official…but for now…lets just say I’m very excited about the near and long-term future of Dynamic Lawyers

With the book out of the way, I will be going back to blogging, setting up my new downtown office, and practicing more business law.

Feels good to be back…

written by admin \\ tags: criminal records in canada, Dynamic Lawyers, Michael Carabash

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 bankruptcy matters, you should seek professional assistance (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers). We have bankruptcy law lawyers in Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Mississauga, and Ontario registered on Dynamic Lawyers who can offer information, advice, and assistance with respect to bankruptcy matters.

So the question routinely comes up: what if I have started a lawsuit or want to start a lawsuit but then go bankrupt in Canada?

Well, if you turn to s. 71 of the Canada Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, you’ll see that, when someone becomes bankrupt, they “cease to have any capacity to dispose of or otherwise deal with their property”. Rather, such capacity immediately passes to and vests in the Trustee responsible for the bankrupt’s estate. Furthermore, s. 72 provides that the Trustee is entitled “to avail himself of all rights and remedies provided by that law or statute as supplementary to and in addition to the rights and remedies provided by this Act“.

So what does this mean exactly?  Well, it’s basically saying that a bankrupt loses their rights to commence or maintain lawsuits dealing with their property.  So what does property mean?  Well, according to s. 2 of the Act, “property”:

“means any type of property, whether situated in Canada or elsewhere, and includes money, goods, things in action, land and every description of property, whether real or person­al, legal or equitable, as well as obligations, easements and every description of estate, interest and profit, present or future, vested or contingent, in, arising out of or incident to property”

Wow! So property includes personal rights (which is enforceable against a person or definite class of persons and property rights (which can be enforceable in respect of a thing and an indefinite class of persons).  It does not include everything, however: the right to sue in tort for pain and suffering, for example, is not covered.

So at the end of the day, a bankrupt generally losses his or her ability to start or maintain a lawsuit that involves their economic rights.

written by admin \\ tags: bankruptcy and insolvency act, bankruptcy law, bankruptcy matters, canada bankruptcy, Dynamic Lawyers, lawyers in Toronto

Our good friends at AdviceScene are profiling Dynamic Lawyers (once again) in their AdviceTalk newsletter (for September).  They previously profiled us in their June 2009 newsletter.  In the September newsletter, AdviceScene talks about the concept, history and benefits of Dynamic Lawyers.  The newsletter even plugs our new FREE eBook entitled “4 Steps to Online Legal Marketing: For Lawyers. By Lawyers“.  Thanks Nancy Kinney (President and founder of AdviceScene) and keep up the great work on helping to democratize the law!

written by admin \\ tags: advicescene, Dynamic Lawyers, nancy kinney

Dynamic Lawyers is looking for a Toronto Civil Litigator to respond to a new public post (i.e. someone is looking for a Toronto Civil Litigator to help them appeal their Tarion decision to Divisional Court).  If you are or know a  Toronto Civil Litigator who does this type of work, please give me a shout at michael@dynamiclawyers.com or sign up here.  You can read the full public post here.  Remember: Dynamic Lawyers is currently having a 1 month free trial period for new lawyers who sign up today.  There’s no risk and no obligations!  What are you waiting for?  Register today!

written by admin \\ tags: appeal Tarion decision to divisional court, Dynamic Lawyers, toronto civil litigator