Toronto personal injury lawyers – are they all the same?  Is there something that distinguishes one law firm from the other?  I challenge Toronto personal injury lawyers to share – in 1-2 sentences – what makes them different from their competitors.  They basically work on contingency fee (i.e. they don’t get paid until they win or the case settles).  If they are all the same, then how are prospective users of personal injury law firms supposed to tell the difference?  Will it matter?  Do most cases settle anyways – to the point where it doesn’t matter which firm you pick because they all do the same service?  I don’t believe so.  Nothing is guaranteed and your case might be the one that goes through a lengthy and complicated trial!  Also, wouldn’t you rather have an good relationship with a personal injury lawyer who responds to your emails and phone calls, updates you on your case, and is actually prepared to go to court to fight for your rights?

written by admin \\ tags: accident lawyer, law, law firm, lawyer, Lawyers and Law Firms, Personal Injury, personal injury attorney, personal injury lawyer, Services, toronto personal lawyer, United States

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 child support or determining child support payments, you should seek professional assistance (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers).  We have Toronto and Ottawa family law lawyers registered on Dynamic Lawyers who can offer information, advice, and assistance with respect to your child support matters.

As a follow up to my recent child support calculator blog (which dealt with Ontario and federal child support), I thought I’d discuss calculating child support in British Columbia.  Interestingly, the province of British Columbia has adopted the Federal Child Support Guidelines to determine child support obligations in that province.  It says so here: s. 1(2) of the B.C. Child Support Guidelines Regulation made under the Family Relations Act.   So here it is:

• British Columbia – this is a calculator provided by the British Columbia Family Maintenance Enforcement Program.  Please keep in mind that this websites may not be up-to-date and that you are always cautioned to consult with a family law lawyer who is apprised of the present law in British Columbia.

The key thing to keep in mind is trying to figure out what your income would be for the purposes of determining child support.  It’s not as easy or straightforward as one might think.  There are a number of steps that begin with looking at your last income tax return and making adjustments according to the Federal Child Support Guidelines.

The Federal Child Support Guidelines are regulations made under the Canada Divorce Act. The latter applies when parents are married and are now divorcing or formerly married and making a claim for child support.  If the parents are not divorcing or were not married at all, then child support would have to be calculated by the provincial jurisdiction’s relevant family law legislation.

In Ontario, for example, child support is determined according to the Family Law Act and the Ontario Child Support Guidelines.  The latter also has a table (as does the Federal Child Support Guidelines) that allows users to pinpoint what their child support obligations would be based on their income.

Again, it is encouraged to consult with a family law lawyer (e.g. by making a post on Dynamic Lawyers) before simply assuming that you know what your income would be under the applicable child support guidelines (and possibly relying on a free child support calculator to your detriment).

written by admin \\ tags: blog, british maintenance enforcement program, child support calculator, child support guidelines, child support obligations, child support payments, divorce act, family, family law lawyer, family law legislation, family maintenance enforcement, federal child support guidelines, law, lawyer, lawyers, maintenance enforcement program, ontario

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 informational and educational purposes only.  If you need legal advice with respect to complying with anti-spam or privacy legislation,  you should seek professional assistance (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers).

Canada’s Anti-Spam Laws are found in the proposed Bill S-235, An Act concerning unsolicited commercial electronic messages.  That’s right: I said “proposed”.  It’s not passed into law yet.  In fact, at the time of writing this blog, the Bill had only been introduced into the Senate (first reading) on May 7, 2008 and had been debated at 2nd reading on May 13, 2008.  You can view the status of the Bill here.  So where does that leave us?  Well, private individuals and companies still need to comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA for short), which imposes obligations and liabilities with respect to the collection, use, and dissemination of third party personal information without those parties’ knowledge or consent.

So how would Canada’s proposed Anti-Spam Laws work?   The following information is a brief summary of certain provisions based on the current reading of the text of the Bill (remember: it may get changed if and when it becomes law).

Requirements for commercial electronic messages (e.g. an advertisement e-mail):

• They must clearly and accurately identify the sender, contain readily-accessible and accurate heading and routing info, and include info as to how the recipient can contact the person sending the message.
• They must include an accurate subject line.
• They must include a functional unsubscribe facility and a clear statement to the effect that unsubscribing can be done.

Prohibitions in the Bill:

• No person can send a commercial electronic message unless the recipient has consented to receiving the message.
• Implied consent  cannot be inferred from the fact that the recipient’s e-mail address has been published elsewhere or has been generally available to the public.
• A recipient can withdraw their consent.
• It is illegal for someone to offer to supply, supply or use e-mail or address-harvesting software or a harvested-address list.
• No person shall impersonate a trusted source.
• No person shall send out commercial electronic messages that include or constitute false representations (e.g. false representations that the commercial electronic message is being sent by or on behalf of another person, etc.)

With respect to enforcing these and other provisions of the Bill, anyone who sends a commercial electronic message without the recipient’s consent may be convicted of an offence and liable to a find not exceeding $500,000 and for a second and subsequent offence, to a find not exceeding $1.5-million.

There are other specific offences and fines related to requirements, duties, and obligations found in Canada’s proposed Anti-Spam laws.   Interestingly, apart from being prosecuted under this proposed bill and having to pay a fine, an individual or business could be sued in a civil action for breaching the proposed Act.

written by admin \\ tags: advertising, blog, brief summary, briefs, conviction, dissemination, e mail, educational purposes, electronic documents, electronic message, first reading, law, lawyer, lawyers, legal advice, liabilities, offence, personal information protection, privacy legislation, private individuals, professional assistance, prohibitions, prosecution, provisions, publicity, receiving the message, recipient, spam laws, subject line

Toronto law firms can help answer your legal questions, facilitate your transaction (e.g. business, real estate, wills and estates, family, etc.) or even represent you in court.  To find a Toronto lawyer or law firm, go to Dynamic Lawyers and make a post.  It’s free and anonymous and Toronto lawyers and law firms will respond to you with information and quotes for you to compare.

Here are some of the different types of law that Toronto law firms can assist you in:

• Accidents and Injuries: Involved in an accident where you suffered personal injury?
• Business: Need corporate or commercial agreements? Need to have a lawyer help you do a transaction?
• Charities and Not-For-Profit: Need to establish a Not-For-Profit corporation or obtain charity status?
• Civil Litigation – Higher Court: Have a serious legal claim that needs to be litigated in the Superior Court, Divisional Court, etc.?
• Civil Litigation – Small Claims Court: Have a legal claim (e.g. breach of contract, negligence, etc.) for less than $10,000?
• Constitutional / Human Rights and Freedoms: Challenging a law or government action / inaction?
  Criminal: Charged with a criminal offence? Appealing a conviction?
• Employment and Labour: Need an employment agreement? Unjustly terminated? Need to know your rights?
• Family: Going through a separation or divorce? Fighting to get custody or access? Dealing with spousal and child support?
• Government: Need to lobby the government? Need to resolve a dispute with a government agency?
• Highway Traffic Tickets: Charged with speeding or DUI? Need to fight traffic tickets?
• Immigration: Need to immigrate to Canada? Fighting against deportation?
• Insurance: Having difficulties with your Insurance company?.
• Intellectual Property: Need to register a copyright or trademark? Need help with a patent?
• Landlord and Tenant: Need a resolve a dispute? Need to know your rights?.
• Notary Public / Commissioner: Need to notarize or commission your documents?
• Real Estate: Need someone to facilitate your residential or commercial purchase, sale, or lease?
• Tax: Need help structuring your tax affairs? Need help resolving tax disputes with the Canada Revenue Agency?
• Wills, Estates and Trusts: Need a will? Need to update your will? Find out why having an up-to-date will is a must.

Try to consult with a couple of Toronto law firms and Toronto attorneys until you’re comfortable with whom you’re speaking with.  Toronto law firms differ in size, location, expertise, and reputation.  Go to Dynamic Lawyers and save time and money finding the right Toronto law firms and Toronto attorneys who specialize in the legal area you require!

written by admin \\ tags: accident, accidents, agreement, attorneys, breach, breach of contract, charity status, Civil Litigation, commercial agreements, commissioners, company intellectual property, contracts, conviction, corpor, corporation, court, criminal, criminal offence, custody, different, different types of law, divisional court, family, firms, government need, human rights and freedoms, injuries, injury, insurance, landlord and tenant, law, lawyer, lawyers, legal claim, litigants, litigation, money, negligence, notarize, notary, offence, publicity, purchaser, quotes, separation, small claims court, support government, toronto, toronto law firms, toronto lawyer, toronto lawyers, traffic, types of law, Wills and Estates

Toronto Attorneys and Toronto Lawyers: go to Dynamic Lawyers to make a post of your legal issue(s) and have Toronto Attorneys and Toronto Lawyers respond with information and quotes.

What’s the difference between “Attorney”  and “Lawyer”?  Well, in Ontario, people who have studied law in law school, passed the Bar Admissions test, and have been called to the Bar of Ontario are called different things to different people.  The Law Society of Upper Canada calls them licensees.  In court, judges call them counsel.  Their clients call them their lawyer or attorney.  And they call themselves barristers and solicitors.  So what do all of these things mean?  Basically, they all come to mean the same thing, with a few minor comments about the differences between a barrister and solicitor.

A lawyer is the normal thing we call persons learned in the law and licensed to practice law.  An attorney works too, but this is more Americanized for some reason (at least in my humble experience).  Counsel means the same thing as a lawyer or attorney, but is used less often – lest some people confuse the lawyer with some type of counselor or consultant (unless the term legal counsel is used).

The distinction between a barrister and a solicitor is interesting and worthy of a few words here.  Toronto attorneys are both capable of calling themselves barristers and solicitors.  In other jurisdictions, lawyers may be one or the other but not both.  The word barrister, in its deep-rooted English traditions, comes from those who are called to bar and who advocate for their clients before courts and tribunals.  This is to be distinguished from solicitors, who typically are engaged by clients to do contractual work and facilitate transactions (e.g. business, real estate, wills and estates, family, etc.).

For more information about the differences between barristers and solicitors, check out what Wikipedia has to say.

written by admin \\ tags: attorneys, bar admissions, barrister and solicitor, barristers and solicitors, court, courts and tribunals, engagements, family, judges, jurisdiction, law, law society of upper canada, lawyer, lawyers, ontario barristers, quotes, s, toronto, toronto attorneys, toronto lawyers, toronto yers, wikipedia

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 business name searches (e.g. how to conduct one, the possible tips and traps you should be aware of, etc.), you should seek professional assistance (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers).  We have Toronto business lawyers registered on the website who can answer your questions or help you in doing a business name search or dealing with any issues or problems that may arise in that context.

In this blog, I’ll be offering some observations about doing a corporate or business name search.  Name searches are done by parties wishing to use a name for their incorporated business (e.g. they are about to incorporate and have decided on a particular name).  For the purposes of this blog, I’ll be discussing how name searches work at the Federal level.

The Federal government requires that you obtain a corporate name search report before you can incorporate your business.  These business name search reports help the government determining the availability of a proposed name by searching the relevant databases for similar or possibly confusing existing business names, trademarks, and corporate names.  To this end, you must pay for and submit to the Federal government (while you’re in the process of incorporating) a NUANS biased report.  NUANS stands for Newly Updated Automated Name Search and it’s a database that provides name search reports at the Federal and some provincial levels (e.g. Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick, and PEI).  NUANS is a registered trademark owned by Industry Canada.

There are lots of online service providers who can help you obtain a NUANS report.  They typically can be done in a few hours and only cost about $20.  NUANS reports are valid only for 90 days after their date of submission.

After obtaining the report, you can review it to see if there are any similar business names, corporate names, or trademarks or which may cause confusion.  If there are, your options are: (1) proceed but have a good explanation why your particular name is different, (2) pick a different name, or (3) obtain the consent of the party who has a similar name.  I’ll deal with each of these in turn.

Proceed but have a good explanation why your particular name is different
Many times, I’ve been faced with corporate names, business names, and trademarks that are similar or which may cause confusion to the name I (or my clients) are proposing to use.  The key here, if you want to proceed with your application, is to make as many arguments as possible concerning how your proposed name is NOT similar and would NOT cause confusion in light of existing names.  Here are a few ways to do this:

1. Distinguish your company (e.g. my company is a website vs. that company is a brick and mortar business).
2. Distinguish your industry (e.g. my company focuses on the linen industry vs. that company focuses on computer consulting industry).
3. Distinguish your customers (e.g. my company focuses on tech saavy people vs. that company doesn’t even have a web presence).
4. Distinguish your products/services (e.g. my company sells radios vs. that company sells furniture).
5. Explain how you came up with your name.

This has worked for me in the past: most recently, I submitted about 15 arguments for one proposed name and it was accepted immediately, even though there was another company with a very similar name and in the same industry.

Pick a different name
If you feel like you’ll be wasting your time and money getting stuck at the corporate name, then it’s probably better to move on.  Getting the government to approve of a contentious name may take time and require that you obtain the consent of other parties (discussed below).  So, if you’re not wed to your name and there’s the potential for delays and added costs, you may want to pick a different name and run a new NUANs corporate name search.

Obtain consent
If all else fails, try contacting the party with the similar name and getting them to write a letter to fax to Industry Canada, giving consent for you to use their name.  This has worked for me in the past and it cost me and my clients nothing; typically, if you call up the party and politely explain the situation, and then provide them with a draft consent letter, all they need to do is read, sign, and fax it.  Remember: be nice!  I’ve heard of stories where parties want royalties in exchange for such consent letters

written by admin \\ tags: business lawyers, business name search, business name searches, business names, company name search, corporate name search, corporate names, in toronto, industry canada, law, legal advice, nuans, nuans report, nuans reports, ontario name search, relevant databases, search report, service providers, toronto, toronto business