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 non-compete agreement, questions about their validity and enforceability, or resolving disputes about non-compete clauses, you should seek professional assistance (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers).  We have Ontario independent contractor agreement lawyers registered on the website who can assess your business needs and help you draft, understand, negotiate, and resolve disputes involving non compete agreements and clauses – I should know, I’m one of them!  If you want to speak with me directly, you can contact me at michael@dynamiclawyers.com.

As a follow up to my previous blog about non compete agreements, in this blog, I’ll be discussing the starting point in Ontario caselaw for non-compete clauses and agreements – namely, Rogers & Rogers Inc. v. Pinehurst Woodworking Co. Note: this case may not be authoritative as of the date that you are reading them. You should not be relying upon this case in any way whatsoever!  You are cautioned again to retain a lawyer to review your particular situation to determine the current status of the caselaw.

In Rogers & Rogers Inc. v. Pinehurst Woodworking Co. [2005] 14 B.L.R. (4th) 142, the plaintiff (a business that supplied and installed store fixtures in high end stores) sued the defendant subcontractor (a business that manufactures store fixtures) for disloyalty.  Specifically, the plaintiff alleged that it showed the defendant a business opportunity to supply a client with store fixtures.  The contract between two parties  stated that any future product inquiries by that client to the defendant were to be directed through the plaintiff.  The defendant won the client’s business and the plaintiff sued. Justice Perell of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice  reviewed the various allegations and largely dismissed the action against the plaintiff, awarding only nominal ($6,000) damages for a breach of contract claim.   What’s important here is Justice Perell’s discussion of the jurisprudence concerning the validity and enforceability of clauses that try to restrict trade.  Here’s what he wrote at paras. 95-100:

95     A contract in restraint of trade is one in which a party to a contract agrees to restrict his or her liberty in the future to freely carry on trade with other persons not parties to the contract: Stephens v. Gulf Oil Canada Ltd. (1975), 11 O.R. (2d) 129 (Ont. C.A.) at p. 138-9; Esso Petroleum Co. v. Harper’s Garage (Stourport) Ltd. (1967), [1968] A.C. 269 (U.K. H.L.) at p. 317.

96     All restraints of trade are contrary to public policy and are prima facie void unless they can be justified as being reasonable with respect to the interests of the parties and the public: Nordenfelt v. Maxim Nordenfelt Guns & Ammunition Co., [1894] A.C. 535 (U.K. H.L.) at p. 565; J.G. Collins Insurance Agencies v. Elsley, [1978] 2 S.C.R. 916 (S.C.C.); Doerner v. Bliss & Laughlin Industries Inc., [1980] 2 S.C.R. 865 (S.C.C.).

97     The test of reasonableness as between the parties is that the restrictive covenant not go beyond what is adequate to protect the interest of the party seeking to uphold the covenant: Herbert Morris Ltd. v. Saxelby, [1916] 1 A.C. 688 (U.K. H.L.).

98     A four-part inquiry is required to determine if a contract is in restraint of trade: Tank Lining Corp. v. Dunlop Industries Ltd. (1982), 40 O.R. (2d) 219 (Ont. C.A.). The questions are: (1) Is the covenant in restraint of trade? (2) Is the restraint against public policy or is it one of several exceptional cases? (3) Is the restraint justifiable as reasonable between the parties? and (4) Is the restraint justifiable as reasonable with respect to the interests of the public?

99     The onus is on the party seeking to enforce the contract to establish that it is in the interests of the parties and the onus for establishing that it is not reasonable in the public interest is on the party seeking to oppose enforcement; Stephens v. Gulf Oil Canada Ltd., supra; Tank Lining Corp. v. Dunlop Industries Ltd., supra. Reasonableness is determined in the light of circumstances existing at the time the contract is made, which includes the parties expectations of what may possibly happen in the future: Stephens v. Gulf Oil Canada Ltd, supra.; Tank Lining Corp. v. Dunlop Industries Ltd., supra.

100     That the covenant could have been drafted in narrower terms will not save it, because the court will examine only the agreement actually made: Elsley v. J.G. Collins Insurance Ltd., supra at pp. 925-6; Mason v. Provident Clothing & Supply Co., [1913] A.C. 724 (U.K. H.L.) at p. 732; Maguire v. Northland Drug Co. [1935] 3 D.L.R. 521 , [1935] 3 D.L.R. 521 (S.C.C.).

From Justice Perell’s review of the jurisprudence, it becomes clear that courts don’t like clauses that restrain trade.  These clauses are contrary to public policy.  Therefore, they are void unless they can be justified as being reasonable as between the parties and the public interest.  There are tests for determining the latter, onuses that must be discharged by parties trying to rely on this or that, and factors that should be considered and weighed accordingly.  This review is done on a case by case basis and you should definitely get a lawyer to review your situation and the applicable caselaw to provide you with a opinion as your legal options.  Just make a post on Dynamic Lawyers (100% free and anonymous).  We have Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Brampton, Mississauga lawyers who can provide such opinions and even help you resolve disputes about non-compete agreements and clauses that restrict trade.

Remember: Justice Perell’s review of the jurisprudence deals with one way of challenging non-compete clauses.  There are other ways of challenging such clauses, which have been previously discussed by me in the previous blog about non compete agreements and which I will get into further detail in future blogs.

written by admin \\ tags: brampton lawyers, commercial matters, hamilton lawyers, non compete agreement, non compete clause, non-compete, ottawa lawyers, restrictive covenant, restrictive covenants, toronto lawyers

So alongside the release of our new eBook, I’ll be releasing bits and pieces of that eBook right here in the blog.  Remember, just go here to download the full eBook (just scroll to the bottom).

But Online Marketing DOESN’T Work!
Some lawyers believe there are no benefits to marketing yourself online. They may say things like “that isn’t how I’ve historically gotten clients” or “those clients are the lowest hanging fruit – looking for a deal online” or “law is a profession, not a mere business and should not be marketed as one in a tacky manner on the internet”.

Admittedly, these lawyers are right (to a certain degree). It is only a relatively new phenomenon that people are getting connected – for example, through Dynamic Lawyers – to lawyers through the internet. And certainly, there will be a lot of desperate people with little or no money who access the internet looking for help; unfortunately, these people cannot help lawyers pay their bills (but lawyers may still take on their cases for other reasons). And finally, the simple reality is that the people with money who can afford lawyers are not necessarily from my generation (FYI: I’m 27 years old). We are pretty much the opposite: we have come out of post-secondary school with huge debts and are looking for jobs. We likely only need a lawyer to help us buy a house, fight a traffic ticket, or in those rare occasions where we get injured on the job or are unjustly terminated. What twenty-something year old can afford to pay, for example, $338 per hour for the average solo or small firm Toronto lawyer (This was the weighted average hourly rate from a study conducted by Dynamic Lawyers earlier this year. That report, entitled Is Time Running Out on the Billable Hour? and which entailed interviewing 500 Toronto lawyers about their legal fees over a 3 month period, can be downloaded for FREE here)?

These things being said, the key thing to keep in mind is that, one day very soon, MY GENERATION WILL BE the dominant purchasers of legal services. Some of us will become managers, directors, and officers of our present or future employers and entrusted to deal with outside counsel. Some of us will have our own businesses and we will need legal assistance everywhere we turn. We will accumulate wealth and have more disposable income. Finally, when we retire, we will need legal services to manage our wealth. The bottom line is that we will need lawyers and legal service providers to protect our rights and promote our interests. And, since we’ve been so used to looking online for information and services for everything else, we will naturally do so to find a lawyer or legal solution.

My generation – a tech savvy and wired generation – is comfortable with searching for deals online. We have no loyalties to established service providers when it comes to getting a deal. I, for example, take my Blackberry Bold 9000 with me to BestBuy whenever I have to buy something. While I’m waiting in line at the checkout, I shop around for deals on the Blackberry’s internet browser. When I find the same product being sold cheaper at www.Staples.ca, I show the customer service representative. They match and then beat the price I show them. I save money and all it took was a few minutes while waiting in line. The bottom line is that my generation relies extensively on technology and the internet for communication, entertainment, networking, researching, and doing work. We are comfortable using e-mail, search engines (e.g. www.Google.ca, www.Yahoo.ca), instant chat interfaces (e.g. Yahoo! Messenger, MSN), personal posting and social networks (e.g. www.YouTube.com, www.FaceBook.com, www.Twitter.com), rating and feedback websites (e.g. www.eBay.ca, www.amazon.ca, www.imdb.com, www.Tripadvisor.com, www.Gigpark.com), and blogs and wikis. Whether you are prepared for us or not, we are the next generation of clients.

Why Do I need to be Online NOW?
There are four major reasons for having an online presence NOW. First, your prospective clients are conducting searches online NOW. Marketing research from April 2004 revealed that “[a]pproximately 85 percent of the Canadian Internet population conducted at least one search at the top engines each month…Canadian residents conducted approximately 575 million searches at major engines, or 40 searches per search engine user” (Comscore, Press Release, May 13, 2004 “Canadians Are More Active Online Searchers Than Their U.S. Counterparts, According to comScore Networks”). These figures have no doubt increased since then. Here are some statistics related to lawyers:

• The number of searches on Google.ca in June 2009 for “Calgary lawyer”: 3,600
• The number of searches on Google.ca in June 2009 for “Canada attorney”: 8,100
• The number of searches on Google.ca in June 2009 for “Vancouver lawyer”: 12,100
• The number of searches on Google.ca in June 2009 for “Ontario lawyer”: 27,100
• The number of searches on Google.ca in June 2009 for “Toronto lawyer”: 33,100

Second, if you’re not online NOW, your competitors will be. The internet is the new battleground for professional services. Third, you need a web presence NOW because search engines like Google and Yahoo favour older websites tremendously and reward them with higher rankings. They say so themselves. So if you ever want your website to be found by prospective clients using search engines, the sooner you build your web presence, the better! Fourth, having an internet presence NOW adds a measure of brand name protection: if a disgruntled individual decides to launch an online smear campaign about you or your practice (which I have personally heard stories about), you will not be able to effectively manage such adverse publicity unless your web presence is established. Don’t leave yourself open for attack!

What are the Benefits of Being Online?
Importantly, when people are searching online for legal services, they are doing so because they are looking to PURCHASE services. They are near the final stages of becoming a client and simply need to be converted. Internet surfers are also doing research about purchasing decisions. For lawyers, this means they are looking to review your firm’s online presence before retaining you for an offline transaction. Being online allows you to attract your target market in a cost-effective and convenient manner. The cost of putting up a professionally looking website with all the bells and whistles is only a few thousand dollars these days. You can even add a blog, a Facebook group, and a twitter account for next to nothing. When you go to sleep, your website doesn’t. You can showcase your expertise to countless prospective clients around the world 24/7. You can build a brand (an asset which can ultimately be sold) through your web presence. You can make yourself into THE GURU on a legal topic that the media comes to for advice. You can make connections with others doing the same thing and learn how to outperform your competitors. Will it take time? Yes. A good product requires time and effort to be invested initially. But remember: garbage in equals garbage out. So if you create a high-quality and professional website, then that already speaks volumes about your value proposition to prospective clients: high quality and professional services.

But What About Traditional Marketing?
Admittedly, traditional off-line methods of marketing your law practice have their place and space in the marketing communications mix. These methods include having a solid reputation for doing good work and getting good results, publishing and mailing out newsletters and articles, paying for ads in newspapers and the Yellow Pages, giving presentations and attending networking events, and being part of various industry associations. But when it comes to distributing your message across a broad spectrum in the most cost-effective and convenient manner, there is no substitute for being online. KEEP THIS IN MIND: my generation DOES NOT read or attend presentations by guest lecturers (we watch online videos and listen to podcasts), DOES NOT attend networking events with our peers (we use social media websites), DOES NOT read newspapers (we read blogs and RSS feeds), and DOES NOT use the Yellow Pages (we use search engines).

What is the Reality of Online Legal Marketing?
Unfortunately, lawyers’ online presence is lacking. Earlier this year, Dynamic Lawyers researched the web presence of 1,000 solo and small firm Toronto lawyers and found that, while 98% could be found online and 78% had websites, 48% of those websites had no substantive content in any form (e.g. articles, cases, commentary) and only 2% had blogs. So while lawyers’ names and contact information are easy to find on the internet if you’re looking for them, prospective clients searching for legal services will never find these lawyers because the latter offer little or no meaningful content to draw them in (which search engines use to rank pages).

written by admin \\ tags: billable hour, DynamicLawyers, ebook online legal marketing, online marketing, toronto lawyers

Please keep in mind that this is not legal advice.  The information provided herein is for educational purposes only. If you would like to get in touch with a lawyer to help you draft, interpret, negotiate or resolve a dispute about independent contractor/consulting agreements, then you are encouraged to seek a professional (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers).  We have Toronto and Ottawa lawyers who can assist you in this regard.

In this blog, I’ll be discussing a basic structure one could use to put together an independent contractor/consulting agreement.

Parties
Typically, at the beginning of the contract you’ll need to properly identify the parties (e.g. individuals, corporations, etc.).  You should make sure that this is done with utmost precision (i.e. hire a lawyer!) because if there are any mistakes here, you’ll be done for in case of a dispute.

Effective Date
You should also mention when the independent contractor/consulting agreement is being entered into.

Recitals
This is the background leading up to the terms and conditions of the independent contractor/consulting agreement.  Recitals are part of the agreement and you can include wording in the General Terms (at the end of the agreement) to reflect this.  So in this part, you’ll want to include something saying that the parties wish to contract for X and do so on the following terms and conditions.

Agreement – Basics
After the recitals, I like to include provisions which make it clear that the parties acknowledge that the recitals are fair, true and complete and that this agreement supersedes and replaces all other prior agreements of the same nature.

Terms of Engagement
Here, you’ll want to include provisions about the scope of engagement (i.e. what the client is hiring the independent contractor to do), the character of the relationship (i.e. independent contractor/consultant and not employer; you’ll also want to discuss liability for income tax and other withholdings and remittances), and equipment (e.g. the independent contractor/consulting is responsible for supplying and maintaining).

Term and Termination
You’ll also want to discuss the term and method of terminating the agreement.  In the latter, you’ll typically find the concept of Just Cause (e.g. which could include serious misconduct or breach of the independent contractor/consulting agreement), which a client can raise to terminate the independent contractor at any time.  You’ll also find termination provisions dealing with a party unilaterally ending the contract by simply providing notice, the contract ending because of a breach of a confidentiality provision, or the contract ending because the independent contractor has died, become insolvent/bankrupt, or has attempted to illegally assign its interest in the contract to a third party.

Remuneration
In this part, you’ll want to discuss what the independent contractor/consultant will get paid, how often, how that can be adjusted, etc.  You’ll also want to, once again, discuss the implication of withholdings and taxes (i.e. who is responsible).

Representations and Warranties
Here, you’ll want to put provisions in place to try to ensure that the independent contractor/consultant is the right person for your needs.  You could include a standard of care provision (e.g. the independent contractor will perform the services equivalent to a qualified, competent, and prudent professional, etc.), a qualifications requirement, and a requirement that the independent contractor/consultant comply with company policies and standards.  You could also include a provision whereby the independent contractor/consultant states that there are no known proceedings or investigations against him or her that could result in their losing their qualifications and that there are no restricting arrangements in place that would prevent the independent contractor from executing or properly performing the agreement.

Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure
Here, you’ll want to include provisions dealing with confidential information.  You’ll need to define it (also, this includes a section of what confidential information is NOT).  You’ll need to place restrictions on the independent contractor/consultant regarding it (e.g. non-disclosure, protection, non-use, etc.).  You might also find provisions here dealing with the return and/or destruction of confidential information upon the client giving notice to the independent contractor/consultant.

Proprietary Rights
This section of the agreement deals with who owns proprietary rights and enhancements to those proprietary rights during the course of the engagement.  Make sure you get a lawyer to help you understand and draft these provisions (VERY IMPORTANT!).

Indemnification and Limitation of Liability
You should spell out in this section that the independent contractor/consultant will indemnify the client for the client’s failure to deduct expenses or contribute payments (e.g. employment insurance, Canada Pension Plan) on behalf of the independent contractor.  With respect to the limitation of liability, this is a great provision to have in place that says, in capital letters, that the independent contractor agrees that the client will not be responsible for special, indirect, exemplary, punitive or consequential damages and then list out some types of damages for which the client will not be responsible (e.g. lost profit or revenue, loss of property, loss of business reputation, etc.).  Notwithstanding all of this, you’ll want to include provisions saying that the client’s cumulative liability for breach of contract, commission of a tort, strict liability, negligence, or otherwise is $XXX.

General Terms
Here, you’ll find terms dealing with things like (but not limited to):

• Notice (how do the parties give notice under the agreement for things like termination).
• Assignment (e.g. is this to be done by the parties having to consent in writing?)
• Survival of terms (i.e. if a term is found by a court to be void, should the rest of the agreement survive?)
• Governing Law (which jurisdiction governs the interpretation and enforcement of the agreement?)
• Amendment (how is this to be done?)
• Entire Agreement (i.e. this agreement supersedes all other agreements – whether oral or written – relating to the same subject matters in the agreement)
• Waiver.
• Interpretation
• Independent Legal Advice
• Currency.

Please keep in mind that there are many other kinds of terms and conditions you can find in the general terms section of this agreement.  You should consult with a lawyer to address these general terms.

Execution
The final section of the agreement (other than any schedules or exhibits) requires that the parties, or duly authorized representatives of the parties with the power to bind, execute the agreement.  It is sometimes a requirement that witnesses be present and sign their names alongside the parties’.

written by admin \\ tags: consulting agreement, consulting agreements, independent consulting agreement template, independent contractor, independent contractor agreement template, toronto lawyers

There’s no doubt that lawyers, as a group, charge a lot per hour (just check out our recent report on legal fees in Toronto, where we telephone interviewed 500 solo and small firm Toronto lawyers and asked them about their legal fees).  This makes them inaccessible to the average middle-class Torontonian for legal matters which they should be consulting a lawyer for (e.g. litigation, reviewing contracts, etc.).  So now that we know that lawyers are generally expensive, we move on to addressing the question: why is that so, and from there – what can be done about it?

In attempting to answer the question, “Are Lawyers too Expensive”, one should look at both sides: lawyers’ and their clients’ (both actual and prospective).  In this blog, I’ll be looking at this question from a lawyer’s perspective (which, as an Ontario lawyer, I can do).

As a lawyer, and in their defence, I guess we as a group charge so much has to do with (1) our unique education, knowledge, skill-set, and experiences, (2) the cost of our education, and (3) the cost of operating a law practice.  I’ll deal with each of these briefly in turn.

To begin, lawyers spend years developing a form of legal reasoning that the layperson lacks (and may never acquire).  Lawyers read all the time, and it’s not easy-reading either!  They have to comprehend vast quantities of legalese written throughout the century or longer.  They research cases and legislation, transcripts and documents, and even delve into the legislative debates to figure out the rationale behind a certain piece of legislation.  Apart from having done their due diligence, they have to present their case in a concise and compelling manner.  They have to briefly review the facts, identify the issues, and make arguments based on precedent or appeals to fairness/justice/efficiency and the like.  In doing all of this, lawyers are held to a high standard of professionalism and legal ethics and are a heavily regulated group.  They have to learn the legal process and the substance of the law and be able to explain both in a simple manner to their clients and others (e.g. opposing parties, judges, etc.).  The life of a lawyer is perhaps the most intellectually stimulating and challenging profession that anyone could ever aspire towards.  No two lawyers are alike and, while some lawyers can provide the same basic services as other lawyers (e.g. wills, incorporation, real estate transactions), people often need specialized lawyers to deal with their particular situation.  Hence, the cost of lawyers’ specialized education, knowledge, skill-set, and experiences are reflected in their seemingly high hourly rates or fixed fees.

The cost of a legal education is also worth mentioning.  I met a person who wanted to own part of my law practice.  I was a bit curious about the request.  Having never met the man, I musingly asked him whether he was a lawyer (since only lawyers can ‘own’ law practices).  “No”, he responded.  “Do I have to go to school for that?  And If so, how much would it cost?” he asked me.  “Sure you do”, I responded: “You need an undergraduate degree with killer marks, great references, and a high LSAT score.  It cost me roughly $25,000 for my undergraduate degree (with books and all) at U of T, then another $75,000 for my combined 4 year LL.B. and M.B.A. degrees at Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business (with books, residence and all).  So by the time I was finished school, I had spent over $100,000 on my legal education.  When students become lawyers, they are typically in significant debt and will look to the highest paying jobs to get them out the quickest (these ‘high paying’ jobs are typically at big bay street law firms which charge the highest fees to their clients).

Finally comes the issue of the costs of setting up and maintaining a law practice.  I can only speak for myself here.  Looking back, I must have spent between $15,000 to $25,0000 to establish Carabash Law.  The biggest expenses were technology purchases (e.g. laptop, website, PC Law, cell phone, printer/scanner/copier, keyboard/mouse, etc.), licensing and insurance fees (almost $3,000), stationary, traveling, bookkeepers, and new suits. After these initial expenses, the only recurring expenses will typically be office supplies, employees, and rent.  I didn’t pay rent or salaries (perhaps the biggest ongoing expenses) because I was a sole practitioner working from home.  Adding these things to the equation, however, means that lawyers need to generate substantial revenue (particularly because legal staff have specialized knowledge and are more expensive than normal business admin staff).  When a professional service business must rely on the time spent by its rainmakers to bring in the revenue, the higher the overhead and variable costs, the greater the rate must invariably be.  So if lawyers could make the same or more money without depending on their time to do it, I’m sure that their hourly rate would subside.

So there you have it: it takes a lot of time and money to become a lawyer and, while we do our best to give back to the community that supported us and allowed us to be in our special positions as empowers and protectors of legal rights,  our fees often appear front and centre in the common person’s mind.  In any event, the next time someone complains that lawyers charge way too much for their services, please remember to keep in mind that their services are unique, their education was expensive, and that they have capital and operating expenses to pay for.  I’m not saying that this justifies lawyers charging astronomical amounts, but these factors should be kept in mind before the insults and derogatory statements begin…

written by admin \\ tags: are lawyers too expensive, middle class, ontario lawyer, toronto lawyers, unique education

As a follow up to my presentation last week to the Retirement Planners Association of Canada, I’m blogging here about what you can do to find the right lawyer.  The word “right” generally means three things: competent, responsive, and affordable.

There are many avenues for average Torontonians to find not only a lawyer, but the right lawyer for their particular case.  Unfortunately, most of these avenues are inconvenient and sometimes very costly (e.g. an initial meeting with a lawyer could run you a few hundred bucks!).

More often than not, people find a lawyer through word of mouth referrals from family, friends, colleagues, or other professionals they do know (e.g. bankers, accountants, consultants, real estate agents, insurance agents, paralegals, other lawyers they know, etc.).  This, in fact, is how most lawyers find their clients.

Alternatively, people may turn to the Yellow Pages and simply pick an advertisement and make a phone call.  I’ve been told that people tend to pick the biggest advertisement because they somehow believe that the bigger the ad, the more successful the lawyer or law firm.

They may even turn to the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Lawyer Referral Service, which charges users $6 for a 30-minute conversation with one lawyer.

The point here is that finding the right lawyer for you is an important undertaking.  You don’t want to have the lawyer who drafted your will or acted on your house deal to represent you in a criminal case: they may not be up-to-date on court room procedure or have experience cross-examining adverse parties.

Torontonians generally only need a lawyer for a limited time and have a limited budget for such engagements. Yet it is hard for these people to distinguish lawyers and law firms from each other, especially given that many small and medium law firms have a general practice. It may also be intimidating for them to approach lawyers with their legal issues, given that doing so may cost money (e.g. $500 for the initial hour visit) and ultimately retaining a lawyer could be very expensive given the uncertainty of hourly billings.

These factors make ordinary Torontonians shy away from seeking or hiring lawyers. Those sophisticated Torontonians who surf the Web looking for a lawyer are hungry for more information than what is provided in the YellowPages or a newspaper advertisement. They are doing a Google or Yahoo search to seek out a particular type of attorney in a particular field in a particular area. They are also looking for testimonials and looking for the experience of a lawyer.

All in all, it makes perfect sense for users facing these challenges to turn to Dynamic Lawyers as a way of finding the right lawyer for the right price.  Making a post is free and anonymous, posts remain on the website for up to 45 days, and users have the opportunity to receive information and multiple quotes from local lawyers specializing in the area of law requested.  Comparing answers and then following up with the lawyer of your choice is just plain smart – particularly in a field where it is hard to compare one service provider from the next.  All in all, a very good deal…

So now that you have found the right avenue to find a lawyer in a convenient and cost-effective manner: what next?  Well, let’s talk about legal fees.  Many lawyers will charge you a fixed fee for the first consultation.  At this meeting, they’ll ask you questions about yourself and your situation.  The lawyer is trying to understand the legal issues so that he can offer you some type of recommendation on how to proceed.  If the meeting goes well, you may end up signing the lawyer’s retainer agreement, which stipulates the services that are going to be offered and the fees that are going to be charged.  The fees are typically hourly fees ranging from $200 to upwards of $1000 / hour, depending on the size of the law firm, where it’s located (and it’s physical appearance and amenities), and the particular lawyer’s expertise and reputation.

At the first meeting with the lawyer, you should ask some basic questions related to:

1. What services will the lawyer specifically provide;
2. Billing, costs and budget;
3. Time line;
4. Communication (e.g. by phone, e-mail, etc. and how regularly);
5. Past Experience in a particular field (they should have past cases they’ve done or some synopsis of transactions they’ve facilitated);
6. Strategy;
7. Style (e.g. aggressive trial lawyer or alternative dispute resolution lawyer); and
8. Terminating the retainer (e.g. failure to pay, failure to act, breakdown in the relationship, loss of confidence, etc.).

written by admin \\ tags: Dynamic Lawyers, dynamiclawyers.com, find the right lawyer, lawyers, retirement planners association of canada, rpac, toronto lawyers

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 careless driving laws under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act, you should seek professional assistance (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers).  We have Toronto and Ottawa criminal defense lawyers/attorneys registered on Dynamic Lawyers who can offer information, advice, and assistance with respect to careless or dangerous driving.

Section 130 of the Ontario Highway Traffic Act establishes the offence for careless driving as follows:

130. Every person is guilty of the offence of driving carelessly who drives a vehicle or street car on a highway without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway and on conviction is liable to a fine of not less than $200 and not more than $1,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than six months, or to both, and in addition his or her licence or permit may be suspended for a period of not more than two years.

A few years back, a friend of mine lost control of her car while driving on a patch of uncleared ice.  Her car ended up crashing into City property and, after we called the police, they charged her with careless driving under s. 130.  She was faced with paying a fine of $325 and losing 6 demerit points!  I ended up doing some research on the offence of careless driving and here’s what I discovered by reading some cases:

1. The offence of careless driving is of a quasi-criminal nature.
2. It goes beyond mere error in judgment. It indicates a measure of indifference, a want of care for the matter in hand and an indifferent regard for the rights of other.
3. To support a charge of careless driving, the evidence must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused drove without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for others.
4. The standard of care and skill to be applied has been long established and is not that of perfection.
5. The test is whether the accused, in light of existing circumstances of which he was aware or of which a driver exercising ordinary care should have been aware, failed to use the care and attention or to give to other persons using the highway the consideration that a driver of ordinary care would have used or given in the circumstances.
6. The use of the term “due care”, which means care owing in the circumstances, makes it quite clear that, while the legal standard of care remains the same in the sense that it is what the average careful man would have done in like circumstances, the factual standard is a constantly shifting one, depending on road, visibility, weather conditions, traffic conditions that exist or may reasonably be expected, and any other conditions that ordinary prudent drivers would take into consideration. It is a question of fact, depending on the circumstances in each case.
7. There is a further important element that must also be considered, namely, that the conduct must be of such a nature that it can be considered a breach of duty to the public and deserving of punishment.

Remember, if you need legal advice with respect to your careless driving charge, you should seek professional assistance (e.g. make a post on Dynamic Lawyers).  We have criminal defense lawyers/attorneys registered on Dynamic Lawyers who can offer information, advice, and assistance with respect to carless or dangerous driving.

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The following passages were taken from Dynamic Lawyers new report on legal fees in Toronto, which can be found here:

I am a lawyer. It wasn’t easy getting here. I spent 7 years and $100,000 going to university to get 3 degrees. I passed the Bar exams, articled for 10 months, and then started my own law practice. But now that I’ve finally become a member of an esteemed profession, I find myself dealing daily with a negative stigma left by lawyers gone and perpetuated by lawyers present. That stigma, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, is legal fees (as characterized by the billable hour) and it’s left a bad taste in the public’s mouth.

The billable hour, perhaps the defining and most contentious issue surrounding legal services, is relied on so heavily because lawyers don’t really know what their services are worth and have little experience in estimating the total cost of such services. There are many unknown variables which can complicate matters and cause initial time estimates to become meaningless.

Yet the billable hour is an antiquated and unsatisfactory valuation method. It deprives clients of predictability over the costs of legal services. At the same time, it provides the wrong financial incentive for lawyers to continue working on files (e.g. litigation lawyers who settle disputes early on become poor, while those who drag their feet become rich). The billable hour can also create other ethical and professional problems within the lawyer-client relationship (e.g. lawyers pad their dockets or fail to keep clients informed of the running bill). It is also to blame for lawyers’ work-life imbalance (i.e. working 14 hours a day to bill 8 hours). Finally, valuing legal services according to the time a lawyer spends working on a file stifles innovative billing methods which would otherwise allow more people to (perhaps simultaneously) access legal services from that
same lawyer.

With the emergence of new technologies (e.g. request for quote processes through Dynamic Lawyers) beginning to penetrate the mainstream legal services industry, trends towards commoditization and unbundling will expand. Consumers of legal services will rely more and more on technological mediums such as e-mail, internet, smart phones, social networking websites, etc., to shop around for the best deals. They will look for value-added services from reputable, accessible, and affordable legal service providers; they will also expect to be able to compare the total costs of such services.

In doing so, this new breed of client will create opportunities and competitive advantages for those lawyers who leverage technology to promote themselves and deliver cost-effective legal services to the masses. It is in this new paradigm that the billable hour in its current form may evolve to have a much lesser role to play in valuing legal services or cease to exist entirely.

With these things said, I wanted to know the current state of legal fees in general – and the billable hour in particular – in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. As such, the purpose of this report was to survey 500 solo/small firm Toronto lawyers to help answer the following 7 questions:

1. How prevalent is the billable hour?
2. What was the average hourly rate?
3. How does that rate change based on experience and primary legal area practiced?
4. What was their average initialconsultation fee?
5. How many provided a free initial consultation in some form?
6. What was the average legal fee for certain basic services?
7. What alternatives to hourly billing do they offer?

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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.

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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!

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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 durable power of attorneys which addressed some considerations which should be taken into account with respect to your witness’ signatures.

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