Congratulations to our Partners on being recognized as leading lawyers in the 2023 Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory.
Steven A. Cygelfarb – Property Leasing
Jeffrey Goldenberg – Property Development
Bill Hearn – Advertising & Marketing Law
Katherine Hensel – Aboriginal Law
Eric Hoffstein – Estate & Personal Tax Planning and Estate Litigation
Alex Kolandjian – Property Leasing and Lawyers to Watch
Ken Movat – Construction Law
Karen Rosen – Asset Based Lending and Banking & Financial Institutions
Vickie Wong – Banking & Financial Institutions
Each lawyer was selected based upon a comprehensive annual survey, ongoing since 1994. They are acknowledged as leaders in their respective fields and are prominent lawyers in their practice areas.
Workplace policies that ensure businesses can continue in the face of viral threats have become imperative. Diana Saturno will be part of a Lancaster House Publishing employment law panel discussing infection control and prevention measures as well as flexible working arrangements.
Luciana Andrade co-presented at the NALP Virtual Canadian Diversity Summit as part of the Building a Sense of Belonging panel. Luciana discussed how we can create an inclusive environment for internationally trained lawyers in Canada.
Martine Garland is co-chairing this OBA program on the top appeals from the Courts in 2022. All litigators, whether in-house or external counsel, will benefit from this update on some of the Court’s top decisions, and their impact on the law.
With the ongoing crypto drama of 2022, and the spectacular blow-up of Bahamas-based crypto exchange FTX, the financial world is screaming for regulators to do “something.” Rick Moscone shares his perspective on this hot topic and the need for DeFi regulations with the CBA’s The National magazine. Click here to read Rick’s perspective in the article “Clarity, Please”
In the first decision of its kind, Fogler, Rubinoff lawyers Justin Jakubiak and Adam Varro were successful in obtaining a cost award against the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council (OMVIC), Ontario’s motor vehicle sales regulator.
The application was made further to our client’s successful appeal to the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT) of OMVIC’s proposal to refuse his salesperson’s licence on account of alleged improper conduct as a sales manager of a large franchise dealership. In her decision, the presiding member acknowledged the high burden to achieve a cost award but found it unreasonable that “the Registrar continued the hearing to completion (a startling 13 days of evidence), despite the case…showing multiple weaknesses early on and throughout the hearing.” The presiding member further found that OMVIC acted unreasonably by failing to entertain numerous offers to settle made before and during the hearing.
Costs are rarely awarded at the LAT, and we are unaware of another decision where they have been awarded against a regulator. This decision serves as an important precedent for future instances where a regulator unreasonably pursues its case and in doing so causes unnecessary expense and prejudice to an applicant’s ability to participate in their industry of choice. The full decision can be found here.
The definition and scope of digital assets is ever-evolving as technologies develop. Our social, financial, personal and professional landscapes have undergone a shift with the advent of YouTube, Twitter, and Bitcoin (to name a few digital products). It is no surprise then, that the existing legal frameworks are either silent or ineffective when it comes to dealing with digital assets within an estate.
There is currently no legislation in Ontario that governs the issue of access to and disposition of digital assets upon an asset-holder’s death. As a result, estate trustees are left to navigate this issue in the context of privacy law (i.e. PIPEDA), service agreements (which are often subject to governing laws outside of Canada) and estate law principles.
Individual testators may try to fill the gap by expressing their wishes for the transfer of their digital assets in their will, however, an estate trustee’s ability to implement these wishes is hampered when he or she is not provided with the necessary credentials (i.e. passwords, a digital wallet, etc.).
Given that digital assets are varied, it is also difficult to assess their value for estate purposes and, relatedly, the extent to which an estate trustee is justified in pursuing access to a given digital asset.
In this session, Ashley and Kathryn seek to provide an overview of:
the nature and types of digital assets that may form part of an estate
the intersection between privacy law, estates law, and service agreements as it relates to access to digital assets; and
the practicalities of dealing with digital assets as part of estate administration.
Dom Mannella appeared on CSE TV’sAsk an Expert, to discuss with James Black the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption, a set of amendments introduced by the Canadian Securities Administrators to facilitate capital raising with a focus on small reporting issuers.
In the interview, Dom covered the basics around this exemption including: eligibility criteria for issuers; restrictions on use-of-proceeds; disclosure obligations for issuing companies ;role of an agent; investor rights; and, the impact of the exemption, which takes effect on November 21, and has the potential to change the landscape for raising capital in Canada.
On October 7, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC), was granted leave to intervene at the Supreme Court in the appeal of the Quebec Court of Appeal reference case on An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families. This will be a landmark constitutional case with respect to Indigenous peoples’ inherent jurisdiction and legislative authority over the well-being of their children, youth, and families.
Katherine Hensel, lead counsel to IRC, noted that the Inuvialuit child wellbeing law, Inuvialuit Qitunrariit Inuuniarnikkun Maligaksat, is set to come into force and effect in November, 2022, and that the Inuvialuit law’s administration and operation “will be directly impacted by the outcome of the Court’s decision in this case, as will the laws being developed across Canada by other Indigenous governing bodies.”
The date for the hearing at the Supreme Court is scheduled for December 7 & 8, and the Court’s decision will be released in 2023.
IRC is represented in the case by Katherine Hensel and Kristie Tsang of Fogler, Rubinoff LLP
Her panel discussed delivering messaging for community compliance and transparency, efficient reporting structure resulting in shorter condo board meetings, the art of complaining to get results and everything in between!
Fogler, Rubinoff LLP was also a Gold Sponsor at this year’s Condo Conference.
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