It starts, of course, where the children’s story ended. The Big Bad Wolf was boiled alive, but then the layers of the story unwrap into a fractured tale of a “just” crime, and perhaps more than one. Continue reading
As a lawyer, you are also a spy. The extent to which you may wish to look the part is up to you.As a law student in an intellectual property firm, I was often instructed to collect evidence out in the real world, not only to prosecute counterfeiters but also to help prove clients’ rights in administrative hearings. Every day, commercial lawyers snoop on companies in merger deals, litigation lawyers perform credit and asset checks to advise clients before launching suits, and matrimonial lawyers chase after sources of alimony and child support. Anyone with a PC can look at a website’s HTML code to see if a client’s adversary or trade competitor has used meta-data which may infringe various contractual or statutory rights. Even mild-mannered research lawyers troll through records check up on parties’ litigation history, from the anonymity of their bank tower offices.
Are we all now also tortfeasors? The buzz over the Ontario Court of Appeal’s recognition of a tort in invasion of privacy has made lawyers raise their eyebrows during these early days of 2012. Continue reading
You likely won’t have read it in your evidence textbook in law school. It is almost an unwritten law, in that the format is available by asking seasoned trial lawyers or at educational seminars. You’ll be surprised how often, during your career, trial lawyers will not know the proper way to cross-examine on a transcript. The result is usually embarrassment and being instructed by the trial judge on how to do it. Don’t be that counsel.
You have the transcript. Hand a copy to the judge to follow along. File a copy with the registrar, who will then give it to the witness. Make sure it is a signed official copy, and not an electronic draft.
The format has different stylistic permutations, but usually follow the following outline: Continue reading
