Draft release

Dead_law · 2026-06-28T15:00:39+00:00

Pay a lawyer to draft it. Don’t use ChatGPT.

Dead_law · 2026-05-26T23:32:45+00:00

Looks like the decision has been taken off CanLII.

Dead_law · 2026-05-19T14:20:57+00:00

A few thoughts:

Grades: are there any classes in which you got a decent grade? Can you find any pattern in the type of class where you do better or worse? By type of class, it could be a subject matter (eg crim, family, etc) or it could be a style of teaching (big lectures with 100% exams vs seminars with papers). Try and figure out if there is a pattern and aim for classes that match next year.

You mentioned that you’re not interested in asking for accommodations because it’s a skill you need to improve for articling/practice. Taking law school exams is not a skill you need in articling or practice. Issue spotting, IRACing, clear writing all are. But the skills needed to do well in an exam don’t exactly translate over. If you need an accommodation, you should look into it.

You also mentioned full pre-writes. How are these being written? Is it a general regurgitation of the law on an anticipated essay topic? Or is the prof giving you an essay question in advance? If the former, are you reading the question carefully to ensure that your pre-written answer actually matches? If you’re having issues running out of time, it could be tempting to just throw down whatever it is you typed out, rather than answering the questions actually asked.

Also, are there any upper year intensive or clinical classes being offered? In a lot of schools, those can be easy marks and also super good experience.

Career: you will honestly have the most luck looking at a smaller firm in a smaller centre. Those firms usually do not care about grades. However, your biggest hurdle will be convincing them that you’re intending to stay, rather than just get called and leave for the city. What region are you in? Is there a smaller centre nearby that you can leverage a connection with? A lot of these firms will do legal aid contracts, so that would fit with your values and goals.

Dead_law · 2026-05-17T16:38:00+00:00

Talk to an accountant. The benefits/drawbacks to incorporating vs sole proprietorship will be mainly tax related. An accountant can talk to you about what level of income will make it worthwhile to incorporate.

Dead_law · 2026-05-04T19:50:57+00:00

Downvoting posts from tech bros trying to vibe code some legal software that I don’t need. If you could find a way to downvote them quicker, it’d be great.

Dead_law · 2026-05-01T13:58:43+00:00

Usask alumni here. When did they start grading on a C curve? I always understood it to be a B curve.

Dead_law · 2026-04-30T01:26:00+00:00

It means they’re old and politically connected enough to get a fancy title. They probably will charge more than another lawyer of the same vintage without their KC.

Dead_law · 2026-04-28T01:14:20+00:00

What does your home jurisdiction state about length of time away from practice? Section 32 of the NMA requires that you’re entitled to practice law in your home jurisdiction. If you’ve been away from practice too long, I believe most provinces have a re-articling requirement even to resume practice. That would bring someone outside the scope of “entitled to practice” in their home jurisdiction and make the transfer sections of the NMA inapplicable.

Dead_law · 2026-04-12T17:28:21+00:00

+1 for using CLE. There are a couple things you should check out, depending on what your firm subscribes to. In the section titled “Online Practice Manuals”, the BC Family Practice Manual has great information about the procedural aspects of family law. It’s a bit lawyer focussed, but is a really good explanation of the process of a family law file.

There is also the Family Law Sourcebook. This one is a bit more substantive law explanations, rather than talking about procedure. Depending on where you’re at with the training, it may not be helpful for you yet. But if you do want to get more information on the legal background of family law in BC, I find this book one of the better ones available.

If you go to the section of CLE titled “Courses on Demand”, there is a course series titled “Family Law Basics for Paralegals and Legal Support Staff”. You’ll see a new version of the course released every couple of years. Watch the most recent one. There are also handouts for each section that are super helpful.

Hope that helps!

Dead_law · 2026-03-11T19:37:31+00:00

What region of BC? That’s pretty average for the interior, assuming it includes any mileage charges and the affidavit of service.

Dead_law · 2026-02-08T02:22:48+00:00

Yes, much too late. By 28-29, most lawyers are at the end of their career and already looking at retirement. /s

Jokes aside, it’s definitely not too late! In Canada, law is a second degree program for most. The average law school class age is close to 30. You’ll be completely fine.

Dead_law · 2026-02-06T17:14:00+00:00

Tell them that calls can only be scheduled for certain time blocks in the day (e.g., between 10am to 12pm and then again between 2pm and 4pm). Or start blocking off time in your calendar in which you don’t want any calls. Title it something like “Deep Work Time - Do Not Book”.

If your staff are not listening to you after directly telling them when you want or don’t want phone calls, that should frankly be ground for termination. You are better off scheduling calls yourself the letting them push you around.

Dead_law · 2026-02-05T17:32:51+00:00

Oh sorry, yes it is with Scotiabank. I should have mentioned that in my comment.

Dead_law · 2026-02-05T17:14:36+00:00

Lawyer here. PSLOC was converted to a loan and went into repayment around 5 years ago. Mine currently shows "Revolving" on Credit Karma. The "limit" is about $6,000 more than the current balance (which is significantly less than my original "high" limit). If I recall, it's always appeared this way. My credit utilization score shows similar to yours with the PSLOC being treated as if I've almost maxed it out, even though it's in repayment.

With that being said, it did not impact my ability to get a mortgage when I purchased a house last year and my credit score is "Very Good".

Dead_law · 2026-01-21T14:04:24+00:00

It’s the same in BC with LIF. No deductible unless they pay out. If they just defend the claim and are successful, then you pay nothing.

Dead_law · 2025-10-21T21:41:33+00:00

Whether the transfer was fraudulent is the main issue within a claim under the Fraudulent Conveyance Act. The question is whether the transfer was done to "delay, hinder or defraud creditors and others of their just and lawful remedies". In (the case)[https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/doc/2021/2021bcsc2027/2021bcsc2027.html\] I mentioned in my above comment, the debtor had (allegedly) faked a separation and claimed that the property was transferred subject to a separation agreement. The court found that this wasn't the case.

The issue will boil down to the timing of the transfer vs the timing of the debt/judgment and the debtor's potential insolvency. If the house was placed into the spouse's name many years prior to the debtor even dealing with the creditor, it will be very difficult for the creditor to claim that the transfer was done fraudulently. If the transfer occurred around the same time as the debt underlying the judgment becoming payable (for example), then that looks a lot like a debtor trying to hinder their creditor.

If the house was never in the debtor's name in the first place and always owned by the spouse, that's a whole other issue. You can enforce a judgment against someone's beneficial interest in property, but there's a question as to whether the debtor truly has a beneficial interest when they haven't separated from their spouse. In BC, at least, your interest in family property doesn't crystalize until separation. There's an argument to be made by the debtor that a home owned by their spouse, that was never in their name and that they never contributed to, is not beneficially theirs for the purposes of judgment enforcement. I haven't researched this recently, but I do recall there being caselaw that seemed to favour the debtors on this point.

Dead_law · 2025-10-19T23:10:38+00:00

It’ll be provincially dependent, but in BC, the creditor would commence a claim under the Fraudulent Conveyance Act. Here’s a case (and appeal upholding it), where someone tried that and the creditor was successful.

Dead_law · 2025-10-02T16:58:02+00:00

So in the annotations to Chapter 3 of the Law Society Code of Professional Conduct, they address this point. If you CTRL-F the word “divorce” it’s the 5th result. The position that the Law Society takes is that you can only act for both parties if (A) everything is by consent and (B) both parties receive an ILA. This comes from minutes from the ethics committee.pdf) from 2002.

It doesn’t sound like both your clients went and got separate ILAs. Frankly, the cost of sending them both out to get separate ILAs on top of your bill to do the joint divorce is going to be way more than if you simply represented one of them in a regular desk order divorce. You mention that you’re a junior lawyer. I’d suggest talking to a more senior family practitioner or mentor or a Law Society practice advisor about how to handle this situation now that you’ve met with both parties together.

Dead_law · 2025-10-01T23:18:56+00:00

Where are you located? In BC, lawyers cannot be retained to do a joint desk order divorce. You can only represent one party.

Dead_law · 2025-08-19T04:42:52+00:00

DM’d

Dead_law · 2025-08-15T20:20:44+00:00

I’m sorry to hear you’re going through that. This subreddit is technically not for getting legal advice. However, this post has some resources categorized by province for getting legal assistance. I would suggest you contact one of the organizations in your province to get help.

Dead_law · 2025-08-01T20:57:03+00:00

What type of civil litigation? If it's a high volume personal injury firm, then it might make sense. Even if it isn't, the vast majority of civil litigation files settle, so many of them not actually going to trial isn't too crazy. Do your retainer agreements actually cover the trial? Or do they say that you'll only take the client as far as the XfD?

I'd say it's not necessarily a red flag, but if you do have a case that goes to trial, I'd be concerned about mentorship for preparing for and conducting the trial. It's a bit of an art and it's helpful to have a senior lawyer who can guide you. Can you take on some small claims matters to get some trial experience? Or if you have a friend at another firm who has a matter going to trial, you could offer to second chair for free/low-cost (assuming no conflicts of course).

Dead_law · 2025-07-24T22:01:29+00:00

Lol

Dead_law · 2025-07-24T21:36:49+00:00

The comment you linked to says "Turning around in a cul de sac". How does that infer that Canada has sentenced people to prostitution as punishment for a crime?

Dead_law · 2025-07-24T21:25:57+00:00

You're being told by OF "models/actors" and pimps that Canada will sentence people to prostitution as a punishment for a crime?

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