ABlawg is thrilled to have been inducted into the Canadian Law Blog Award (Clawbie) Hall of Fame today. The awards committee noted that “The blog of the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Law has long set the standard for legal academic blogging in Canada”, which is welcome encouragement as we approach our 10-year anniversary in February 2018.

We also congratulate our colleague and contributor Lisa Silver, whose Ideablawg won the Clawbie in the Best Law School/Law Professor Blog Award category.

Congratulations to all the Clawbie winners and finalists, and thanks to our readers for your continued support and commentary.

By: ABlawg Writers

PDF Version: ABlawg: Year in Review, 2017

As we take stock of the year that was, ABlawg is pleased to provide our highlights from 2017, consisting of some statistics and a roundup of our bloggers’ contributions in substantive areas of law this past year.

The Numbers

ABlawg has published 156 posts so far in 2017. The post that generated the most hits this year was Alice Woolley’s The Incarcerated Complainant: Submissions to the Minister of Justice, with 2539 views overall (and see a second post on the same case here). Close behind were Jennifer Koshan’s post Another Workplace Death Illustrates the Need for More Enhanced Protections for Farm Workers with 2290 views, and Martin Olszynski’s post In the Growing Wave of Climate Litigation, Could the Automobile Industry be Next? with 2183 views. Overall, six ABlawg posts had more than 2000 views in 2017 (see also Drew Yewchuk, R v Cody: The Supreme Court Stands Their Ground on Unreasonable Delay, Jennifer Koshan, Sexual Assault, Starting Points, and Court of Appeal Panel Composition: A Chilling Effect on Individualized Sentencing? and Jonnette Watson Hamilton, When are Late Payment of Rent Charges in Residential Tenancies Unenforceable?).  Continue reading →

In this year where we marked the 150^th anniversary of the Canadian federation – for all its flaws and omissions – ABlawg nominates a number of Canadian law blogs with a constitutional / public law focus:

• Rights Watch Blog from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Pro Bono Students Canada – a prolific group effort.
• Double Aspect, with which our colleague Jonnette Watson Hamilton engaged in her post The Potential Impact of a Quebec Superior Court Challenge on Access to Justice in Alberta.
• Robson Crim, another terrific group-based blog that has attracted high profile criminal law profs from across the country.
• National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP) Blog, which finished a strong year with posts about access to justice for survivors of sexual violence and a compelling post on SRLs with disabilities.
• Reconciliation Syllabus, which we also nominated last year, and which continues to keep us thinking about the path to reconciliation, especially in this year of celebrations of “Canada 150”.
• Although it does not focus on public law exclusively, we also nominate The Court, which has a really nice new look.

Thanks to all Canadian law bloggers for a wonderful and stimulating year of reading! #clawbies2017

PDF Version: ABlawg’s Clawbie Nominations for 2016

Like many of our colleagues at law schools across the country, this year the University of Calgary Faculty of Law has been working towards developing our response to the Calls to Action of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In the spirit of the Commission’s significant work, our nominations for the Clawbies this year are law blogs that have made us think deeply and creatively about reconciliation:

• âpihtawikosisân, http://apihtawikosisan.com/
• First Peoples Law, http://www.firstpeopleslaw.com/index.php
• Reconciliation Syllabus, https://reconciliationsyllabus.wordpress.com/

We encourage our readers to submit your nominations for the Clawbies by following the instructions here.

To subscribe to ABlawg by email or RSS feed, please go to https://ablawg.ca

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PDF Version: ABlawg’s Year in Review, 2016

ABlawg is pleased to provide this compilation of highlights from 2016, consisting of some statistics and synthesis of our bloggers’ contributions in substantive areas of law this past year.

The Numbers

ABlawg has published one hundred and fifty (150) posts so far in 2016, with more to come before we take our annual holiday hiatus. The post that generated the most hits this year was Nigel Bankes’ The Termination of Power Purchase Arrangements in Alberta: What is the Legal Position and What are the Implications of Termination?, with 6071 views overall, showing the appetite for informed public policy discussions in Alberta. The runners-up were three posts on the Ghomeshi trial: Joshua Sealy-Harrington’s Mastery or Misogyny? The Ghomeshi Judgment and Sexual Assault Reform, with 5178 views overall, Jennifer Koshan’s Reflections on Week One of the Ghomeshi Trial, with 3798 views overall, and Alice Woolley’s What Ought Crown Counsel to do in Prosecuting Sexual Assault Charges? Some Post-Ghomeshi Reflections, with 2827 views overall. “Mastery or Misogyny” also established a new record for daily hits to ABlawg, with 2989 views of our site the day it was posted.

The post that spurred the most comments in 2016 was Martin Olszynski’s Northern Gateway: Federal Court of Appeal Applies Wrong CEAA Provisions and Unwittingly Affirms Regressiveness of 2012 Budget Bills. This post led to an intense debate on the proper interpretation of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012, with Martin’s position being recently adopted by both the appellant and respondent before the Supreme Court of Canada, as discussed in his most recent comment on that post.

Continue reading →