ABLawg

By: James Coleman

PDF Version: TransCanada Sues U.S. Government for Rejecting Keystone Pipelines

Last Wednesday, TransCanada filed a complaint against the United States in a federal district court in Houston alleging that the President’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline was invalid and unconstitutional because it was not authorized by Congress. If successful, this claim would allow construction of the pipeline.

On the same day, TransCanada filed a notice of intent to submit a claim to arbitration under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Even if successful, this claim would not allow construction of the pipeline, but could entitle TransCanada to money damages from the United States. The company is asking for $15 billion in damages.

The Top Ten Canadian Legal Ethics Stories – 2015

By Alice Woolley

On January 4, 2016

In Ethics and the Legal Profession

By: Alice Woolley

PDF Version: The Top Ten Canadian Legal Ethics Stories – 2015

Year’s end invites assessment of what has passed. For me, that includes reflection on the most significant developments in legal ethics over the year (Reflections from past years here: 2014, 2013 and 2012).

As usual, my assessment of significance isn’t one that I claim to be objective or right; it is better characterized as, “things that happened in 2015 I thought were especially interesting” (with assistance from Richard Devlin, Adam Dodek and Amy Salyzyn). Some things drop off the list that could have stayed on it; access to justice remains a crucial and unsolved problem in Canada, but fell off the list because it was more chronic than involving specific developments or discussion, at least this year. Others are on the list for the fourth consecutive year; Trinity Western’s law school was proposed in 2012, remains controversial, and law society decisions in relation to it are before several Canadian courts.

The one thing that constructing this list makes clear, however, is that the ethics and regulation of Canadian lawyers and judges remains an important and fruitful topic for our consideration: there is certainly no shortage of subject-matter.

ABlawg Scores in 2015 Clawbies

By Admin

On January 1, 2016

In Blogs and Websites

ABlawg is honoured to announce that we were selected for the Best Canadian Law School/Law Professor Blog Award and as runner up for the Fodden Award for Best Canadian Law Blog for 2015. Here’s what the Clawbie judges had to say:

Yes, the blog of the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Law is also a runner-up for the Fodden Award. But the quality and frequency of ABlawg entries make it impossible for us not to honour it with a Clawbie of its own. Martin Olszynski, Sharon Mascher, and Nigel Bankes lead a stellar cast of faculty who help set the standard for law school blogging.

We would also like to acknowledge ABlawg creator Jonnette Watson Hamilton, 2015 Blogmasters Jennifer Koshan and Shaun Fluker, student assistant Evelyn Tang, and all of the bloggers who contribute to ABlawg.

Our congratulations to Paul Daly at Administrative Law Matters, who won the Fodden Award, and to our colleagues Lisa Silver (Ideablawg), Peter Sankoff and the folks at The Court, who were all runners up for the Best Canadian Law School/Law Professor Blog Award. And thanks as always to our readers for your nominations, comments and ongoing support.

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

Follow us on Twitter @ABlawg

Announcing a new ABlawg ebook on Farm and Ranch Workers’ Rights

By Admin

On December 29, 2015

In Uncategorized

Editor’s Note

ABlawg is pleased to announce the launch of our third ebook, which deals with the rights of farm and ranch workers in Alberta. Our ebooks are accessible from a tab at the top of the ABlawg website, and each includes a table of contents with hyperlinks to the collected posts and is fully searchable. The introduction to this ebook is written by Jennifer Koshan. We also thank Evelyn Tang (JD 2016) for her work in producing the ebook.