Featured Articles

Einstein's Estate: Theories of Relatives and Relativity

February 16, 2011 06:36

Albert Einstein died in 1955. In his will, he bequeathed the literary rights for the more than 75,000 papers and other items in his estate to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Since his death, this is said to have generated millions of dollars, mostly through the marketing of videos,...

Pardoning for Billy the Kid

August 09, 2010 10:00

For some, the name ‘Billy the Kid’ may conjure images of an old western film, likely because that’s how he became a household name. Yet, Billy was a real outlaw in the late 1880s who died at the hands of Pat Garrett nearly 130 years ago.  A recent article in the Toronto...

A Most UN-Trivial Pursuit

June 09, 2010 06:00

On May 31st, 2010, Chris Haney, one of the co-creators of Trivial Pursuit, died in Toronto at the age of 59. While working as photo editor at the Montreal Gazette in the mid-70s, Haney met fellow journalist Scott Abbott. In December 1979, Haney and Abbott sat down at the kitchen table for a...

The Perils of Keeping Money Under the Mattress

April 11, 2011 10:31

Often, beneficiaries of an estate allege that the deceased had a large sum of money kept in cash in his or her house. Upon death, it often turns out that this money is not to be found. Suspicions are immediately raised, and the allegations fly.  Courts have a difficult time in...

An Astronomical Burial

September 27, 2010 10:30

  Ever dream of being an astronaut? If you were not one in life fear not, there is still the chance that you can travel in space after your death. According to a Toronto Star article by Nicole Baute, it would appear that when it comes to burial possibilities, the sky is not the limit....

A Writer's Will

January 27, 2011 10:02

  Wills deal with the distribution of property after one has died and so a fundamental task of the Wills lawyer is to ascertain all the property owned by his client. J. D. Salinger (who died one year ago today) knew very well that his stories were his property. In a recent article in The...

Dementia: A New Perspective

October 07, 2010 10:00

I recently read a book which made me consider the effects of Alzheimer’s and Dementia in a whole new light. ‘Still Alice’ compelled me to approach cases where these diseases are prevalent with a different. Although this book is a work of fiction, the author was able...

Smartphones and the Legal Profession

June 18, 2010 10:00

There has been so much that has been recently written about the release of the iPad and more recently, the new iPhone 4G. Some may remember that an Apple Software Engineer who was working on the iPhone 4G accidentally forgot the Smartphone at a local bar, prior to its release date. Gizmodo, known...

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: The World Bands Together

March 15, 2011 10:00

  If you are anything like me, a window on your computer was set aside on Friday to CNN to follow the aftermath of the Earthquake in Japan. Watching the near constantly updated clips of the horror leaving no part of the country untouched, seeing the ocean turn into a whirlpool, knowing...

Tweeting in Court and other Socially Acceptable Behaviour

October 22, 2010 09:00

Given the prevalence of scepticism amongst lawyers (see my earlierblog), it is entirely in keeping with character for lawyers to be slow to openly embrace social media. Judging from a recent study, it would seem that this might be doubly so for Canadian lawyers. In this article about Digital...