Amusing Counsel

Hot off the presses, we discuss the results of an election that happened, like, a month ago - because New Brunswick was kind enough to give us a really cool edge case for Westminster Democracies - and although we didn't know it at the time, we were on track for a government being formed by a party that won the second-largest amount of seats!

In terms of narrative punch, it's hard to beat the Star Trek classic "Does this thing have rights?" episode. But when you take them as a whole, it kind of tells a story the Federation might not want you to hear...

Although the legal community has been wrestling with and working on the definition and meaning of consent since the 1980's (at least!), the concept hasn't really had a lot of cultural currency until the beginning of the #MeToo movement. In Ontario, the issue has come up as well in the context of the scrapped health and sex education curriculum, which did include education on the topic. Some of our listeners have asked what removing that topic might really mean, and we offer some thoughts on the topic.

The venerable pillars of employment law - the Bardal factors! What are they, what do they mean, and why do we have them at all? Answers to these questions and more inside.

Privacy and control of personal information is a big concerns these days, but most of the focus is how to secure privacy rights of individuals' data from use by corporations. What about privacy from one another? Do we have any kind of a right to that? Should we? Andrew muses. Kristian indulges.

A not-entirely-unexpected part II to our previous podcast on the "Better Local Government Act", and this particular matter has not improved with age. But, amazingly enough, this might end up being a textbook discussion of our Notwithstanding Clause, which has just made the leap from obscure legal trivia to the front pages of our national newspapers.

Let's learn a little bit about a man behind the voice - Andrew is the subject of today's podcast.

An unfailing strategy in roulette, we're doubling down on the gambling talk in this podcast.

What's in a name, etc., etc.,? When you're getting into business for yourself, it's not just about finding the perfect pun related to your industry.

We curry some favour with our theoretical robot overlords.

Ever wonder why many Canadian contests aren't valid in Quebec? Or why you have to do some elementary school math to win your prize? Answers to these and more!

There's scuttlebutt going around that the Residential Tenancies Act might be in for some dramatic changes - and we talk about how the basic struggle over its protections kind of miss the forest for the trees, in some ways.

We wanted to re-visit the topic of municipal law generally and Toronto in particular after the PCPO announcement that the City wards were being abruptly re-drawn. How and why is such a thing possible - and is it advisable?

We've been doing this podcast for just over five months, and we thought we'd tell you a bit more about ourselves - in interview format! Andrew cracks open Kristian's brain so you can feed on the gooey information within.

Families are the ties that bind... and it turns out that the way we think about families in the commonwealth isn't actually the most common.

Inspired by a pre-election conversation we had with a friend, we decided to delve into some of the organizing details of our parliaments. High school civics for all!

Almost every first year law student has some vague idea that they'd like to practice "international law", which is a bit like studying english poetry to finally figure out what word rhymes with "orange". But even keeping that in mind, international law is kind of cool!

Well, we didn't quite get "Cannabis Day", but marijuana will soon be legalized in Canada! It's been a long, strange road getting here and we do a brief history of the weirdness of Canadian drug policy to celebrate this auspicious event.

We really, really like Star Wars and the unintentional stories told therein.

Contracts! What are they? Webster's dictionary defines them as an agreement that is unbreakable. UN-breakable!

Kristian has a new hobby, and along with it, a few interesting things to say about gun control and how we do things up in Canada.

Our very first listener question, finally answered! Torts are an endlessly interesting area - both very old and established and actively growing and developing every year. We're going to tell you about how that works, and discuss some of our favorites, too.

Many businesses these days come into being as corporations; limited liability is a powerful thing, and you get you call yourself a CEO, which is cool. But in the professions, partnerships are still common - but why? What are partnerships, exactly? Let's see if we can explain it a little.

Continuing our discussion of wills from the week before, here were' talking about a fairly recent thing - what do you do with all the the digital files that you own? It's not as straightforward as you might think!

It turns out our episode on wills was fairly timely! We delve a little deeper into the issues from last week that the Ford estate lawsuit is turning on.

What's the deal with Wills? You're beyond caring when they're needed, right? So why have one at all? We have a few thoughts on why you might!

Our listeners deliver yet again with another interesting topic - this one is about an intimate issue that is the subject of a public awareness campaign on in Toronto these days - sexting and cyberbullying.

Every now and again we read something we just can't help but comment on - like many others! We muse over the continuing absurdity of paid staff opinionists writing long articles in papers of record about how they and their peers are being "silenced".

One question we get a lot is "When and why should I consider going to court?". Civil suits are interesting things, and there's a lot of considerations that should go into deciding to do it! We present a non-exhaustive introduction to the concept.

The Ontario election is fraught with emotion and peril, but it's weird that people are trying to fit some old framings over the modern parties. Kristian and Andrew discuss.

Our confidential podcast! You'll just have to listen to find out what it's about.

Our hotly anticipated second episode on the topic of pseudolaw! Many people asked what exactly was meant by "Freemen-On-The-Land", and well.. it's tough to describe, but we give our best shot.

Real Estate is weird! And it turns out there's a reason for why its so weird, and it's all William the Conqueror's fault. Andrew (sort of) explains why.

Our recovered episode on the history and philosophy of Regulations - that little bit of spice that makes lawyering extra-nice (...not really).

Thinking about org charts - in space! Andrew describes a pet theory of his.

A guided tour through the rules of professional conduct for all lawyers in Ontario. It's way more fun than it sounds.

Some Tuesday government trivia for you, with a request! E-mail info@amusingcounsel.com with your interesting answers.

The heart, bone and sinew of our cities - the by-law!

Warming up with a timely discussion of the foreign policy implication of Wakanda as a signatory of the Sokovia Accords.

A second dive into the rules of professional conduct - this time, we're talking about integrity.

In this podcast, we talk about how you should feel, and what you should expect, from the lawyers who work for you.

We like to warm up for our podcasts and we do it by discussing some lighter topics - here we are, taking The Last Jedi perhaps a little too seriously.

We consider the issue of legal arguments that just don't work.

The inaugural podcast!