business law news articles

Higgs compromises on language-law update, will keep periodic review

21/09/2025despair

The Higgs government is compromising on its update to the province’s Official Languages Act in the hopes of winning unanimous support for the legislation.

Premier Blaine Higgs is backing away from the elimination of a mandatory 10-year review of the act contained in the statute.

He told the legislature the government will introduce its own amendments on “establishing a time frame, or periodic review” of the law.

“We believe the amendments will be in the spirit of continuous improvement of the act,” he said.

The original Official Languages Act was adopted unanimously in 1969 and the new version of the

The Ontario law federation raises alarm over dwindling number of lawyers in remote areas

29/08/2025despair

The Federation of Ontario Law Associations (FOLA) is raising concerns over access to justice as the number of practicing law professionals in rural and remote areas of the province of dwindles.

FOLA, which represents 46 district and county associations in Ontario, put forward a motion last week that calls on the Law Society of Ontario to develop a strategy for attracting and retaining law professionals in underserved communities.

“We hear from communities all across Ontario about the lack of lawyers who are moving to fill gaps in service in smaller communities, and these are predominantly northern communities and rural communities,”

NCAA rules legalized gambling with tough penalties

07/08/2025despair

Ralph D. Russo –

More than 40 athletes from Iowa and Iowa State could face discipline from both law enforcement and the NCAA for impermissible online betting.

The NCAA consequences could be far worse than the legal ones.

While the penalty for betting on sporting events in the state of Iowa for individuals under the age of 21 is a fine of US$645, a college athlete could be sidelined for most of a season because of NCAA rules.

Five years since a Supreme Court decision paved the way for states to legalize betting on sporting events, more than half have

Resignation of an executor.

16/05/2025despair

At times an executor was appointed by a testator in their will and the executor was ill equipped or unwilling to act as executor. In these circumstances, it is necessary for an executor to formally renounce their role as executor.

Quite often executors are confused if they can resign as an executor of a Will or how to go about it.

Renouncing an execution is a formal legal process and involves lodging documents with the Supreme Court of Victoria (or relevant court in other states) after the death of the testator. The documents should be drafted by a lawyer and

Do ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws apply?

14/05/2025despair

Correction: Andrew Lester is 84 years old. An earlier version of this article contained incorrect information.

An 84-year-old white man was charged with armed assault Monday days after shooting a Black teenager whose family members said went to the wrong house.

Two days after 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot in Kansas City, Missouri, Kaylin Gillis, 20, was shot and killed by a homeowner in upstate New York while in a car that mistakenly turned into the wrong driveway.

The shootings by homeowners probably will renew debates about the nation’s patchwork of “stand your ground” laws, which govern the use of

15 EU countries, including Germany and France, joined the legal case against Hungary’s anti-LGBT law

21/04/2025despair

A total of 15 European Union countries have joined a legal case against Hungary’s Child Protection Law, widely criticized as being anti-LGBT.

Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Malta, Spain, Sweden, Finland, Slovenia, France, Germany and Greece, together with the European Parliament, will act as third parties in the lawsuit filed last year by the European Commission.

The deadline to join the case ended on April 6.

“We stand firm in our commitment to an inclusive society and equality for all,” said the Belgian Foreign Affairs Ministry, which had led the charge against the controversial bill.

The Hungarian law,

23-year-old father from Gjoa Haven called to the Nunavut bar

15/04/2025despair

On the really tough days, when James Takkiruq felt like quitting law school, he’d look over at his five-year-old son and remember why he had to keep going.

“He was a big support,” said Takkiruq, recalling the four years he spent going through the Nunavut Law Program in Iqaluit. “I wouldn’t have been able to make it here without [that] supports.”

He was the youngest member of the 25-person cohort to go through that program — 17 years old when he started. He graduated, along with 21 of his fellow students, last October in Iqaluit.

Now 23, Takkiruq was called