Benjamin Alarie is among the Top 50 Changemakers 2022. Learn about his predictive platform, Blue J, that's transforming the practice of law.
Lawyers are missing out on big billable hours across the board. Adopting the right tools can help but few are quick to adapt.
On June 7, 2021 the Ontario Superior Court of Justice released its second decision in a matter of months interpreting Ontario Regulation 228/20
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has indicated that it will not be extending its guidance concerning the impact of travel restrictions on corporate residency determinations. In 2020, the CRA issued guidance concerning international income tax issues in light of COVID-19 travel restrictions. The guidance indicated that, as of March 16, 2020, when determining cases of potential dual corporate residency, the CRA will not consider a corporation to have its place of effective management in Canada solely for the reason that a director of a corporation must participate in board meetings from Canada because of travel restrictions.
The grim one year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada has highlighted that many businesses across the country continue to struggle financially. Two Federal assistance programs, the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) have helped by giving out a combined total of over $77 billion in subsidies, but it is not enough for many small and medium-sized businesses.
Through a rigorous, human-driven research and development process, Blue J Legal is able to use the power of machine learning in order to synthesize the multitude of factors present in every case to make accurate predictions. Data scientists and experienced lawyers are involved at each step of the multi-faceted and laborious process, wherein we translate the universe of unstructured data, such as relevant cases and tribunal decisions, into structured data that is capable of being used in machine learning.
"Blue J’s long-term vision imagines a world in which, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, legal uncertainty is a thing of the past. Recognizing that we must hold ourselves accountable to stay true to our mission and, in so doing, avoid creating unintended outcomes, Blue J’s internal ethics committee RELAI (which stands for Responsible, Ethical, Legal AI) was founded in 2019. Our first task was to draft a Charter on Algorithmic Responsibility."
Following more than a month of mandated province-wide shutdowns to help stop the spread of COVID-19, the Ontario government announced that a phased reopening is set to begin on Wednesday, February 10th. However, much of the province will still remain in lockdown until further notice. Small businesses are particularly affected by the closures during the pandemic.
In December the CRA announced new guidance for employees deducting home office expenses. These changes are likely to be welcomed by thousands of Canadian workers who suddenly find themselves commuting to their kitchen tables. However, certain workers are not able to take advantage of the new procedure, either because they worked from home before the pandemic, or because they do not meet a threshold of working from home at least 50% of the time over a 4-week period.
A commonly-held view among employment lawyers is that reasonable notice periods increase with the age of the employee. Is this always true? We looked at data from nearly 1,800 reasonable notice decisions by courts and tribunals across Canada since 1997.
Simplex Legal is an in-house counsel boutique law firm built on a commitment to significantly reduce client legal fees while delivering the highest quality advice. Learn how they leverage Blue J L&E to provide the best service.
We interviewed Dawson Horning, Barrister and Solicitor at Ahlstrom Wright as part of a series of deskside chats with top Associates at American firms leading the way in innovation.
Blue J correctly predicted the outcome of termination in Levi Strauss & Co. v Workers United Canada Council, 2020 CanLII 44271 (ON LA).
This white paper will provide readers with a better understanding of the factors which influence reasonable notice so that employers can more accurately assess their risks and reduce costs down the road.
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