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Isthatlegal.ca Mission Statement"In furtherance of the fundamental democratic principle of access to justice, to create and maintain extensive online Ontario and Canadian-based legal resources."
Winter's still here!This is probably the most like an old-style pre-global warming winter we've had in years. Two days ago the trees were just heaped and heaped with fluffy snow, the mourning doves were clustering to my feeder - and then there was a sudden huge flurry of snow and activity. When it settled all the doves were gone but a female Cooper's Hawk sat across from me in the crab-apple tree in clear sight. She didn't have any prey in her claws but was there for fifteen minutes, enough time for me to fetch my neighbour and share the special moment.
About IsthatlegalThe brief history of the Isthatlegal website is that I started writing legal 'Guides' (really, online textbooks) about 30 years ago in the areas of my initial legal-political interests - which were social assistance, tenancy, small claims court and employment law. The Guides eventually expanded to about 15 different topics, most of which are still being maintained, albeit not as currently as I would like (they are located alphabetically in the left 'Topics' sidebar).
Then in about 2015 (expanded in 2020) I started regularly reviewing cases from the four Canadian and Ontario appeal courts [Supreme Court of Canada, Federal Court of Appeal, Ontario Court of Appeal, Ontario Divisional Court] for interesting and useful 'dicta' from our hard-working and conscientious judges. Over time, the process of organizing these increasingly voluminous case dicta into topical categories has resulted in rich new resources - which is what you will find (growing daily) in the 200+ sidebar topics.
About 'Something Big'More recently, I'm minimizing my practice - and the website is once again turning back more to it's socio-political-purposed roots (from which I truly doubt that law can be realistically-divorced).
Even more recently I've added inarguably political content with my new Something Big (SB) project, which I mean to keep separate from the legal stuff. It's tempting to blame Trump's 'interesting times') for this, but the truth is I've hankered after expressing my politically-philosophified self since my 20's- and I ain't getting any younger now.
Given recent case law (where a doctor had their license revoked for COVID opinions, made while citing their professional status) it's prudent to caution readers that this Something Big content is not made by me in my professional lawyer capacity - it is content made by me as a politically interested citizen, which I think we all should be.
Interested in Similar Work?I still mean to maintain my Isthatlegal law work at high pace, but I've reached an age where I should start thinking about passing some of the work on to others. If any other lawyers - preferrably with a demonstrated record of work in sharing the law with the lay public - want to discuss this potential please email me and we can talk. It's particularly suited for disabled (I'm a speech-impaired stroke survivor and amputee), and semi-retired (that's me) or fully-retired practitioners. The website has one of the highest search-engine ranking for Ontario and Canadian law around and I want to pass on to others with similar goals, preferrably several others. I've got some novel ideas about how to do that.
Simon Shields, LLB
simonshields@isthatlegal.ca
29 January 2025
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