Aidan Seymour-Butler

The ICRC's 2024 Contemporary Challenges report is now available. It's full of important positions on urban warfare, critical infrastructure, starvation, AI, and many other pressing topics. Required reading for all IHL scholars and practitioners: rcrcconference.org/app/uploads/20…

A preoccupation of the criminal justice system is, perhaps surprisingly, not to convict guilty people. It is to prevent wrongful convictions. I think Kruk does disservice to that preoccupation.

Savard Foy LLP is hiring an associate! Full job posting at a-list.lawandstyle.ca/savard-foy-llp…

New From me: another appointment scandal in Ontario. Since 2019, @douglasdowney has appointed 90 judges — over 70 percent were prosecutors. And over 1/3 of the new Justices of the Peace are from law enforcement (most of them cops). canadianlawyermag.com/news/opinion/f…

Every lawyer who has copied chunks of other briefs verbatim

🧵This year, a UN Special Rapporteur said tied employment makes migrant workers in Canada "vulnerable to contemporary forms of slavery." What some Canadians may not know is Canada first imposed tied employment for Caribbean farmworkers specifically because they were Black. 1/

Here's a list, courtesy of me and my awesome research assistant, David Merlinsky, of the 49 times #SCOTUS has granted certiorari "before judgment." Of particular note: 1) Lots of presidential power cases; 2) 19 grants since 2/2019 (after *no* grants between 8/2004 and 2/2019):

R. v. R.M., 2023 BCCA 455: New trial ordered because trial judge improperly relied on judicial notice to generalize about how "adult predators" act, and then compared that to the accused's alleged conduct.

[I]t is trite law that affidavits, or portions of them that simply express opinions on the very issues raised, may be struck, and the affidavit should be limited to factual information. Obita v. Algonquin College, 2023 ONSC 4661 at para. 36

Ontario Court of Appeal rejects the proposed new nominate tort of “family violence”, rightly observing it was unnecessary and unjustified given the existing tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress: Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia, 2023 ONCA 476. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/ite… 1/

The School of Law invites applications for up to two funded PhD scholarships for doctoral research in the areas of Private Law or Public Law. Closing date: 30 May For further details, including eligibility and how to apply, visit: tinyurl.com/46pax5nk

Here's my first post about the interplay between civil and criminal proceedings. When will courts stay a civil proceeding to wait for the outcome of criminal proceedings arising from the same facts? linkedin.com/pulse/which-go…

We are looking for an articling student with a strong interest in criminal law to join us in our busy practice defending complex criminal cases. Please share and apply!

The world has lost a leader in the quest for justice. We mourn the death of Ben Ferencz—the last Nuremberg prosecutor. His legacy continues at our Ferencz Initiative which works to reinforce legal tools Ben helped develop to seek justice for atrocities. ushmm.org/information/pr…

R. v. Chu, 2023 ONCA 183 at para. 17: The Crown cannot appeal a misapprehension of evidence, because it does not raise a question of law alone coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/ite…

Spread the word - we are hiring!

Business Records Exception-- A Poem "Hearsay!," you shout, As the papers are offered. "They don't have the witness, by whom they were authored!" "Au contraire," says o/c, "While it looks like hearsay, you forgot the exception that will win the day." 1/3

How to use ChatGPT ethically to write a perfect first draft (of your journal article, dissertation chapter, etc.):

New on the @ClaOntario Job Board: Associate Counsel (Full Time), Dominion Criminal Defence, London. (January 31, 2023). Find out more by going to: members.criminallawyers.ca/jobs

Botswana Court of Appeal to hear important case about tribal land. southernafricalitigationcentre.org/2023/01/20/bot…