Much of a lawyer’s job is to clarify various misconceptions that clients have about the law – i.e., about how our society addresses problems that people commonly encounter.  Legal jargon can seem almost intentionally designed to confuse, and the terminology we use the area of employment and labour law is no exception. Today, I’ll take some time to address a source of confusion that Canadians will very likely encounter at some point, perhaps many, in their lives: the concept of ‘severance’. How one might stumble over this innocuous term can be illustrated in one simple sentence: “Your severance package may…

What is collaborative family law? Collaborative family law is a method of resolving disputes that takes place outside of the court system, in which both parties to the dispute work together with their family lawyers to arrive at a resolution. The first step in resolving a family law issue collaboratively is to try to come to an agreement by negotiating through lawyers. If parties are not able to reach an agreement through negotiations alone, they can enter into the mediation/arbitration process in lieu of going to court to litigate their issue(s). What is mediation? Mediation is a process in which…