Canadian Lawyer

May 2020

The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers

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www.canadianlawyermag.com 7 decided to extend the deadline for lawyers to complete their self-reports, to pay out $17.8 million in outstanding billings from the private bar in LAO's accounts payable and to compensate volunteer criminal lawyers who attended court from Mar. 16 to 20. LAO said it would waive legal and financial eligibility testing in certain cases, as well as to waive merit testing for bail review. LAO also introduced certain changes to prioritize legal services for clients who are in immigration detention in recognition of the increased risk posed to detained clients. LawPRO said it will avoid "following up" on the collection of any delinquent accounts or missed filings such as quarterly real estate and litigation transaction filings, unpaid premiums or deductibles. The government said limitation periods have been suspended. "Addressing limitation periods and filing deadlines is something we raised as soon as the chief justice informed us about the suspension of regular court operations. It is good they are being addressed," said Ontario Bar Association president Colin Stevenson. Drug pricing framework in flux Q&A Fast Facts: - Patent and trademark agent - University of Windsor, LL.B. - Queen's University, M.Sc. (Chemistry) Daphne Lainson Firm chairwoman and partner SMART & BIGGAR LLP Last August, Health Canada announced amendments to the Patented Medicines Regulations to make patented medicines more affordable, which PMPRB said would take effect July 1. Draft guidelines were meant to outline how to determine "whether a price is potentially excessive," the organization said at the time. How are you helping your clients work through business concerns or understand what they need to do to prepare? A: It really depends on where they are in terms of the market. For people who have very established drugs, drugs that have been on the market for a number of years, some of the discussion is just trying to understand how this pricing regime may impact upon them. We're looking at a pretty clear formula as to how you would assess the new pricing, the new maximum pricing, so the pricing piece is generally well understood. Then the bigger question becomes, well, when are these regulations going to come into effect? How should we be planning for that? And right now, there's some uncertainty as to exactly how those regulations and exactly when the new pricing framework is going to be applied. You said there are some related cases you are monitoring. Given the understanding that we don't know exactly when they would move forward toward a decision — how would those cases potentially factor into lawyers' considerations? A: The challenge in the federal court could [potentially deem the regulations] ultra vires the scope of jurisdiction provided in the Patent Act. There's another proceeding, and that is pending in Quebec Superior Court, and that is slightly broader. And so with the proceeding in the Quebec Superior Court, the challenge also includes that the entire regime may be unconstitutional. . . . So, this could have a big impact, of course, on how these regulations play out. Because they could end up ultimately being put on pause while the government comes back to the table to draft revised regulations. Alpha Adroit Forensic Engineering and Expert Opinion Alpha Adroit Engineering Ltd. • Expert Witness • Expert Opinion • Failure Investigation • Forensic Geotechnical Engineering • Remedial Geotechnical Engineering • Forensic Civil Engineering Construction For: • Litigation • Arbitration • Insurance claims • Failure Investigation and Repair www.alphaadroit.ca Toll-Free (Canada only): 1-844-423-7648 Edmonton: 780-708-4110 Calgary: 403-918-4110 Red Deer: 403-918-4115 Vancouver: 778-322-4110 Saskatoon: 306-881-4115 Fort McMurray: 780-607-4114 "We have seen the legal community respond as leaders in innovative and creative ways." Joint statement by LSO Treasurer Malcolm Mercer and CEO Diana Miles

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