WHY A REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION IS THE SECOND BEST BARGAIN YOU'LL EVER RECEIVE IN LEGAL SERVICES

If you read my last post on wills being the best bargain you'll ever receive in legal services, you might be wondering why I rank real estate transaction as the second best bargain - instead of perhaps the first best bargain. There are a few reasons.

First, you don't have a choice in Ontario (where I mostly practice) over using a lawyer for a real estate transaction. Other places you can use non-lawyers to close a transaction, but not in Ontario. By comparison, for wills DIY is an option (though not a very good one).

Second, real estate transaction legal fees will often cost more than wills in absolute terms. Still not much, but more. However, strangely enough people don't seem to complain about real estate transaction legal fees. Perhaps because they are buying or selling a very expensive thing, because real estate agent commission fees will be many times greater than the lawyer's fees, or because they may be making a tidy profit off the real estate sale (if selling) or getting their dream home (if buying), and thus relatively modest legal fees don't seem to them to be a big deal.

Third, but real estate transactions remain a great bargain in legal services. In fact, real estate lawyer fees haven't gone up in decades! We're not just talking about fees adjusted for inflation, we're talking about real dollars fees. The $1000 transaction fee in 1971 is still the $1000 transaction fee in 2013. Amazing, isn't it. Whereas other legal fees have risen significantly, for various reasons real estate transaction legal fees have not. Notwithstanding house prices have increased many times over.

It's beyond the scope of this post to explain why these fees haven't gone up, just enjoy the fact that they haven't. And that there isn't any risk of them rising appreciably for the foreseeable future.

But just like when shopping for a lawyer to do your will, shopping for a real estate lawyer should not generally be a cheapest is best exercise. Lots can go wrong in a real estate transaction. Quite a bit of personal care and attention is required on a lawyer's part to make sure a transaction closing goes smoothly. If you simply go with whomever is cheapest, you stand a good chance of not getting much attention from the lawyer, not because the lawyer is a "bad" lawyer, but rather because with prices that low s/he simply can't afford to give much time to clients when overheads are so high.

Even for those of you reading this post who aren't in Ontario, you should still seriously consider using a lawyer for your real estate transaction. Sure, the advent of "title insurance" has meant that a number of the inquiries lawyers used to routinely make are no longer absolutely necessary, but we all know that insurance coverage often doesn't turn out to be as good or as comprehensive as we initially had hoped it would be. Better to prevent problems in advance through a lawyer conducting diligent inquiries, rather than having to fall back on insurance to compensate you (but not fix the underlying problems) later.

With fees so low, why does any lawyer even bother anymore practicing real estate law? I'll give you perhaps a surprisingly idealistic answer to this one: because many of us believe it to be an important public service. Plus many of us enjoy the client interaction in an area of "happy law" where both buyer and seller are excited by the prospect of the life-changing potential that a real estate sale or purchase brings with it. For many clients, a real estate transaction may be the only involvement they ever have with a lawyer (should they ignore my last blog post, and not consult a lawyer for a will). Sure, the legal fees earned from real estate transactions can also help pay the bills in a law office, but people need to realize what a great bargain real estate legal services are compared to the amount of legal work involved in closing a real estate transaction.

The purpose of post this isn't to somehow invoke your pity for the poor, overworked, underpaid real estate lawyer. Lawyers are grown up guys and gals who are old enough to make the decision to get out of real estate law if they decide the work isn't worth the earnings. Law is both a business and a profession, and needs to be practiced as such. Clients do us a great favour in trusting us with their legal work, and not the other way around. But a public who increasingly hears horror stories of astronomical legal fees often driven by apocalyptic litigation strategies (like in commercial or family court), needs to realize that there are legal bargains still out there where everyone can feel good at the end of the day that they were able to afford professional legal services at a very reasonable cost, which made their lives better.

WHY A WILL IS THE BEST BARGAIN YOU'LL EVER RECEIVE IN LEGAL SERVICES

One of the understandable realities of private legal practice is clients wanting to know how much a legal service is going to cost. Unlike buying a television, usually clients don't ask "how much?" so that they can shop around for the best price, because no two lawyers or the services they provide are exactly alike. Rather, clients seem to ask about price to see if they can afford the service, or to determine if hiring a lawyer to do the work is worth it to them, instead of trying to do the work themselves, or not seeking a legal solution at all to their problem.

From what I hear, rather than focusing primarily on price, picking a lawyer will often involve people coming up with answers to questions like: (1) who do I trust?; (2) who do I think is most skilled and experienced?; (3) who responds best to my needs, like quickly replying to my questions or at least returning my phone calls or e-mails?; and (4) who is most convenient, either because the lawyer offers services through the Internet so that geographic location isn't a factor, or because the lawyer happens to be physically located close to where I live or work?

Picking a lawyer solely on price may be false economy. If you're retaining a lawyer on an hourly basis, hiring one who charges 30% less per hour, but ultimately bills you 50% more time, will cost you more in the long run.

Likewise, if you're hiring a lawyer based on a block/fixed fee, which is common in many solicitor matters like the preparation of wills or the conduct of real estate transactions, picking based on price (with a preference for low over high) might mean that you have little personal contact with the actual lawyer because s/he simply can't afford to give you a lot of face time due to the very low fees which mean that in order to pay for a high overhead and still turn a slight profit, a very large amount of business needs to run through the practice that inevitably will be mostly handled by non-lawyers under the overall supervision of the lawyer.

I've been fortunate that people never decide not to hire me because of fees (hopefully because they value my experience and responsiveness to their needs), except in one area of law: wills. I often conduct litigation on behalf of clients where the bills can unfortunately mount up because of the multiple court appearances and painstaking drafting of voluminous submissions that can be required in court actions, but those clients seem very satisfied with the value for money that they receive. Perhaps because I stay engaged with them to keep them informed of court progress, and collaborate with them on overall strategy.

However, when it comes to wills, I've found people occasionally choke on cost. It doesn't happen that often, but it does happen. The unfortunate part of the price aversion is that wills are likely the best value and often the least expensive of the legal services that I offer.

I sometimes counsel prospective clients not to hire me for litigation, even though that's how I mostly earn my living, because the amount in dispute is so small that my fees could exceed their potential exposure to liability. I believe I have a public duty not to profit from people's desperation when being dragged into court, and only take on cases when it seems I can provide value to clients that outweighs the legal risks they are exposed to.

But going to a lawyer for a will is going to always pay off in the long run. The risks of not seeing a lawyer for your will include hundreds of thousands and sometimes even millions of dollars not going where you intended it to go after your passing. Relatives could fall to infighting over your assets. The government could wade in to impose heavy taxes and fees. Everything could get tied up in court for years.

I haven't conducted any kind of survey to determine what people expect to pay for a will. But in my personal opinion (not speaking as a lawyer, but as a person who needs a will himself), a lawyer doing your will is probably the best bargain you will get in the legal services world. While the price of a will can vary depending on its complexity, they start at just a few hundred dollars. And that's not just my fees, but many lawyers' fees. Adding in powers of attorney for property and personal care will only slightly raise the price, and there is usually a significant discount for two spouses who have wills done at the same time (in Ontario, spouses always need separate wills).

To be frank (and I try to be as frank and open as possible with my clients and on this blog), I too prior to becoming a lawyer used to think wills were super simple things that one could whip up all by yourself on a Saturday afternoon when watching a football game on television. But then in law school I started to read about all the will disasters when things hadn't been executed properly, or important clauses had been forgotten, or unhappy relatives whom had been intentionally forgotten decided to initiate decades-long court battles worthy of a Dickens novel to overturn a will that they perceived as unjust.

Then, when I started drafting up wills in private practice, and reviewed voluminous legal texts on just how I was supposed to do that, I increasingly appreciated all the skill and care that need to go into a properly drafted will or power of attorney. The lawyer needs to learn about and understand your life. That can't happen in a ten minute meeting that is mostly comprised of the phrase: "sign here." Often more than one lawyer-client meeting will be required, the lawyer may need to carefully review a several of your financial documents, and some legal research could even be justified to ensure you get the will you deserve, that is ideally custom-crafted to your own personal circumstances. Not just to the circumstances of some "fill in the blanks" "model client" who doesn't really exist.

We all know there is an increasing litigiousness in our society. We also know that we are all passing away richer than ever. Now, if you own a home without a mortgage (or at least plan to be mortgage free in the future), you will be passing away rich by historic standards. Now, more than ever, it's vital that your assets go where you want them to go. Plus, with fewer and fewer people getting legally married, common law spouses will not necessarily have the same rights to assets/insurance/pensions of a deceased as would a legally married spouse.

So see a lawyer about your will. And don't be put off by the cost. It'll be the best bargain you'll ever receive in legal services! Trust me. I'm a lawyer.

FIVE THINGS TO NEVER DO IF YOU WANT TO SUCCESSFULLY APPEAL AN ADVERSE JUDGMENT

There comes a time in all our lives when we receive some kind of official pronouncement that we disagree with. Being rejected for a licence or permit. Being told that we don’t have the rights we thought we had. Losing in a civil money dispute, in family court, or even at a trial for a criminal or regulatory offence.

We might find the result hurtful and unjust. We might be outraged. And we might remain firm in our convictions over the justness of our cause!

Some will just swallow the defeat and move on. But others will want to continue the fight.

Most of the world’s legal systems have created fairness check mechanisms on first level decisions, regardless of who is making the decision or what subject the decision relates to. The buck almost never stops with the government desk officer, the hearing tribunal, or the trial judge. At least one level of appeal of an adverse decision is almost always possible if you look hard enough for an appeal route.

A psychologist could probably give you a helpful take on the emotional toll that fighting on entails, and what kind of person is more likely to continue to fight rather than throw in the towel. But my professional focus is solely on whether and how the continued fight can be won.

In the over two decades I’ve been helping clients with appeals (and watching others by necessity or choice represent themselves), I’ve seen lots of missed opportunities for winning appeals because of deadly but completely avoidable mistakes that people make shortly after receiving that decision they want desperately to overturn. Here are a Canadian appellate lawyer’s insider tips for five things you should never do (and I frequently see done again and again) if you want to continue the good fight, which should help you out regardless of where you live.

1. BE LATE TO THE PARTY. It doesn't matter how great your arguments might be; if you're late on an appeal, you're almost always out of luck. And some appeal filing periods can be crazy short. Like 7 days from the decision. Usually you've got 30 days; occasionally as long as 90 days. In that time, you’ll need to find a lawyer (or figure out the process yourself), get a copy of the decision and the materials that were reviewed in making it (you might need to order transcripts or request government records), draft plausible grounds for appeal, track down the responding party to serve the appeal notice on, and file the notice with the office, tribunal or court hearing the appeal.

2. GET LOST FINDING THE PARTY. There are more places out there to appeal to than you might expect. In federations like Canada or the U.S., you need to figure out if you’re going to a provincial, state or federal appeal body. You might also need to determine if you’ve got a final order or interlocutory (interim) order, as believe it or not their respective appeals might go to different places. After being late, appealing to the wrong place is probably the most common completely avoidable reason for failed appeals. I’ve seen enough lawyers get the appeal route wrong. Sometimes, even the courts themselves disagree over which one of them should be hearing an appeal!

3. THINK IT'S SIMPLY ANOTHER KICK AT THE SAME CAN. The time to make your best pitch is with the first instance official, tribunal or court. Appeal bodies love the word “deference” to lower officials, and will liberally use that word against you if you don’t give them very good reasons why they should overturn a lower decision. You can’t usually appeal errors of fact, only errors of law (though it’s possible to turn big enough factual errors into errors of law). So it’s deadly to try to appeal on the basis that you think a decision is merely wrong, stupid, or misguided. Even if the person you’re appealing to is inclined to agree with you, she can’t simply substitute her own decision for the decision of the lower official. There has to be some kind of significant legal error you point out that is worth interfering with.

4. ASSUME YOU'VE GOT AN EVEN SHOT. Casino gamblers and appeal gamblers both sometimes suffer from magical thinking on odds not rooted in reality. And while its easy to get stats on roulette with a double zero having a 5.26% house edge, it’s a lot more difficult to pin down precise odds on appeals. They’re definitely less than 50-50. Your best shot at winning is always at first instance - when you originally submit that government form or appear before that tribunal or trial court - not on appeal. In Canada, the odds of getting some kind of remedy out of an appeal are probably somewhere between 1 in 3 and 1 in 4, based on available appellate court data. If the stakes are high, those aren't such bad odds. But if you're fighting about a minor issue, you need to reflect on whether the financial and emotional cost is really worth it.

5. ONLY MAKE ONE ARGUMENT. You might think you've found that one killer, slam dunk argument for an appeal. The one that no one could reject. But not everyone sees the world as you do. So even if a reviewer has sympathy for your cause, she may not buy your one argument wonder. Come up with more. I often come up with a dozen or more possibly viable grounds of appeal for clients. Sometimes we whittle that number down a bit for the actual appeal argument, but which of those arguments appeal officers and judges seize on as the winning strong argument continues to surprise me, so it never pays to limit your arguments other than eliminating the ones that stand no chance of success.

THE RIGHTS OF MOTHERS AND FATHERS IN CHILD PROTECTION CASES: THE NEED FOR EVIDENCE TO ARGUE FOR CHILDREN'S BEST INTERESTS

Everyone agrees the "best interests of the child" test trumps all in child protection proceedings. However, the innumerable child protection court cases which reveal five versions of children's best interests - the Children's Aid Society (CAS) version, the Office of the Children's Lawyer (OCL) version, the father's version, the mother's version, and the court's version - demonstrate the often highly subjective nature of children's best interest assessments. Child protection law is more "art" than "science." Which is why expert reports, while helpful, are never definitive in presenting the one ideal plan of care that will be in the children's best interests.

If one even looks at basic children's law principles like children are generally better off residing with their parents, parental contact should be maximized in access situations, and wishes of older children should be taken into account when making best interests assessments, competing views of best interests quickly turn the conversation into a quagmire if CAS insists neither parent is fit, both the mother and father insist it is the other parent who is unfit, and the OCL expresses the children's views that they want to live equally with each parent.

The demand you hear most often from child protection judges is for more evidence of best interests. Judges don't want to guess, they want to decide on facts. So if you - whoever you are - are putting forward a particular plan of care for a child, you're going to need some cold, hard facts to back up why that plan is feasible, rather than just wishful thinking.

Rules of evidentiary admissibility are pretty loose in child protection, so you don't need to get too hung up on legal formality. Letters written by relatives, or social workers, or medical professionals, or addiction counsellors can all work, though usually they should be appended as exhibits to someone's affidavit sworn to present the overall version of the facts. But each of those people don't need to file their own affidavits, and usually would not be required to attend court to testify. Getting your own expert witness would be best of all, but don't make the mistake of hiring an expert, and then rejecting his findings.

Showing up in court asserting your rights as a father or mother, arguing that a particular plan is in your children's best interests, and having no evidence whatsoever to back you up other than your own promises, usually isn't going to cut in in the face of conflicting CAS sworn evidence.

As a lawyer who represents fathers and mothers in child protection proceedings, I firmly advocate for my client's rights, and their views of what is in their children's best interests. However, my clients need to give me evidence that permits me to sell the court on the correctness of their arguments. So as soon you as father or mother learn that CAS is showing interest in your family, you should start compiling evidence that will assist you and your children in court much later.

FOUR INSIDER TIPS TO SURVIVING A DRUG CHARGE IN CANADA

Although the media is full of talk about the imminent legalization of the possession of small amounts of marihuana in Canada, the reality is that we may still be at least a couple of years away from legislation coming into force, that growing or selling your own marihuana will probably remain offences, and that courts will continue to be clogged with those accused of possessing, selling, producing or importing a host other recreational pharmaceuticals.

Being investigated, charged or going through the court process for a drug offence can be a very stressful life event. I served for many years as a Federal Crown drug prosecutor, and now defend those being investigated for or charged with drug offences. I've trained the police on how to properly draft and execute drug search warrants and wiretaps, make drug-related arrests and take statements from those implicated in drug offence. I've even published a series of books called The Investigator's Legal Handbook related to these issues. Being well informed is your best defence to a drug charge. Here I give you the four tips you need to follow to survive a drug charge or investigation.

Tip 1 - Say Nothing other than Identifying Yourself

Don't say anything to the police, other than giving them your correct name. And if you're driving, you're going to need to produce a driver's licence, vehicle insurance and registration documents.

Don't try to talk your way out of the situation. Don't deny anything. Don't admit to anything. Don't agree to let the police search anywhere. But follow their directions and be polite to them.

Whatever you say will be used against you later. Even if you deny everything, that could later be used against you. Trust me. I've seen it all before.

Regardless of whether you're walking along the street, driving in a vehicle, or sitting at home watching television, when the police come knocking, say nothing. Follow this tip, and the police will only be left with evidence of what they find or don't find. What others say or don't say about you usually doesn't count for anything in a criminal court drug trial, unless it's a police agent or police officer who is testifying. But what you personally have told the police counts for a lot.

Don't think even if the police aren't making a recording of what you're saying, or aren't writing it down in a little black notebook, that it can't later be used against you. Say nothing. That's your right, so take full advantage of that right.

However, don't try to obstruct the police in doing their jobs. If they've got a warrant to search your house, let them get on with their job of searching. Let your lawyer later figure out if it was a valid or invalid warrant. But you don't need to point anything out to the police. Resist identifying items for the police, even if the police tell you that will save on their messing up your house.

Same thing in a vehicle - no need to hand anything over. If they're going to search your vehicle, they will search. Nothing you say or don't say will change things, as tempting as it might be to say something.

Likewise if you're walking down the street. Don't become trapped by the "have you got anything on you that you shouldn't have?" question. And its companion request: "if you do, hand it over." Many of my clients assume that by being cooperative, the police will just let the matter drop and send them on their way. But often what happens is that they've dug themselves into a self-incrimination hole and get charged with drug offences. Whereas if they had said and done nothing (other than giving their names), the police may have had no legal authority to search.

Tip 2 - Talk to a Lawyer ASAP

In some personal disputes, lawyering up early on only aggravates the dispute. But being criminally investigated or charged is a completely different situation. There, you'll want to consult a lawyer as soon as possible.

A little bit of legal advice can be a bargain in protecting your rights. That advice might mean a police investigation goes nowhere, that less serious charges are laid - for instance possession instead of possession for the purpose of trafficking - or if a court case does proceed that you haven't helped the police make the case against you.

You shouldn't wait to talk to a lawyer until you've been charged. Some drug investigations take a while, and there may be things you can do to protect your rights at an early stage of the investigation. Your lawyer might talk to the police for you to ask about the scope of their inquiries. Your lawyer might be able to work out a deal for you to avoid you getting charged with anything. Your lawyer might be able to get some charges dropped. Or your lawyer might go to court for you to get back seized money or other assets.

Tip 3 - Be Personally Informed About Drug Laws

Informing yourself in a basic sense about drug laws is the best way you can make intelligent decisions about your legal defence. There's a lot of clutter - like hundreds of years of the common law of evidence and dozens of years of constitutional rights law - that makes it seem really complicated, and for which you definitely need a lawyer. But I can sum up the basics for you quickly.

There are principally 5 types of drug offences (all under what's wordily known as the Controlled Drug and Substances Act): possession, possession for the purpose of trafficking, trafficking, production, and importation. The type of drug involved might make the penalties for any of these offences more severe, but mostly don't alter their inherent character. "Conviction" for any of them will gives you a criminal record, and could cause you a lifetime of hassles crossing the U.S. border and applying for jobs within Canada until you are able to obtain a pardon (now unpoetically called a "record suspension"). So you really, really, really want to avoid a conviction.

There are three ways to do that.

One, convince the Crown to drop the charges. Good defence lawyers are capable of doing this. It might not happen that often, but it's usually your best shot to make everything go away.

Two, plead guilty and convince a judge to give you what's known as a "discharge." It's a finding of guilt, but no conviction is entered. So if you're later asked by anyone, "have you ever been convicted of a criminal offence," you can truthfully say "no." Again, a good defence lawyer might be able to obtain this for you - but it will depend on the type of offence and type of drug you are pleading to.

Three, take your case to trial. You might have a viable defence, because the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt is entirely on the Crown. You have to prove nothing. The Crown has to prove knowledge and control and possibly other elements. You might even have a Charter of Rights defence if your rights were violated. There sometimes isn't much downside to taking a drug case to trial other than the legal fees if the sentence imposed after trial isn't much different than the sentence you would have received after a guilty plea. A good drug defence lawyer will not be afraid to take your case to trial so long as there is some viable defence to present.

TIP 4 - Don't Plead Guilty if You're Not Guilty

I often have clients stuck in the system. They're understandably stressed out by their drug charges hanging over their heads for months on end. They want the process over with. They have a good defence, but they can't take the waiting anymore. So they tell me, "look Gordon, I didn't do it, but I want to plead just to get it over with." But it's not ethical for any lawyer to help you with such a plea. Lying to the court is an offence. If you didn't do it, you just need to hang in there. You'll be stuck with a conviction for life, so ultimately waiting a year to have your trial day in court is worth it. Trust me, I'm a lawyer.

SMALL CLAIMS COURT OR SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE: WHICH SHOULD YOU CHOOSE FOR YOUR CIVIL CLAIM IN ONTARIO?

The first - and perhaps most important - decision anyone is faced with when contemplating pursuing a civil claim against someone else is: which court should I be proceeding before? If life and the law were simple, there would only be one court that would deal with all problems.

But unfortunately as most of us have discovered by adulthood, life is never as simple as our younger selves hoped it would be. And those who need to brave the court system likewise soon discover that there are a complex multiplicity of courts and tribunals out there, any one of which might be "the place" you're supposed to go to seek a solution to your particular legal problem. Showing up at the wrong one can be like arriving at the wrong birthday party, where you're told there's no cake for the likes of you!

Although Ontario also has criminal and family courts in addition to a plethora of administrative tribunals, for the purposes of any "civil" claim the sole choices are between the Small Claims Court and the Superior Court of Justice (unless the claim is one of the few going to the Federal Court). Confusingly, the Small Claims Court is actually an arm of the Superior Court, but where "Deputy Judges" preside over a less complex procedure involving less risk for the losers and also lesser rewards for the winners.

The key things to know about the Small Claims Court are that:

1. You can only demand damages up to $25,000. You can still bring a claim worth potentially much more than that before the Small Claims Court, but you'll be required to "abandon" the excess.

2. You can only demand the return of property up to a value of $25,0000.

3. You can't demand any other kind of remedy, like declaratory or injunctive relief, meaning you can't ask the court to force another person to do or not do something, or declare that something is or is not the case - like that a law is unconstitutional.

4. You can only obtain "costs" (sometimes awarded to the winning party) of 15% of the value of all claims pending before the court, even if you spent much more on legal fees.

5. Your legal fees charged by a lawyer will be much, much cheaper in Small Claims Court than in the Superior Court of Justice, because of the simpler and quicker procedure involved.

What this means to choosing between civil courts is that if you're definitely seeking a remedy other than money or property, you've got no choice - you're going to the Superior Court of Justice. If you're seeking money or property worth less than $25,000, then again the choice is a no brainer - you're going to the Small Claims Court.

The zone of claims where the choice gets tricky is for those worth a bit (though not a massive amount) over $25,000. My rule of thumb is that any claim worth under $40,000 should choose to go to the Small Claims Court, since you're probably going to spend at least another $15,000 in legal fees going to the Superior Court of Justice. Even claims up to $50,000 might wish to consider cutting their numbers in half to go to Small Claims.

Over $50,000, and Superior Court of Justice is likely the way to go. If you claim $100,000 or less there, you're entitled to take advantage of what's known as a "simplified procedure" - though it's still a lot more costly and time consuming than Small Claims Court procedure.

But before you settle on the Superior Court of Justice route for what you're convinced is your very valuable claim, get some legal advice about claim valuation. You might very legitimately believe that you've suffered a great injustice at the hands of the plaintiff, but the burden rests solely on you as plaintiff to present proof on a balance of probability of quantification of damages. This means proof of what you've lost, and what is a fair amount payable by the defendant to "make you whole" again.

Figuring out damages numbers is easiest when you're fighting over a thing - like a vehicle - with a well known value. Damages are more difficult to quantify for less well agreed upon numbers, like the value of a broken arm. Damages can become very difficult to put a number on when they are intangible - like damage to reputation due to defamation.

You definitely don't want to "win" after a lengthy and expensive trial, only to be awarded $1 - or any figure that is less than the amounts you've spent on pursuing the case.