Big Legal Stories of 2007

In its Dec. 21, 2007 issue, The Lawyers Weekly devotes a special section to reviewing the major news stories of 2007 in the legal field.

Perhaps the biggest story of the year is the 25th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that has fundamentally changed Canadian society (see Library Boy posts Survey on Canadian Attitudes Regarding Charter of Rights, Feb. 8, 2007; Articles on 25th Anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, April 6, 2007; Top Ten Charter Cases, April 14, 2007).

The Lawyers Weekly article draws attention to a number of major Charter-related cases from 2007:

• the striking down of the security certificate process used to deport individuals deemed a threat to national security, Charkaoui v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), [2007] 1 S.C.R. 350, 2007 SCC 9
• the recognition of collective bargaining as a fundamental freedom, Health Services and Support – Facilities Subsector Bargaining Assn. v. British Columbia, 2007 SCC 27
• the rejection of access to legal aid as a fundamental constitutional right, British Columbia (Attorney General) v. Christie, [2007] 1 S.C.R. 873, 2007 SCC 21

Among legal trends, the article notes the return with a vengeance of the class action suit, the creation by the Canadian Bar Association of a task force on conflicts of interest, and questions about self-regulation of the legal profession.

Toronto lawyer James Lockyer is given special mention in the article. Lockyer, of course, is known for his dogged advocacy on behalf of the wrongfully convicted and 2007 was a year that witnessed the conclusion of a number of inquiries that exonerated innocent people whose lives had been destroyed by miscarriages of justice (see the Library Boy posts James Driskell Wrongful Conviction Report, February 16, 2007; 50 Years Later, Truscott Murder Conviction Deemed 'Miscarriage of Justice', August 28, 2007; Start of Inquiry Into Actions of Disgraced Pathologist, November 12, 2007).