One Great Case

We like to believe that contempt of court is simple: you break the rules, face the consequences, and if you comply, you earn your way back out. The law, we tell ourselves, is precise, structured, and fair.

But what happens when the very order meant to restore accountability becomes the trap itself?

This case, Chiang (Trustee of) v. Chiang, forces us to confront a deeply uncomfortable reality: that even systems designed to enforce jus...

We tend to think of history’s great atrocities as moral failures that are obvious in hindsight. Evil acts, evil people, and clear lines between right and wrong.

But the harder question (which still haunts legal systems today) is this: how do you turn moral certainty into legal accountability when the law itself doesn’t yet exist?

That question has been back in public conversation recently with the release of the film Nuremberg. But i...

Most people imagine undue influence as overt manipulation: a domineering child, a vulnerable parent, and a will that suddenly changes. But the reality, undue influence often looks like routine caregiving. 

That’s what made Abbruzzese v Tucci so striking. At first glance, it looked like a typical estate dispute. Instead, what emerged was a rare, almost textbook convergence of every factor litigators usually struggle to prove: is...

When we think of ballet, we think of grace, discipline, and the pursuit of perfection, not precedent-setting litigation. But within the walls of elite ballet institutions, the pursuit of perfection can blur into something darker: a culture of hierarchy, obedience, and silence.

That silence is what made this case possible.

Behind the curtain of one of Canada’s most prestigious ballet schools, a story unfolded that had nothing to do wi...

On paper, SEPUSAC v. 9706151 Canada Limited seemed like a routine mortgage enforcement dispute. A borrower defaulted, the lender sold the properties, and the matter looked destined for the standard path of foreclosure. 

But the case quickly revealed itself to be anything but ordinary. What unfolded over the next seven years exposed how vulnerable Ontario’s mortgage enforcement framework can be to abuse. Procedural stonewalling,...

Long before the lawsuits, there was the story that captivated the world. Bre-X Minerals, a penny stock based in Calgary, claimed to have discovered the largest gold deposit in history deep in the jungles of Indonesia. Almost overnight, its market value soared into the billions, drawing in banks, governments, and some of the biggest players in mining.

The frenzy was intoxicating. Ordinary investors saw life-changing fortunes appear o...

A gold discovery that never was. Billions in market value wiped out. Investors are demanding answers, and banks are facing claims that could shake confidence in the entire financial system.

The Bre-X scandal didn’t end when the gold vanished. In many ways, that’s when the real battle began. With billions lost and reputations in ruins, the courts became the new arena. The question was no longer whether the gold existed, but who would...

A podcast about law to learn more about people.

Every episode goes behind the scenes of a case with the lawyer who argued it, and sometimes the judge who decided it.

You may ask, what makes for a great case?

It might be novel, it might move the needle on a point of law, it might be shocking, or frivolous, or high profile.

Maybe you’ve heard of it, maybe you haven’t.

But behind each case are the people who drive it.

And that’s who we find...