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To set up an alert on CanLII using Lexbox:

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To do one’s utmost is to make the maximum possible effort: We will do our utmost to meet the deadline imposed by the regulator.

What one sometimes sees (or, more often, hears) is upmost instead of utmost. Close, but no cigar.

Upmost is a legitimate word, but it’s obsolescent in its correct sense. It refers to something that occupies the highest place or most important position.

The more common word for that is now uppermost. As in, The reader’s convenience was not uppermost in the mind of the drafter of these complicated regulations. Or, The book was on …

Some random things I’ve seen and heard lately.

Don’t take it personal
Nope. Personally is how one should (or should not) take it.

You would make it personal, however, because you want an adjective to modify it (not the adverb that needs to modify take).

Happy New Years
Add this to the category of Apostrophe Catastrophes.™

It’s New Year’s Eve, but you express wishes for the New Year (whether happy or otherwise).

You could omit the capitals where the reference is general, not specific to the first day of January or in a greeting: I’ll see you …

When people hear I’ve published a book on writing, many of them ask for my views on the ‘Oxford’ or ’serial’ comma, in that intense ‘please confirm my own view’ sort of way.

The Oxford comma, so called because the University Press has long insisted on it, is used in lists: A, B, and C. Whether one needs the comma before the and is apparently one of the great punctuation controversies of our time.

Clinging to the Oxford comma seems to be a badge of honour for some, a beacon of erudition in a barbarous age. I’ve even …

This was adapted from a post on the CALL listserv; many thanks to Sarah Sutherland of CanLII and Ken Fox of the Law Society of Saskatchewan for the information.

There are a couple of ways of noting up a specific paragraph of a case, with the easiest option being on CanLII.

For CanLII, start off by searching for the case you are interested in. Then scroll down to the paragraph and look at the text box to its right. The number in the box will give the number of times the paragraph has been cited. If you then click …

Commence
This word is unavoidable as a technical term in litigation: one commences an action under the Courts of Justice Act, RSO 1990, c C43, for example.

But don’t use the word in normal parlance or non-technical writing, where it sounds fussy and pompous.

She didn’t commence employment on whatever date; she started work.

While we’re on the subject, the academic term commencement for a graduation ceremony (so, the conclusion rather than beginning of one’s course of study) has always seemed strange to me – perhaps because it’s a Cambridge term, and more recently an American one. But …

Readers send me examples of bad things. I shudder and pass them on, so you will never commit the same grievous faults.

Arms length
You keep something or someone at arm’s length in order to ensure independence or impartiality. Note that apostrophe (and its placement; arms’ length is justifiable but not preferred).

If you want to turn the phrase into an adjective, you’ll need to add a hyphen (even if you think that looks a bit over-punctuated): an arm’s-length transaction.

A French-Canadian boss of mine always pronounced it harm’s length, which had a certain unintended logic to it.…

All of these seen recently.

Action plan
I suppose there could be a plan to do nothing (an inaction plan?), but generally plan implies taking action — so the first element inaction plan is redundant.

Betwixt and between
They mean the same thing.

Yes, the phrase is used idiomatically to mean ‘at a loss’ or ‘unable to choose between alternatives’, but it has no place in legal drafting.

Just between in your contracts.

Relationship
A thoughtful reader points out that the –ship bit adds nothing.

Compare trusteeship or fellowship, where the suffix actually changes the meaning …

One of CANLII’s lesser known resources is its Foreign reported decisions database which “includes some decisions issued by foreign courts and tribunals and that are of special interest for Canadian law.”

For example, should you be interested in Browne v. Dunn (1893), 6 R. 67 (a decision sufficiently challenging to find online that someone created a dedicated website for it) you can find it on CanLII.

While the collection of foreign decisions is not large, CanLII will on request add cases that are of interest to Canadian legal practitioners.

(And for all your regular British case law needs, there is …

These aren’t always confined to lawyers; they permeate the e-mail and speech of law clerks, legal assistants and students.

Advised
The phrase Please be advised that … has to be one of the most leaden openings of all time. Cut to the chase and just convey the actual information, without the pointless preamble.

And advise in this context is, well, ill-advised. On stylistic grounds, for one. It’s pompous to say Please advise me if … when you could just say Please tell me if … or Let me know if ...

It’s also not a great idea to extend …