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Open Court - Appeals. Law Society of Ontario v. AA [SOR]
In Law Society of Ontario v. AA (Ont CA, 2026) the Ontario Court of Appeal allowed an LSO appeal, that against the decision on an LSO-brought JR which upheld a LST Appeal Division decision supporting a lawyer application on good character grounds.
Here the court considers extending in this court an 'anonymization and non-publication' order where prior such orders were granted at the lower court and tribunal levels, and more specifically what the appellate SOR is open court matters:[174] As is discussed below, AA’s motion to anonymize this court’s record and impose a publication ban is a first-instance decision. No standard of review applies.
[175] The standard of review with respect to the Law Society’s appeal of the Divisional Court’s anonymization and non-publication decision is less clear. Some courts have held that anonymization decisions are exercises of judicial discretion, subject to a deferential standard of review unless the court below erred in principle, ignored or misapplied a relevant factor, or was so clearly wrong so as to amount to an injustice: see e.g., Eghtesad v. British Columbia (Director of Civil Forfeiture), 2024 BCCA 32, at para. 16. However, there is authority from this court holding that confidentiality orders which interfere with court openness are subject to appellate review on a standard of correctness: P1 v. XYZ School, 2022 ONCA 571, at paras. 37-38.
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