What’s New in Practical Guidance: Best of 2025

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This article highlights the 2025 expansion of Practical Guidance across key practice areas, including new resource kits, expanded jurisdictional content, and added materials on market trends and emerging topics like ESG and AI risk. It shows how these updates improve access to practical, jurisdiction-specific legal guidance.Legal teams are expected to manage increasingly complex matters while staying aligned with evolving legal requirements across jurisdictions. Throughout 2025, Practical Guidance continued to expand its Canadian content with a focus on practical tools, jurisdiction-specific coverage, and structured resources that support day-to-day legal work.

This Best of 2025 summary highlights the most significant additions across practice areas, reflecting a year of continued investment in resource kits, drafting tools, and workflow-focused content designed to help legal professionals move efficiently from research to execution.

Capital Markets and M&A Expands Resource Kits and Market Trends Analysis

Capital Markets and M&A saw substantial growth in 2025, with the introduction of 17 new resource kits designed to help users locate relevant content quickly. These include materials focused on executive compensation, underwriting agreements, corporate governance, due diligence, and takeover bids.

In parallel, eight new Market Trends practice notes were added, analyzing deal points across private and public M&A transactions using Market Standards data. Notable topics include break fees, material adverse change provisions, and deal protection measures.

These additions provide structured insight into transaction terms while supporting more informed drafting and negotiation decisions.

Commercial Content Deepens Jurisdictional Coverage and Contracting Tools

Commercial content expanded across several dimensions in 2025, with a focus on jurisdictional breadth and emerging regulatory considerations.

A new Presidential Executive Actions Tracker was introduced to monitor U.S. executive actions and related Canadian responses, supporting analysis of cross-border impacts.

New Playbooks were also introduced, providing structured guidance for contract negotiation workflows, with six Commercial playbooks now available.

Consumer protection coverage expanded significantly, with at least 20 new documents addressing topics such as AI, green claims, loyalty programs, high-cost credit, and privacy considerations. Additional materials explore influencer marketing and its regulatory framework.

Jurisdictional expansion remained a priority. Québec content grew with 80 new French-language documents and additional English-language franchising materials, while Alberta and British Columbia coverage expanded with more than 20 new documents across contracting and cybersecurity compliance.

New resource kits such as Force Majeure, Contract Clauses, and Businesses Impacted by Tariffs further support contract analysis and risk assessment workflows.

Corporate and Private M&A Content Focuses on Core Transactional Work

Corporate content expanded with new materials addressing limited partnerships, joint ventures, and startup financing. Key additions include agreements, term sheets, and practice notes comparing acquisition structures.

Resource kits covering corporate tax, joint ventures, and limited partnerships were introduced to centralize commonly used materials.

Québec content also saw significant growth, with 61 new documents including share purchase agreements, shareholders’ agreements, and letters of intent across multiple transaction types.

These updates support transactional consistency while reflecting jurisdiction-specific drafting requirements.

Employment Content Expands Drafting Tools and Workflow Support

Employment content additions in 2025 focused on improving drafting efficiency and supporting negotiation workflows.

More than 50 new French-language and Québec-focused documents were introduced, including releases, confidentiality agreements, and termination letters across multiple scenarios.

A French-language automated employment agreement template was also introduced, supporting faster document generation and consistency in Québec-compliant agreements.

Playbooks for employment agreements and independent contractor agreements were added to guide both drafting and negotiation strategy.

New resource kits, including Employment Agreement Clause and Wrongful Dismissal Consultation kits, further support common employment workflows.

Litigation, Family Law, and Personal Injury Strengthen Trial and Dispute Resources

Litigation and Dispute Resolution content expanded with 20 new resource kits covering key procedural topics such as pleadings amendments, oppression remedies, and security for costs.

A new tracker for provincial and registry notices in British Columbia provides summaries of procedural and legislative updates across courts.

Family Law content focused on litigation readiness, with expanded trial tools, pleadings, and evidence guidance across British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario. Additional resources address family violence screening, tax considerations, and dispute resolution processes.

Personal Injury content addressed emerging areas such as ride-share liability, self-driving vehicles, cosmetic procedures, and mental health claims, with a focus on British Columbia-specific guidance.

These additions reflect increased demand for jurisdiction-specific litigation tools and guidance aligned with evolving case law and practice requirements.

Finance, Insolvency, and In-House Counsel Address Emerging Risk and Strategy

Finance content expanded across lending and secured transactions, with new materials covering asset-based lending, ESG-linked financing, and digital currency loan agreements.

Market Trends content addressed key credit agreement provisions, including incremental facilities, prepayments, and sustainability-linked loan structures.

Insolvency and restructuring resources grew with new resource kits focused on bankruptcy, receiverships, and priorities, along with presentations supporting both commercial and personal insolvency matters.

In-House Counsel content focused on legal operations, AI, and risk management. New materials include guidance on generative AI, legal department strategy, and a range of contract risk management checklists.

A new focus on mental health introduced resources addressing burnout, well-being, and hybrid work challenges within legal teams.

Real Estate and Wills, Trusts & Estates Expand Core Coverage

Real Estate content continued to expand across Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta, with new resource kits for acquisitions, sales, and leasing, alongside a Commercial Lease Playbook for office space.

Additional practice notes address topics such as life leases, planning act validation, and real estate transactions involving charities and not-for-profits.

Wills, Trusts & Estates content introduced new focus areas including elder law, Indigenous estates, and cryptocurrency. New materials include drafting checklists, client intake tools, and jurisdiction-specific probate resources.

These additions reflect growing demand for guidance in emerging and specialized areas of estate planning.

Closing

The Best of 2025 highlights demonstrate a consistent focus on expanding jurisdiction-specific content, improving access to practical tools, and supporting legal workflows across a wide range of practice areas. From resource kits and playbooks to emerging topic coverage, Practical Guidance continues to provide structured support for legal professionals managing complex and evolving work.

Explore the top Practical Guidance updates of 2025 in our Best of 2025 newsletter.

FAQ's

What does the Best of 2025 Practical Guidance update include?
It highlights the most significant additions across practice areas, including new resource kits, drafting tools, jurisdiction-specific documents, and workflow-focused guidance.

Which practice areas saw the most growth in 2025?
Capital Markets and M&A, Commercial, Employment, Litigation, and Real Estate all saw substantial expansion in content and resource kits.

How do resource kits support legal workflows?
Resource kits centralize related materials such as precedents, checklists, and practice notes, allowing users to move more efficiently through legal tasks.