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What’s New in Practical Guidance: July/August 2026

By: LexisNexis Canada Inc.

AI Summary by LexisNexis ProtegeTM, your personalised AI legal assistant (available in Lexis+® with ProtegeTM)

Practical Guidance updates enhance resources for commercial agreements, sanctions compliance, employment, family law, and finance. Key additions include tools for price adjustments, supply chain disruptions, AI workplace governance, BC trial preparation, and securitization guidance. These updates streamline workflows and strengthen support for Canadian legal professionals.


The July/August 2026 Practical Guidance releases focus on practical resources for legal work involving commercial risk and compliance, workplace requirements, family law practice, and sophisticated finance transactions.

Across Commercial, Employment, Family Law, and Finance, new and updated practice notes, checklists, policies, precedents, and resource kits address tasks ranging from tariff-related contract review and sanctions compliance to workplace AI implementation, trial preparation, and securitization transactions.

Commercial Risk and Compliance Resources

Commercial practitioners face a range of considerations when tariffs affect existing agreements or need to be addressed in new contracts. New Practical Guidance resources approach tariff risk from both perspectives, providing guidance for reviewing existing agreements and developing contract terms that account for tariff-related costs and supply issues.

For existing agreements, new guidance and a companion checklist address how tariff-related cost increases may be allocated, recovered, or mitigated. The materials focus on provisions involving pricing, changes in law, force majeure, hardship, termination, and supply chains. For new and amended agreements, further resources address price-adjustment mechanisms, tariff-specific clauses, alternative sourcing protections, increased input costs, and supply disruptions.

The Commercial updates extend beyond tariffs to sanctions and international trade. A new Sanctions practice note, and three related checklists address the Canadian sanctions framework, sanctions compliance, and the impact of sanctions on commercial transactions. International trade resources cover the Canadian legislative and regulatory framework governing the import, export, and movement of goods, together with international rules and agreements affecting cross-border trade.

Distribution and supply arrangements receive further attention through new Competition Act and competition compliance resources. The materials address issues including price maintenance, exclusive dealing, market restrictions, tied selling, refusal to deal, abuse of dominance, anti-competitive agreements, pricing, territories, information sharing, and termination. Companion checklists provide frameworks for reviewing applicable provisions, enforcement risks, contract terms, business rationales, competitively sensitive information, and competition compliance programs.

Commercial content has been updated in other areas as well. Dangerous goods resources now reflect two amendments to the federal Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations that took effect on June 17 and July 1, 2026. Training and reference materials concerning Product Labelling, Marketing and Advertising, Contest Law, and Non-Disclosure Agreements have been updated and restyled.

You can find details about all the commercial updates in the latest newsletter.

Employment Tools for Workplace Compliance and Drafting

The Employment additions concentrate on recurring workplace compliance tasks, including accommodation requests, pay transparency, and the implementation of AI workplace tools.

New employer response checklists address accommodation requests involving religion or creed, pregnancy or breastfeeding, and disability. Separate checklists for each area provide a consistent framework for responding to requests in line with human rights obligations.

A new Pay Transparency Policy brings wage disclosure, salary history inquiries, and employee wage discussions into a single policy resource. The policy addresses employee rights and employer compliance obligations in these areas.

AI governance is another area of focus. The AI Workplace Tools Implementation Checklist provides a framework for responsible and effective implementation of AI workplace tools, with attention to legal and ethical standards and AI-related risk.

Employment precedent coverage has been deepened at the same time. The Executive Employment Agreement and Settlement Agreement now contain more alternate and optional clauses and further drafting notes. The expanded precedents provide more drafting options for complex negotiations.

Links to all these new Employment resources can be found in the July/August newsletter.

Family Law Resources for British Columbia and Ontario

Family Law additions focus heavily on the day-to-day requirements of practice in British Columbia and Ontario, with new resources for trial preparation, correspondence, practice management, applications, motions, and monitoring provincial notices.

In British Columbia, a new collection of trial materials addresses preparation from several points in the process. Resources include Trial Brief Drafting Tips for Supreme Court, Trial Preparation, Trial Management Conference and Trial Preparation Conference Tips, a Trial Preparation Checklist, and guidance covering trial filing and service deadlines.

The British Columbia collection also adds correspondence for common interactions with clients, opposing parties, and witnesses. The new materials cover accounts and unpaid retainers, introductory correspondence concerning separation agreements, termination of retainers and withdrawal from representation, parenting collateral information, executed consents and awards, and subpoenas. New Practice Management, Application Practice, and Trials resource kits bring related family law materials together by task.

Ontario practitioners receive new Motion Practice and Practice Management resource kits, along with a Family Law Provincial Notice Tracker for the Ontario Court of Justice. Hague and Non-Hague Convention Jurisprudence for Ontario is available now.

Further Ontario and Alberta content is expected in fall 2026. Planned Ontario additions cover Parenting and Relocation Jurisprudence and Income Tax and Family Law, with related resources including Annotated Financial Statements and Income Valuation Reports. Alberta additions are expected to include a First-Year Lawyer Resource Kit for Family Law, drafting tips concerning child support orders and affidavits for protection orders, and clauses addressing retroactive child support and set-off table child support for shared, equal, and split parenting time.

See more details in the Family section of the Practical Guidance July/August Newsletter.

Finance Coverage for Derivatives and Securitization

The Finance updates concentrate on derivatives and securitization, adding four resources that address foundational concepts, transaction structures, legal considerations, and transaction documentation.

Securitization in Canada: Legal Framework and Market Practice introduces the Canadian securitization market, including transaction structures, key parties, and legal considerations. Introduction to Derivatives addresses derivatives products, terminology, documentation, and the legal framework governing derivatives transactions.

More focused guidance addresses two important structuring considerations in securitization transactions through True Sale and Bankruptcy Remoteness in Canadian Securitization Transactions. A new Receivables Purchase Agreement complements that guidance with a drafting resource for an agreement used to transfer receivables in securitization transactions.

Together, these four additions provide material for lawyers new to derivatives and securitization and for experienced practitioners addressing structuring issues and preparing core transaction documentation.

Links to all the additions can be found in the July/August newsletter.

Practical Resources for Legal Work

The July/August additions reflect a continued focus on practical resources for specific legal tasks, from reviewing contracts and implementing workplace policies to preparing for family law proceedings and documenting finance transactions. The new and updated materials give practitioners additional guidance and drafting support for the work at hand.

View the full July/August 2026 Practical Guidance updates to learn more.

Frequently Asked Questions

What practice areas received new Practical Guidance content in July and August 2026?

The July/August 2026 release includes new and updated content across Commercial, Employment, Family Law, and Finance.

What Commercial topics are addressed in the July/August update?

New Commercial resources address tariff risk in existing and new contracts, Canadian sanctions, international trade regulation, and competition law considerations for distribution and supply agreements. Dangerous goods guidance was updated for regulatory changes, and selected Commercial training and presentation materials were updated and restyled.

What new Employment resources are available?

Employment additions include employer response checklists for accommodation requests, a Pay Transparency Policy, and an AI Workplace Tools Implementation Checklist. The Executive Employment Agreement and Settlement Agreement precedents now contain further alternate and optional clauses and drafting notes.

What has been added for Family Law practitioners?

British Columbia additions cover trial preparation, correspondence, practice management, applications, and trials. Ontario receives new motion practice and practice management resource kits and a provincial notice tracker, with further Ontario and Alberta materials expected in fall 2026.