Jean-Marc Hébert #jmhlaw
2400-200 Granville Street V6C 1S4 Vancouver, BC, Canada

On this my birthday, what better subject than the selfie, that homage to vanity and instant gratification, and in the case of Instagram the "my life is so much better than everyone else's" syndrome and "here is the photographic evidence to prove it"! In an age when one cannot hope to become Prime Minister, President, Pope or CEO without perfecting this art form, I discover that in fact the selfie has been around for millennia, just not quite as easy and inviting to take as i...t is now with our iPhones. But beware the siren call while at the controls of your car. As I discovered in a recent case I litigated, the selfie taken at 20 miles an hour as you travel through your windshield is to put it succinctly, not so good! The Art of the ‘Selfie’ - via @Timeline_Now https://timeline.com/selfie-art-photography-self-portrait-n

There currently is no pharmacologic or surgical treatment for mild TBI - as amazing as that statement may seem, it's true. How to treat the MTBI therefore remains a patch quilt of do's and don'ts. And as we read here in the Neurology Times, the oft repeated advice to rest in such circumstances may be counter productive after all.

For those of us who work every day of the week with the injured seeking to find solutions to sometimes difficult and complex conditions, the brain injury stands as one of the most fearsome of adversaries, notoriously resistant to treatment and with a reputation for being an organ that does not repair itself well. And yet, as Dr. Jocelyne Bloch now tells us in this Ted talk, we may finally have stumbled onto an answer - the brain may be able to repair itself after all with a little bit of help.

A Manhattan Supreme Court Justice has enforced Keisha's exclusive Sony record contract with music producer Dr. Luke, a man Keisha alleges is her rapist. And now, in a sudden turn of events, Sony and the justice system are both feeling the backlash from the likes of Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift who have come to the embattled artist's rescue. Contract or no contract, enforcing this deal is a losing proposition!

DATA PRIVACY, FACEBOOK and REGULATION. Three words you don't often see used in the same sentence unless looking up the definition for the word futile! And so kudos to the French this week for apparently achieving what so few even bother to try in this era of social media is GOD - rein in Facebook in its oh so thinly veiled "we are above the law" contempt for privacy laws of any sort. And on another topic of great concern, the USA and last night's US GOP Debate - well no, not debate, more like GorillaFest!! Where does this all end? Is the Trump candidacy inevitably headed for the Republican Presidential ticket??

The 5 keys to unlock the team leader in us all! Go team Go!! #JMHLAW

So pleased to see the stunning redesign of the Whitelaw Twining law offices, where I am fortunate to spend my working life surrounded by some of the most talented men and women in the industry, receive the press coverage it so well deserves in this February's issue of BCBusiness Magazine #jmhlaw #whitelawtwining #wtinjury #winningteam #formandfunction With thanks to Matt O'Grady and Felicity Stone

Reasons for Judgement were published earlier this week by the BC Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry, in a claim I presented to the Court at trial last fall for a chronic C4/5 disc injury sustained in a motor vehicle collision. Damages awarded included $110,000 for my client's pain and suffering and an additional $500,000 for loss of future earning capacity, more than two and a half times what the insurer had offered in compensation as trial began. My team at WTinjury and I are so pleased to have been able to obtain this result for our client and couldn't think of any better news to mark the beginning of what promises to be a very successful year ahead. The full written decision follows.

Couldn't have said it better myself. 2015 witnessed work take over the fitness slot in my life and I am taking it back in 2016 for apparently...50 REASONS! My motto for the year ahead? Fit body, fit mind, fit life #jmhlaw #lawyerlife

Well here it is finally, the software that will allow you to train your Tesla to drive itself independently and which will in turn communicate with the Tesla "hive mind" to share new driving tips amongst all the world's soon to be self driving Teslas! Have I said how much I love this car yet!? Now, imagine the world of new litigation awaiting us trial lawyers when two of these manage to crash into each other?! #justsaying #jmhlaw

And on the subject of Facebook and privacy, well, what can I say friends, there is none really. Still worth a second read!

If there was ever any doubt about just how far it is that women have come in the legal profession these past 50 years, this article ladies and gentlemen will set the record straight. Written at a major law firm in 1956, the memo in question details the hiring practices to be employed when hiring "girl" lawyers. I'll warn you now gentlemen, be prepared to cringe when reading this article and to all my female lawyer and non-lawyer friends and co-workers, thank God (who by the way I believe may in fact be a woman) this sort of thinking, like the dinosaur, is a thing of the past! And now, let's go back to 1956 for a moment and practice our "jaw-dropping" together!

BC walk-in clinics now required to offer to be the primary-care clinic for patients who need a regular place to go. A step in the right direction?