A few months ago we blogged about Rob Ford when he was removed from office and we asked all the haters to hold back from castigating the mayor for the wrong reason. Back in November we were disappointed to see so many people making fun of Ford for his weight and appearance.

Well, we still hate Ford as much as the next guy, and would like to again remind folks that there are so many valid reasons to dislike the him and to think he's not suited for public office and yeah, to think he's an overall disgrace. We all . . . [more]

“What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” asked Sheryl Sandberg in her bestseller, Lean In.

And what is it you’re afraid of? There are the common fears that many of us can relate to: heights; falling; spiders; darkness; silence; being alone. In professional life, your fears may include: forgetting something important; making a significant error; not meeting expectations; looking foolish; not having enough work or maybe having too much work.

The concept of courage has been front-of-mind lately. I am reading Brené Brown’s book Daring Greatly, which focuses on living a whole-hearted life and in that context, . . . [more]

On Mother’s Day, I sat down to write this blog – and reflected on the extra challenges that women associates still face in making it to partner. This is despite the fact that most law firms have generous maternity leave policies. From the firm’s perspective, their greatest challenge in developing more women partners is the loss of very good senior women associates from the partnership track, particularly at the six year call level – just when firms are considering associates for partnership. Why is this? It is not because women lose interest in becoming partners after six years of call, . . . [more]

This ars technica article points out that Microsoft scans Skype message contents for signs of fraud, which means that Microsoft can read them. While Skype messages may be encrypted to prevent third parties from reading them, that apparently does not apply to Microsoft. 

This is not just a Microsoft issue. Other providers of communication and data storage may also be able to do that for certain services (Facebook, Google). A close read of various service provider terms of use and privacy policies show they have the option to review data. It is usually intended as a way to control things . . . [more]

Each Wednesday we tell you which three English-language cases and which French-language case have been the most viewed on CanLII and we give you a small sense of what the cases are about.

For the week of May 14 – 21:

On May 1st, a Texas law student uploaded the specs for 3D printing of a single-shot pistol to the web – specs that were downloaded over 100,000 times before the U.S. State Department asked that he remove them from his site. That same day, May 9th, U.S. President Barack Obama issued an executive order “Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information.”

The juxtaposition highlights how open data efforts are generally considered contributions to freedom of information and the advance of human liberty, but occasionally thought of as dangerous incursions into privacy or threats to . . . [more]

We learn from the redoubtable Howard Knopf that the Couchiching Institute is having one of its celebrated roundtables in Ottawa on May 27 with Ottawa U law dean Bruce Feldthusen on The Future of Legal Education.

As the announcement says:

This comes at crucial time, when enrolments in American law schools are sharply down due to decreased demand for graduates. Opportunities for new graduates in Canada are decreasing, and many competent graduates cannot even find articling positions. Yet, we are seeing the creation of new law schools in Canada. There are many challenges and opportunities ahead for legal education

. . . [more]

I appreciate the ability to borrow eBooks from my public library with a tap on an app. I am not currently able to make it as easy as that for my law firm library users who wish to review legal texts with mobile devices. Times are changing though and law firms are buying eBooks.

At the Canadian Association of Law Libraries Conference earlier this month, there were plenty of discussions about eBooks. A roundtable discussion that was blogged about, a session that included Bess Reynolds (author of The Challenges of E-books in Law Firm Libraries), and many . . . [more]

They say it takes a community to raise a child – to watch out for it, to teach and shape him or her, and to give wise counsel.

Could it be that a community is also what it takes to put the legal profession in a position to flourish?

Slaw.ca founder Simon Fodden, in a background paper prepared for the CBA Legal Futures Initiative, suggests that the lack of a communal sensibility could be one of the reasons the profession is such a slow-turning ship.

That lack is both top-down and bottom-up. Inertia is found at the top in the . . . [more]

Last July I wrote a blog about Ryan Manilla, who graduated near the top of his class at Osgoode Hall Law School only to be deemed, twice, by the Law Society of Upper Canada to not meet its good character requirement.

Last week Ryan received the word that the Law Society had finally deemed him of good enough character to be admitted to the bar. 

According to Ryan's lawyer, the crucial piece of evidence this time around was a psychiatric assessment which found that Ryan's prior "misconduct" was out of character with how he conducted both his personal and professional life. . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on technology, research and practice.

Technology

Dan Pinnington
Save Money by Printing in Draft Mode

It is costly to replace the cartridges on laser and inkjet printers. You can save money by printing in draft mode, which uses a lot less ink. In most cases, you will probably find draft mode printouts are acceptable. Try printing in draft mode, and if the bulk of your printouts are fine, consider setting your printer…

Research

Watch the Clock . . . [more]

Touchscreens have made a difference. Until fairly recently, the assumption could normally be made that people would provide input to their machines using a keyboard or a mouse. But not now.

The people have spoken: we want touchscreens. Touchscreens more than justify the disruption they have caused. We need calm too, though, and that's still a work in progress. This posting reviews some recent developments on the software standardization front concerning "pointer events" and "touch events".

Background

Touchscreen technology has actually been around since the 1960s. A great review of the history is available in Bill Buxton, "Multi-Touch Systems that . . . [more]