The Justicia Awards recognize outstanding broadcast and print stories that foster public awareness and understanding of any aspect of the Canadian justice system, or the roles played by institutions and participants in the legal system.

The nomination period for the 8th annual Awards is now open. The deadline is June 15, 2007 for entries covering stories that were published or broadcast between May 16, 2006 and May 15th 2007.

The awards will be presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Bar Association in Calgary on August 11.

They are sponsored by the Canadian Bar Association and the Department of . . . [more]

Some time ago we noted that Charlie Nesson at Harvard Law was planning to use Second Life for a course he and his daughter were teaching. Now I learn that at Seattle University School of Law Elizabeth Townsend Gard used it in her first year Property Course. The description of the course and how it incorporated Second Life can be found on Terra Nova; and you can watch the video descriptions of the student projects on the blog set up for that purpose. Judging from what I saw, and speaking as a one-time property teacher, I think we have . . . [more]

Writing in The Times, Jonathan Weber captions a column: Why we need Microsoft, the great underdog.

Google has changed the way of the web in less than ten years. Without a strong Microsoft, its dominance will only increase.

It’s a provocative position, but it actually has aroused some resonance.

See Has Google Created A Monster?

Microsoft, the Underdog

And as for poor Microsoft, on April 26, it reported quarterly revenue of a mere $14.4 billion, net income of $9.3 billion. That’s $55 million a day.

The Europeans got it dead wrong.

Pass the collection plate. . . . [more]

It took a bit of digging, but I have found the letter released which I referred to in yesterday’s post.

See this site: Canada’s Boreal Forest, hosted on the Boreal Songbird Initiative website. The letter itself is a 37 page PDF in English, and French. The letter is 1 1/2 pages in length, with 2 1/2 pages of footnotes and 33 pages for the over 1,500 signatures.

It was released yesterday simultaneously in Ottawa and Seattle by:

• Dr. David Schindler, Professor of Biology, University of Alberta
• Dr. Terry Root, Stanford University Professor and author of multiple

. . . [more]

We’ve been waiting in anticipation to see what will happen. Today Reuters and Thomson have confirmed they will be joining forces to create one of the largest financial news publishers in the world, surpassing Bloomberg. . . . [more]

While I can understand that occasionally one might visit a library while on vacation, I had never realized that one might choose not merely one’s destination but also one’s hotel by virtue of access to legal information.

I’m not just talking about high-speed web access in a hotel room.

The Taj in Chandigarh is advertising a Law Library as one of the features that might attract visitors. See Taj Chandigarh Brings More Amenities For Hotel-Lovers On The Eve Of Completion Of Two Years

Reading down to the fourth paragraph:

The facilities like Wi-Fi Internet access, Business Centre, Two Meeting Rooms, . . . [more]

The People’s Daily has just announced major improvements to the
Community Legal Information Center (CLIC), a community legal information website, run by the University of Hong Kong.

The China Information Technology and Law Center organized a completion ceremony for the website, which is also one of the activities celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The CLIC project is commissioned by the Hong Kong government and funded by the Department of Justice of the government under which the law center is to develop, host and maintain the website.

The bilingual website is a . . . [more]

Almost thirty years ago, two friends Ed Belobaba (then of Osgoode Hall and now of the Superior Court of Justice) and Eric Gertner (then of the Ontario Law Reform Commission and now of Mccarthy Tétrault) had the vision to work to create a new journal, the Supreme Court Law Review.

The Law Times obituary of Justice Bertha Wilson illustrated its story with a portrait from the SCC collection by Mary Lennox Hourd.

If you look closely, it’s clear that the book Wilson J is resting her right hand on is the Supreme Court Law Review. Not often does Canadian . . . [more]

There’s a thoughtful piece on Law.com about how exactly one does manage a multi-jurisdictional practice, particularly where the firm has grown quickly by merger or acquisition: Tech Integrates Firms’ Global Networks

The article points out how technology and systematic knowledge management may help.

At White & Case, a software program alerts a lawyer in New York whether the firm’s Beijing-based attorney already drafted a similar document.

At Reed Smith, lawyers get a chance to meet their worldwide colleagues during “speed networking sessions,” when associates from all locations unite in one place.

At White & Case, a software program that stores

. . . [more]

The Globe and Mail reports that a group of 1,500 scientists from around the world will be releasing a letter today urging Canada to better protect our forests.

According to The Globe and Mail article Scientists plead for protection of forests by Bill Curry:

The scientists’ letter points out that forests absorb and store carbon dioxide, playing a key role in the fight against climate change. Global warming concerns are based on predictions that human-made emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere.

The boreal forest, a green band primarily made up

. . . [more]

Google a enfin compris qu'il est impossible de lire en ligne mais surtout que l'archivage se fait beaucoup plus facilement en papier. Ainsi, on nous offre Google Papier(en anglais seulement pour le moment). Ce service vous permet d'imprimer tous vos courriels et de vous les faire livrer dans une belle boîte Gmail, le tout gratuitement évidemment!

I was originally going to send all of you to look at the Bush Malaria Dance and related mashups. I even tried my hand at editing my own version with iMovie but the results weren’t great, so I have moved on to something more interesting (I can only take look at Bush for so long, no matter how amusing the footage).

I had a number of positive comments about my last Friday Fillip on computer bags and Squidoo. Most people are now expecting a follow-up post about shoes. But instead of alligator skin, let’s look at Alligator Eggs! which I . . . [more]