The global Free Access to Law Movement has just acquired its 34th member. The Legal Information Institute of India (LIIofIndia) opened for public access at the end of November, though the formal launch isn’t until March of 2011.

LIIofIndia currently has 50 databases, including, as you’d imagine, case reports from the 28 state high courts, federal legislation, and case reports from federal courts. The databases are of varying depth, averaging, it would seem, five years or so.

The main (i.e. advanced) search form is here.

Some links need fixing. For instance, the “help” link on the main page . . . [more]

A SLAW hat-tip to Brenda Wong and her co-blogger Karen Sawatzky at Library Technician Dialog for making me aware of the following online slideshow called If you Want to Work in Libraries, Here are 10 Things You Need to Know by Ned Potter.

I think the author nicely captures some of the opportunities for working in the information field (e.g., working with people and technology) along with some of the challenges (e.g., constant change and tough competition).

Many of these topics arose in my regular guest lecture to the FIS 2133 Legal Literature and Librarianship class earlier this week at . . . [more]

London is slowly getting back to normal today after effectively being shut down for 2 days due to a massive lake effect snowstorm. Depending on where you are we have had between 2 and 4 feet of snow since Sunday night. You know its bad when I made a trek yesterday from home to the local convenience store pulling a toboggan to get gas for the snowblower and milk. And when UWO, Fanshawe, schools, malls and banks close, Canada Post stops delivery, and the city stops bus service. Some of those remain closed today. While the main roads are clear . . . [more]

Ever find that the change goal you most wish to breakthrough is the hardest to tackle? It’s like having one foot on the gas and one on the brake, you just can’t seem to progress. 

Chris wants to learn to delegate more effectively but every time he tries he gets burned and concludes it would have been easier if he had just done it all himself. Carrie has perpetually got too many of other people’s priorities on her plate. She would like to say no more often but every time a colleague or friend asks her for help she feels . . . [more]

This week in biotech was all about payers:

The UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which provides guidance on use of new drugs and medical technologies, showed yet again that price is a key consideration, backing an Amgen drug only after being offered rebates by the manufacturer. This is one example of the general trend that regulatory approval is necessary, but not sufficient, for a successful product — .

Medicago, a Canadian company, because the US Department of Defense is paying $21-million towards a new 90,000 sq ft state-of-the art production facility in North Carolina. Meanwhile, . . . [more]

News junkies unite! Postmedia has made the daily newspapers for 10 larger Canadian cities available on the iPad!

• Vancouver Sun
• The Province
• Calgary Herald
• Edmonton Journal
• Montreal Gazette
• Regina Leader-Post
• Saskatoon StarPhoenix
• Ottawa Citizen
• Victoria Times Colonist
• Windsor Star

And for now, they’re free. :) It’s also interesting to note, they’ve jumped right over typical first step of creating an iPhone app. . . . [more]

Argument is taking place right now at the SCC regarding online defamation in hyperlinks. The Montreal Gazette has a nice overview of the matter to date

Live tweeting can be followed by searching for #Crookes on Twitter.

Who would have guessed a couple of years ago that someone could sit in the gallery at the SCC and let the world know what questions the court is asking. Here is a sample thanks to tweets by cippic:

#Crookes Q: Does defamation only arise once a hyperlinker has been given notice of the defamation? A: No.

Q: Knowledge converts something that

Does tinkering with our long-standing parole system actually increase public safety?

In Oliver Stone’s recent sequel to the classic film Wall Street, we are treated to a scene of Gordon Gekko standing in line awaiting his release after years in jail. The camera is focussed tightly on Gekko’s soft but slightly wrinkled hands as he accepts the return of items in his property bag that were seized from him two decades ago when he began his incarceration. “One watch. One ring. One gold money clip with no money in it,” the desk officer intones. The camera then pulls out . . . [more]

Last week the New York Times featured Vitaly Borker, an online retailer who deliberately abused his customers so they could complain about him online. Some of Borker’s behaviour was completely outrageous, and included alleged threats of litigation and violence, both physical and sexual, against disgruntled customers.

The complaints by customers actually helped his Google ranking, which in turn helped him secure top search placements and more business, . . . [more]

♫ O how I wish I could sing like an Angel
I’d sing carols so high and sweet
O if I had the voice of an Angel
I’d be singing that sweet Child asleep…. ♫

“Christmas Angel”: Music and Lyrics by Corlynn Hanney, performed by the Argyle Alumni Choir.

My annual Holiday Greetings (photographs set to music) are on my blog at:
http://thoughtfullaw.com/2010/12/06/2010-seasons-greetings/

At this time of year I would like to take a moment and wish each and everyone the Best of the Holiday Season and a Wonderful and Happy New Year and I hope you enjoy my . . . [more]

The Law Society of Upper Canada is currently reviewing the ethical and procedural issues relating to the “unbundling” of legal services, otherwise known as “limited scope representations” or “limited scope retainers.”

Unbundling is the concept of taking a legal matter apart into discrete tasks and having a lawyer or paralegal provide limited legal services or limited legal representation, that is, legal services for part, but not all, of a client’s legal matter by agreement with the client. Otherwise, the client is self-represented. While the Law Society’s Rules of Professional Conduct and the Paralegal Rules of Conduct do not prohibit such . . . [more]

Much ink has been spilled about the diplomatic cable leak facilitated by WikiLeaks. Almost as interesting as the leaks themselves, however, is the information war that is being waged against WikiLeaks, and the measures the site has had to take just to stay accessible.

Over the course of the last week, the site has suffered from a sustained Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack. In such an attack, a group of computers – sometimes numbering in the millions – attempt to saturate a target host with a flood of requests, thereby consuming all of the hosts’ computation resources and . . . [more]