The Canadian Bar Association Young Professionals International Internship Program is now taking applications for the 2008-2009 placements. The CBA administrates this program, which is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) as part of the Government of Canada's Youth Employment Strategy (YES).

Through this program, young lawyers are placed in eight-month internships (they are overseas for between six and seven of the eight months) to work with human rights legal organizations on issues such as women's rights, labour rights, constitutional rights, children's rights and indigenous people's rights, in Latin America and the Caribbean, Southern and Central Africa and

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India has a National Knowledge Commission. From its main page:

The National Knowledge Commission is a high-level advisory body to the Prime Minister of India, with the objective of transforming India into a knowledge society. It covers sectors ranging from education to e-governance in the five focus areas of the knowledge paradigm: 'Access' easy access to knowledge / 'Concepts' all levels and forms of education / 'Creation' effective creation of knowledge / 'Applications' of knowledge systems / 'Services' like e-governance

The Commission recently submitted a report [PDF] to the government on education, critical of the current situation in many . . . [more]

There's a discussion about the form that legal education should take (in the U.S.) going on over on Concurring Opinions. Daniel J. Solove, of the George Washington University Law School, and lead author on the site, considers a complaint by Brian Tamanaha that the A.B.A. is imposing a one-size-fits-all model of legal education. Wouldn't it make more sense, goes the argument, to give up the research idea and concentrate simply — and better — on training good practitioners.

Interesting reading. And I have to say that the staying power — nay, the pathological perserverance — of the "plumber vs. . . . [more]

New on LLRX.com is an article by Debbie Ginsberg and Meg Kribble called Social Networks for Law Librarians and Law Libraries, or How We Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Friending. Great title, and a great article to go with it!

I enjoyed their discussion of how law librarians are using social networks to connect with communities and each other. My personal interest is how law firms are using social networks, so I found this little tidbit interesting: . . . [more]

A letter has gone out to Canada's law deans from the Director General of Legal Affairs Bureau of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) stating that the Bureau wishes to "enhance Canada’s current engagement with the work of the [International Law] Commission, including its studies and recommendations." The Bureau would like

to hear of Canadian legal academics who are following the Commission’s work, whether in total or with respect to a specific topic. …We would welcome receiving an email providing us with the name, contact details, and areas of specific interest with respect to the Commission’s work

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Larry Lessig's book "The Future of Ideas" is now free to download under Creative Commons attribution-non-commercial license.

Published in 2001 by Random House, the book addresses IP and the impact on it of the internet. You can read an excerpt here.

Lessig's other books are also available free under a Creative Commons license:

Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Creativity (Penguin Press, 2004).

Code And Other Laws of Cyberspace, Version 2.0 (Basic Books, 2006).

[via Digital Koans] . . . [more]

The Law Librarian Blog today drew attention to the relatively new Best Practices for Legal Education Blog, "a site [that] was created with two goals in mind: 1) to create a useful web-based source of information on current reforms in legal education (…) ; and 2) to create a place where those interested in the future of legal education can freely exchange ideas, concerns, and opinions."

Contributors are from the United States and the UK (or Glasgow anyway – is Scotland still part of the UK? In, out, half in, half out, sovereignly associated with the Brits?). . . . [more]

The McKinsey Quarterly's "Eight Business Technology Trends to Watch" discusses eight emerging technologies with the potential to transform companies and markets. They include:

• Using consumers as innovators: Involving customers in the design, testing and marketing of new products and services.
• Distributing cocreation: Make better use of the skills and ideas of workers located outside corporate boundaries, such as suppliers and independent contractors.

Also see the blog Portals and KM for a brief discussion of this article. . . . [more]

Sad news from the Supreme Court today of the death of Gerald Eric Le Dain, law teacher and judge. He was educated at McGill University and the University of Lyon, where he became a Docteur de l'Université in 1950. He practised law with Walker, Martineau, Chauvin, Walker & Allison in Montreal, and taught at McGill University, before becoming dean of Osgoode Hall Law School in 1967.

On a personal note Gerry gave both of the Slaw Simons their first academic jobs.

For Canadians of a certain age, his name will be associated with the Commission of Inquiry into the . . . [more]

Sounds impressive, no?

I saw one of the millenium's trends in person: fewer live bodies at smaller symposia with more people attending electronically.

I spoke earlier today at a Law Society of Upper Canada CLE symposium. I'm told there were about 140 registrants. Only about 70 were there in person. The other 70 were elsewhere catching the webcast. I was able to get a "feel" for how the live audience was responding to the audibility, pace and content of the lecture. I haven't the faintest idea about the web audience. I'm assuming things were fine or those at the production end . . . [more]

Patrick Monahan has been reappointed Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School for another 5 year term, beginning July 2008. York President, Mamdouh Shoukri, announced that the executive committee of the Board of Governors approved the appointment today.

My congratulations to Patrick, who will now have the opportunity to oversee the new building that Osgoode is planning. . . . [more]

Though not as world-famous as the Nobel Prizes, the Ludvig Holberg Prize is now in its fourth year. ((The Ludvig Holberg Memorial fund was established in 2003 by the Norwegian Parliament. The Board of the Fund annually awards the Holberg International Memorial Prize for outstanding scholarly work in the fields of the arts and humanitites, social sciences, law and theology. The prize for 2007 is NOK 4.5 million (approx. € 555,000/$750,000).)) The earliest prizes went to 2004: Julia Kristeva 2005: Jürgen Habermas and 2006: Shmuel Eisenstadt.

This year's winner is the first legal scholar to be so honoured. No surprise . . . [more]