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Archive for ‘Practice of Law’

Office of Legal Counsel and the Torture Memos

In an article in the current New York Review of Books, “The Torture Memos: The Case Against the Lawyers,” Georgetown law professor David Cole examines the role and culpability of the lawyers of the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, who, under the Bush administration, wrote memoranda approving of and authorizing torture by the CIA. Cole says,

The OLC lawyers had the opportunity, and the responsibility, to prevent illegal conduct before it occurred. The lawyers involved in drafting the “torture memos”—Jay Bybee, John Yoo, Daniel Levin, and Steven Bradbury—failed to live up to these obligations. In

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Posted in: Practice of Law, Substantive Law

A Sea Change…

♬Following the leader, the leader, the leader
We’re following the leader wherever he may go…♬

Lyrics and music by: Sammy Fain, Sammy Cahn, Frank Churchill, Winston Hibler and Ted Sears, from Peter Pan.

The ABA Journal on Sept 17, 2009 reported that O’Melveny and Myers revealed plans to become a high-end fixed-fee leader in their latest 5 year strategic plan.

‘The aim, according to the plan, is to become “the leader in providing high-end legal services on a fixed fee basis, reducing costs to clients and achieving superior economic performance through practice management oriented toward cost-effective client service.’

Woah! Wait . . . [more]

Posted in: Practice of Law, Practice of Law: Marketing, Practice of Law: Practice Management

Get to Know… Business Simulation Designer James Chisholm

Some of the most interesting people I know are not lawyers!

This is the premise underlying this, my first, “get to know” post. My intent is to introduce this wonderful community of legal thinkers to wonderful thinkers with something to contribute from other communities. I’d encourage other Slaw contributors to do the same. This is valid online social networking isn’t it? And is building links beyond our immediate social network not a path to greater creativity and knowledge for all?

My first subject is James Chisholm, business simulation designer and principal of ExperiencePoint. We became friends back in b-school in . . . [more]

Posted in: Education & Training: CLE/PD, Practice of Law, Practice of Law: Practice Management

Just Because You’re on Social Media Doesn’t Mean a Licence to Be Unprofessional

That’s the message from an interesting piece in yesterday’s NYT entitled A Legal Battle: Online Attitude vs. Rules of the Bar .

Short extract suggests more issues in the future:

Stephen Gillers, an expert on legal ethics at New York University Law School, sees many more missteps in the future, as young people who grew up with Facebook and other social media enter a profession governed by centuries of legal tradition.

“Twenty-somethings have a much-reduced sense of personal privacy,” Professor Gillers said. Younger lawyers are, predictably, more comfortable with the media than their older colleagues, according to a recent survey

. . . [more]
Posted in: Practice of Law, Technology, Technology: Internet

Legal Malpractice Risks Change in Tough Times (But Not Risk Management Strategies)

(This article comes from the latest issue of LAWPRO’s new Webzine.)

When times are good, bumps in the road won’t always cause problems. Clients are upbeat and they want the deal to close, their problem resolved or the litigation matter to proceed. Happy clients are far less likely to sue their lawyers for malpractice.

However, in tough times, clients squeezed by money problem scan become unhappy and they will be more likely to look for ways to allege that their lawyers made a mistake. In a similar fashion, lawyers squeezed by financial problems can also find themselves more likely . . . [more]

Posted in: Practice of Law, Practice of Law: Practice Management

Fasken Martineau Hires in Britain

According to the Times Online legal blog Law Central, Fasken Martineau has added six lawyers to its London contingent of 50 “fee-earners” (!) and gets praise for bucking the “doom and gloom” mentality in which Britlaw seems mired.

I note that the Times calls Fasken’s an “international” firm, with nary a whisper of Canada or Canadian in the brief piece. Something we said?

In addition to its offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City, Fasken Martineau has an office of six lawyers in Johannesburg.

The firm has also added three senior lawyers to its . . . [more]

Posted in: Practice of Law, Practice of Law: Marketing, Practice of Law: Practice Management

Law-Related Movies, Redux

It was just over 2 years ago I was boasting here on SLAW about attending the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Alas, I will not be attending TIFF 2009 this month but note there are a few law-related movies this year that sound interesting:

Presumed Guilty (about injustices in the Mexican prison system)

Google Baby (about issues surrounding surrogate pregnancies)

Cleanflix (about movie copyright and censorship involving attempts by Mormons to edit racy Hollywood movies)

Copyright Criminals: This is a Sampling Sport (about copyright issues involving music sampling [good Wikipedia article here on the legal . . . [more]

Posted in: Practice of Law

A Comment on Legal Education, Labour and Employment Scholarship and Labour and Employment Practice

This is a great time to be a Canadian labour and employment lawyer, but Canadian law schools now employ fewer full-time labour and employment professors than they have in decades. This post highlights the issue and invites comment about the relationship between our law schools and the maintenance of a vibrant and well-qualified labour and employment bar.

The declining faculty issue first caught my attention when, in February, York University professor David Doorey published a blog post entitled “Employment Law Practice is Booming, But Someone Should Tell the Law Schools.” Professor Doorey noted the significance of labour and employment issues . . . [more]

Posted in: Education & Training, Education & Training: Law Schools, Legal Information, Practice of Law, Substantive Law

The Law Of. . . Pond Scum?

Just when you thought every niche had been filled, up comes an area of practice to remind you that this is a more wrinkled world than we are typically aware and the practice of law is a force second only to life itself, perhaps, when it comes to occupying all imaginable spaces: there is a law of algae.

It occupies a website, too, of course, which, appropriately is LawOfAlgae.com, a.k.a. Stoel Rives LLP, a Minneapolis firm specializing in renewable energy. Which is where algae comes in. Evidently it is an up-and-coming source of biomass from which to make . . . [more]

Posted in: Legal Information, Legal Information: Publishing, Practice of Law, Practice of Law: Marketing, Reading, Substantive Law

$150m More Legal Aid for Ontario

There has been a legal aid boycott in Ontario by senior lawyers, protesting underfunding of the service in the province, especially for complex cases.

A report by Prof. Michael Code of UofT and the Hon. Patrick LeSage commissioned by the Attorney General of Ontario found that the previous system was placing cases in the hands of lawyers who were probably inadequately prepared to deal with them.

The Attorney General has responded to these issues by pledging an additional $150 million over the next four years for legal aid, a 21% increase, the largest in its history. Min. Bentley said, . . . [more]

Posted in: Practice of Law, Substantive Law

U.S. Law Librarians’ Changing Scene

There’s an interesting article today on Law.com about what impact the recession is having on the situation of law librarians in the United States. “Law Librarians: ‘No More Sacred Cows’” by Alan Cohen is based on the 2009 American Lawyer survey of law librarians. To see the actual findings of the full survey you’ll have to be a subscriber, but Cohen hits the high spots for you.

    Library budgets have shrunk in 46% of cases, compared to 9% in 2008 / The expectation from the firms is that every resource must show a decent ROI. / New software

. . . [more]
Posted in: Legal Information, Practice of Law, Practice of Law: Marketing, Practice of Law: Practice Management, Technology

The Case for Short Legal Communications

This is a reminder that we should be brief in making our point.

We know this, but often can’t resist saying more than we should. Our tendency to ramble is partly a function of ego. We’re smart, we know things and we want others to know we know things whether helpful or not. It’s also a function of fear. When we don’t trust our argument we layer on lesser alternatives that can harm more than help. Finally, it can be because we’re lazy or time pressed. Long and rambling is easy while focused is hard.

The “case for short” is . . . [more]

Posted in: Legal Information, Practice of Law, Substantive Law