We missed last week’s news that Thomson is Acquiring Deloitte Tax LLP Property Tax Services, picking up another 420 employees in Scottsdale. The Scottsdale folks staff a national provider of property tax compliance outsourcing and consulting services. The official announcement declares that “This transaction will further enable us to fulfill Thomson Tax & Accounting’s overall growth strategy to serve our corporate tax clients with a full-range of technology, information and service solutions” .

Meanwhile back in Eagan, the consulting business goes from strength to strength, notwithstanding our scepticism about strategy. The Baker Robbins deal we discussed has two . . . [more]

Further to my earlier rant and call to arms for Canadian law libraries to digitize historical Canadian federal and provincial legislation: Colleague and SLAW reader Neal Ferguson points out that the Revised Statutes of Canada, R.S.C. 1970, are actually available in very large files on the Internet Archive, available here. . . . [more]

The 2000-2006 issues of the World Law Bulletin, a publication of the Law Library of Congress in the U.S., have been posted on the Internet.

On the site of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy!

“The WORLD LAW BULLETIN is a monthly publication of the Directorate of Legal Research at the Law Library of Congress. The Bulletin, which is distributed to members of Congress and staff but not the public, provides updates on foreign law developments”.

“In May 2006, the Law Library began publishing the Global Legal Monitor, which partially replicates the contents of the

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is concerned that street level photography, as currently deployed in the United States, may not meet the basic requirements of Canadian privacy laws.

The Privacy Commissioner has written to Google and Immersive Media to seek further information and assurances that Canadians’ privacy rights will be safeguarded if their technology is deployed in Canada.

Privacy Commission, Sept. 11 2007

Although Google Street View hasn’t come to Canada yet, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart has written expressing concern to Google and to Immersive Media Corp, a Calgary company whose large database of photos gathered with high resolution . . . [more]

At times lawyers need to learn a little medicine, and the NCBI Resource Locator might help. First of all, NCBI stands for the U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information, which is part of the National Institutes of Health and the National Library of Medicine, and the institution that manages PubMed, the likely the destination for a legal researcher.

PubMed has a fantastic search page, offering you all manner of ways of focusing your search into the medical literature. As well, there are tutorials to help you figure out how to do what you want.

Which brings us to the . . . [more]

Yesterday a new book on the Law of Blogging was released. It’s available for $9.95 directly from the author as a PDF download only.

The Contents sketch out a broad range of topics: . . . [more]

Today’s Daily Telegraph reports on a survey with news that the small generalist firm may not survive the upheavals caused by the opening up of the English market for legal services.

A survey of 75 leading professionals by Thomson Sweet & Maxwell found that 69pc of high street solicitors firms will be either significantly or drastically affected by the Legal Services Act reforms.

Nearly 60pc of the solicitors and barristers interviewed believed that traditional high street firms would be a rarity by 2015.

The full report is available in book form under the title Brave New World: Impact of the . . . [more]

Building on last year’s gorgeous post, I attach, courtesy of the estimable Jon Smithen, the most wonderful library buildings you’ll encounter anywhere. . . . [more]

A new study has found that workers freed from the constraints of the office environment by working from home are more satisfied with their work than those who do all their work from their desks. This may come as no surprise, but the study found that tele-commuting workers are also more “proud to tell people I work for my company”, feel that there is more “open, honest two-way communication”, believe that senior management values their contribution more, and are less likely to be considering leaving their employer.

In light of all this, the most surprising finding may be that only . . . [more]

I’m finally figuring out some things when it comes to ‘talking’ once and ‘publishing’ many. Ok Matthews, what are you going on about? 2.0 of course! Facebook, Blogging, RSS feeds and Twitter to be exact.

One of the awkward things about all these 2.0 applications is deciding where to publish. Where do I put my thoughts online? Do I blog, linkblog, twitter, or facebook? Well, I *think* I have a solution!

• Step 1 is to decide where to publish. And the answer is not Facebook or Twitter. I’ve come to the conclusion that both should be considered content destinations

The NY Times Book Review has a story on the weeding of chapel libraries in US prisons.

The chaplains were directed by the Bureau of Prisons to clear the shelves of any books, tapes, CDs and videos that are not on a list of approved resources… The lists are broad, but reveal eccentricities and omissions. There are nine titles by C. S. Lewis, for example, and none from the theologians Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Barth and Cardinal Avery Dulles, and the influential pastor Robert H. Schuller.

What they should really be doing is something like the AALL guidelines, to . . . [more]

The concept of “net neutrality” was in the news a lot earlier this year, and was the subject of a few posts at slaw.

In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission is currently working on developing new regulations for broadband internet providers. The Federal Department of Justice recently filed submissions with the FCC arguing in favour of a “non-neutral” internet where internet providers could charge content providers for faster or more reliable service.

Their position is clear: “The Department submits… that free market competition, unfettered by unnecessary governmental regulatory restraints, is the best way to foster innovation and development . . . [more]