Michael Jackson’s sudden death and the skirmishes over who should be his executors, or remain so, should give you pause. You would not want your beneficiaries fighting over your estate and you should want executors with the necessary expertise to manage your assets after you are gone.

Not too much can be done to prevent the former. Jackson’s Will has a “no contest” clause, such that if a beneficiary takes issue with how much he or she is to get, they get nothing. Still, this has not prevented Jackson’s mother from seeking to have herself appointed as an executor or . . . [more]

[Editor update, Feb. 28, 2014: BASESwiki has migrated to ACCESS Facility: www.accessfacility.org]

The United Nations has launched a new alternative dispute resolution wiki on business and human rights called BASESwiki, the Business and Society Exploring Solutions wiki:

“It is a forum where anyone can share, access and discuss information about the non-judicial mechanisms and resources available around the world to help companies and their external stakeholders resolve disputes. It will be a resource for all stakeholders – companies, NGOs, mediators, lawyers, academics and government officials. It will be an interactive forum, built over time by and for its

I deplore the practice of some of those who publish on Slaw—or, indeed, anywhere else—doing so anonymously. I have raised the matter privately with Simon Fodden but I raise it now publicly. In my opinion, anyone who wants to publish anything on Slaw, whether as a post or a comment, should do so only after he or she has provided Simon with a valid e-mail address, a short bio and a statement of the organization with which he or she is affiliated. This information should be available to anyone. Whether or not anonymous blogging will eventually come to an end—as . . . [more]

Canada’s Minister of National Revenue recently announced the Canada Revenue Agency’s intention to audit certain Canadian sellers (so-called high volume “PowerSellers”) of products on eBay, which is the world’s largest global online marketplace. The Canadian tax authority, which has long been concerned about a lack of tax compliance in respect of electronic commerce, wants to determine if those sellers have properly reported the income earned from their online sales.

The Canada Revenue Agency’s decision to audit the eBay sellers follows a series of Federal Court decisions confirming the tax authority’s ability to force eBay’s Canadian companies to disclose the names . . . [more]

Last week I posed a survey on copyright reform. Here are the results.

The result is overwhelming.

So in anticipation of comments pointing out the following:

– it clearly was not scientifically accurate

– it is quite possible that the question was biased

– it may reflect the large proportion of users to creators and thus shows the tyranny of the majority rather than a principled view. . . . [more]

It is fashionable for class counsel to plead “waiver of tort” as a common issue alleged to be certifiable in product liability class actions. Waiver of tort refers to a plaintiff’s election at a common issues trial to have recovery quantified not by provable tort damages but rather by the defendant’s gain arising from the alleged tortious act.

As merits-based classes defined by injury are impermissible in common law provinces, waiver of tort is the glue to hold together a claim on behalf of all users of a product — without regard to whether it is defective or causes injury. . . . [more]

George Paul says that digital record keeping has caused an evidentiary crises of societal proportions and that it is our responsibility, as lawyers, to find a resolution – to find a way of effectively testing the authenticity of digital records so they do “what people expect them to do,” and so that truth is found and justice done.

The American Bar Association published Paul’s “Foundations of Digital Evidence” in 2008. Paul is an American trial lawyer from Arizona with a deep interest in the evidentiary implications of digital information. He was kind enough to provide short interview this week, . . . [more]

There are few things more secret within lawfirms than the process of determining equity partnership admission and partner compensation. Even if there are disputes they’re handled behind closed doors or in the leak-proof process of arbitration. There are only a handful of reported cases on such issues involving the largest firms.

Which makes the travails of McCarthy Tétrault particularly newsworthy – although the reactions of many managing partners may well be to thank the relevant deity that it wasn’t their firm.

A former McCarthy Tétrault lawyer is suing the firm for $12 million dollars over an equity partnership admission dispute. . . . [more]

Larry Lessig, noted law prof at Stanford and long-time blogger, has decided to close down his eponymous (I love that word) blog. He’s posted his last entry, setting out his reasons (baby #3, spam comments, volunteer technical support, new research project) which add up to blogger burn-out after seven years. Sad but understandable.

He’s not leaving the public arena, though (…as if…). He says:

This isn’t an announcement of my disappearance. I’m still trying to understand twitter. My channel at blip.tv will remain. As will the podcast, updated as I speak. I will continue to guest

A couple of stories this morning in the Globe and Mail illustrate the changing nature of the internet. One is the report that the blogger “outed” by Google plans to sue Google for breaching its fiduciary duty to protect her privacy (ignoring, apparently, that Google revealed her name in response to a court order). The other is that Wikipedia intends to add a layer of editorial review to its content. Both indicate that in some ways, attempts to regulate the internet are occurring, for good or ill, as needed. . . . [more]

It’s 11 p.m.. Do you know where YOUR employee is?

Hopefully not. But if she’s home connecting to work on her laptop or smart-phone, she may be running up an overtime tab. Along with dozens/hundreds of others in your organization.

Canada has already witnessed the migration of American-style employee class actions across the 49th parallel. Dara Fresco’s bid at CIBC, described in an article in The Star, got slapped down (see Fresco v. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, 2009 CanLII 31177 (ON S.C.). But Fresco’s taking that rejection to a higher Court, according to an article in . . . [more]

According the 2009 Chief Legal Officer Survey conducted by Altman Weil, Inc. [summary, PDF], there is deep skepticism among corporate law departments that their law firm counterparts are equally serious about change. When asked how serious law firms are about changing their delivery model, the answers were in sharp contrast. Only 5% of CLOs assessed law firms as highly serious. 20% gave firms credit for some level of effort. 75% rated law firms between zero and 4 on the scale, indicating little or no interest in change.

“This is a dramatic vote of no confidence from Chief . . . [more]