♬ Everything is not what it seems
When you can get what you want by the simplest of means
Be careful not to mess with the balance of things
Because everything is not what it seems…♬

Lyrics and music by: John R. Adair, Ryan David Elder, Bradley Jay Hamilton, Stephen R. Hampton, recorded by: Selena Gomez.

CBC News on May 4, 2010 in an on-line article entitled: “Bank of Montreal alleges huge mortgage fraud” reported on a potential $30 million mortage/real estate fraud in Alberta.

The article is disturbing, as the size of the fraud and . . . [more]

Readers in the Toronto region might like to note the following events planned by the Women’s Law Association of Ontario:

• Alternative Careers – So you’re a Lawyer, Now What?
  Thursday May 6, 2010
  Advocates Society Education Centre
  1700 – 480 University Ave, Toronto
  5:30 -7:30

  Not sure if your hard-earned law degree gives you what you need? Ready for a career change of just interested in learning about the hidden opportunities in and outside the law? Join us for our 4th annual panel of successful and influential lawyers who have found their role.

• 2010 Annual Awards Dinner
  President’s Award -McCarthy

The Canadian Privacy Commissioner posted a link to a short test to see how you fare in minimizing the risk of ID theft that is on a website managed by the Australian Privacy Commissioner.

This was created for Privacy Awareness Week, which is an annual promotion by the Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities (APPA) forum which includes the Privacy Commissioners of British Columbia and Canada.

It looks at things such as what’s in your wallet, online shopping, and credit/debit card use.

It’s worth spending the couple of minutes it takes to complete. My challenge to you is to act on at . . . [more]

As many Slaw readers will already know from the extensive coverage this has received, the Ontario Divisional Court released an important ruling in Warman v. Wilkins-Fournier, a case in which Richard Warman is suing a number of persons for defamation. Warman had tried to get the court to compel disclosure from one of the defendants of information that would help identify various other defendants who had posted on anonymously on the internet message board run by the first defendant.

The court overturned a ruling by the trier of the motion to compel disclosure and sent the matter back for . . . [more]

Yesterday the official Twitter blog announced that they would be releasing a feature allowing embedded Tweets, similar to how we embed YouTube videos.

Earlier today the feature went live on a site called Blackbird Pie,

The origin of the script is both self- and user-centered. Mostly, we just think it’s a pain to take screen grabs of tweets. But of course we also think it’s a much better user experience to have @-mentions, hashtags and the account itself all linked and clickable.

I’ve played with a little bit, and there still seems to be some bugs. For example, the . . . [more]

I recently attended the KMWorld web event “Developing a Knowledge Sharing Culture in the 21st Century.” The speaker, Ashley Gorringe from Google Enterprise, provided some insights into Google’s vision of cloud computing and how it can create a culture that allows all aspects of an organization to move insync. Here are some highlights from the discussion:

Characteristics of work tools that are designed for today’s knowledge worker:

• Utilize the power of networks. Must be social.
• Not tied to a desktop computer.
• Can access information and projects very quickly.
• Must work on mobile devices.
• Access information anytime and from anywhere.

We note with sadness the passing of Margaret Banks the Doyenne of Canada’s law librarians. She died on Thursday at the age of 81. Slaw readers of a certain age will remember her meticulous work “Using a law library: a guide for students and lawyers in the common law provinces of Canada” which went through six editions between 1974 and 1994. . . . [more]

There is a draft copy of the new Alberta Rules of Court available.

As you learned from Slaw the new Rules of Court are scheduled to come into force on November 1, 2010.

There is this big caveat to be aware of:

Please note: This draft of the new Alberta Rules of Court is provided for information purposes only, and is subject to further revision. The new Alberta Rules of Court have not yet received the final recommendation of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, nor has the regulation been made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council. Reference

A number of groups have taken to Twitter for weekly scheduled chats. The conversation from everyone (whether you have them in your Twitter contacts list or not) is pulled together with a designated tag. Of course, this only works if you have a public Twitter account; with closed accounts only those who follow you will see your part of the conversation.

One of the latest entries into the Twitter chat arena is KMers, organized by Robert Swanwick, affectionately known to everyone as Swan. KMers covers topics in the area of Knowledge Management.

Previous chat events have included:

• The Changing

Much excitement in the lead-up to BIO 2010, the international biotechnology convention being held this week in Chicago.

The Ministry of Research and Innovation released a new Life Sciences Commercialization Strategy, which explains where at least part of their recent budget increase will be going. We’ll see how it’s received at BIO over the next few days.

At least some of the biotech trends we’ve been following at the Cross-Border Biotech Blog will receive a warm reception at BIO this week: the conference features sessions on commercialization by non-profit foundations, comparative effectiveness and personalized medicine, follow-on . . . [more]

I am in the process of preparing for the upcoming CBA BC Branch Women Lawyers Forum event Defining Moments – Leadership and Ethics. I am presenting on “Defining Success on Your Own Terms,” which is an interesting exercise. What is success anyway? I know what success does not look like – for me, pretty much most of 2003.

When I started law school in 1997, I was spurred by an interest in public affairs and advocacy for women and children. By 2003, I found myself as an associate in the commercial real estate group of a large law firm, . . . [more]

The recent decision of Justice Dougald McDermid to impose a temporary publication ban in the trial of those accused of murdering Victoria Stafford has caused a considerable furore. (See the Star story.) According to McDermid’s order the press may only say the following:

As we previously reported, Terri-Lynne McClintic was scheduled to appear on April 30, 2010, in the Superior Court of Justice at Woodstock but because of a temporary publication ban, we are prohibited by court order from providing any further information until further order of the court.

Speculation is that whatever is being suppressed will in fact wind . . . [more]