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Archive for April, 2011

Zotero: Canadian Legal Style Available

Earlier this month a certain Liam McHugh-Russell uploaded a functional Canadian Legal Style to Zotero’s style library here.

Look for the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation, 7th ed. (McGill Guide), Liam’s style handles secondary sources perfectly, as far as I can tell, and performs well for cases and legislation.

When I asked him about the style, he did note that, due to the variety of formats in which citations to cases and legislation are offered online, the style cannot guarantee seamless downloading of citations to primary resources.

That said, I was able to extract a citation from . . . [more]

Posted in: Legal Information: Information Management

Voice and Video

In technology today, and especially on the web, there is a constant push for the new shiny thing. Lately it seems like that new shiny thing comes in two flavors: Voice Recognition and Video. In my (not-uncontroversial) opinion those are two of the most overrated technologies in the business right now.

Video

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Undoubtedly true, but honestly…don’t use a thousand words when 56 words will do. It seems like today every website is trying to video-enable itself and recently I even saw a pitch for video e-mail! That’s fine when the . . . [more]

Posted in: Legal Technology

SCC Decision in Fraser v. Ontario

The Supreme Court of Canada released the much anticipated decision in Ontario (Attorney General) v. Fraser this morning.

The majority held that the Agricultural Employees Protection Act, 2002, (“AEPA”) which excluded agricultural workers from the Labour Relations Act (“LRA”) following Dunmore v. Ontario (Attorney General), 2001 SCC 94, [2001] 3 S.C.R. 1016 did not violate s. 2(d) of the Charter. . . . [more]

Posted in: Substantive Law: Judicial Decisions

The Friday Fillip: From Saturnine to Saturn

Here we are embedded in an election — some might say mired — that even with the surprise showing of the NDP can lead to saturnine moods. Today I offer an antidote to gloom, perhaps oddly by moving us very far away from the sun. I prefer to think of it as lifting our gaze to horizons so broad that they put the merely mundane firmly into perspective.

NASA provides an astronomy picture of the day, which alone should be enough to lift your spirits (and there’s always an accompanying scientific comment, for those who require instruction in order . . . [more]

Posted in: Miscellaneous

Old Skool

I have spent the last few weeks preoccupied with making sure E exams here at Schulich Law proceed in an orderly fashion, and being grateful that I was spending my time on this side of the classroom, so to speak, as in not writing 100% finals. Law School pedagogy has been point of some conjecture here at Slaw in the past, but what I thought I would do this time is go old skool on this post and provide a bibliography of some of the literature that has been produced on the gauntlet that is the law school exam….what can . . . [more]

Posted in: Education & Training: Law Schools

Business Excellence and Disney Water

The Disney Institute speaker launched us into a fascinating 90-minute presentation that started with an invitation to take a drink from a high pressure water hose, took us “off stage”, and left us inspired.

The 2011 Legal Marketing Association conference was recently held in Florida’s Walt Disney World — a great venue to ignite a conference that centres on understanding and improving the client experience.

Our Disney Institute keynote speaker was as well-rehearsed as any Disney production, but with plenty of nuggets to take away and consider. Disney, as an organization, is a model to follow and learn from. Yes, . . . [more]

Posted in: Legal Marketing

White Paper on Mandatory Land Title E-Filing in BC

Following the first phase announcement of mandatory e-filing for certain BC land title documents that came on March 11th, Dye & Durham has developed and issued a new white paper discussing many of the issues to be faced by BC lawyers and notaries during the upcoming transition period.

The paper outlines the planning background behind the LTSA’s move toward mandatory e-filing, current usage rates of the EFS, training received by BC lawyers (only 4 in 10 surveyed), and the evolving digital role for BC Registry Agents.

As the author of the paper (and full disclosure, a client of ours), Dye . . . [more]

Posted in: Practice of Law: Future of Practice, Technology: Internet

Domain Names – How to Get Them Back

The Ontario Superior Court recently released a judgment about recovering domain names, South Simcoe Railway Heritage Corporation v. Wakeford 2011 ONSC 1234, in this case a .com name rather than .ca domain name.

Someone who had been active in a voluntary organization registered a domain name for the organization and later transferred it into his own name. He also changed all the registration information settings to private so no one, including the organization, could track who was responsible for the site.

The plaintiff organization brought actions in ‘detinue sur trover’ (a new cause of action for me after all . . . [more]

Posted in: Substantive Law: Judicial Decisions, ulc_ecomm_list

The Legal Angle to the Big Fat Royal Wedding

This Quebec-born boy still has trouble fathoming why so many people are going gaga over the English Royal Wedding. Don’t we all have hockey playoffs to think about? And isn’t there that little thing to do with the federal elections and Jack’s unexpected Big Orange Wave?

Never mind.

To help us out, the Harvard Law School Library has published a post on Royal Wedding: Pomp, Circumstance, and Law to explain all the legalities about how people in the British royal family get hitched.

Apparently, it is a lot more complicated than simply showing up at city hall, calling a florist . . . [more]

Posted in: Substantive Law: Foreign Law

Royal Marriage and the Law

Royal weddings bring with them fanfares, fascinators, and fol-de-rol (folie de roi?) — and a renewed interest in the singular business of constituting and propagating a monarchy. A former family law teacher, I’ve a modest interest in the marriage, as opposed to wedding, side of things, because while, as everyone knows, the rich are different from you and me, the royal family is even less like us when it comes to tying the knot.

Some things royal are governed by tradition in its guise as the common law. Succession to the throne, for instance, operates in part [see . . . [more]

Posted in: Substantive Law

British Columbia’s Civil Liberties Association Files Lawsuit Challenging Laws Against Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

While Quebec is consulting and holding public hearings on euthanasia and assisted suicide, on April 26, 2011, British Columbia’s Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) and three other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in BC’s Supreme Court challenging Canada’s Criminal Code provisions against euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Posted in: Substantive Law, Substantive Law: Judicial Decisions, Substantive Law: Legislation

Day of Mourning and North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) Week

On April 28 of each year, we honour workers who have lost their lives as a result of workplace injury or disease with the Day of Mourning. The Canadian flag on Parliament Hill will fly at half-mast. Workers will light candles, don ribbons or black armbands and observe a moment of silence at 11:00 a.m. Businesses are asked to participate by striving to prevent workplace deaths, illnesses and injuries, and publicly renewing their commitment to improve health and safety in the workplace.

This day was officially recognized by the federal government in 1991, eight years after the day of remembrance . . . [more]

Posted in: Miscellaneous