I heard lately of a case where someone mediating a dispute between A and B sent an email about the dispute to A with a bcc: to B.

A managed to examine the header of the email sufficiently to see the bcc: to B, and complained to the mediator.

My first reaction was “wow, I didn’t know you could do that!” Do lawyers now have to scrub their email headers the way they are supposed to scrub metadata out of documents before sending to the other side?

My second response was “wait a minute! What was the mediator doing sending . . . [more]

You may have noticed that you can type math equations directly into your Google search bar and get results. Mashable points out that this equation will give you a special result for Valentine’s Day:

sqrt(cos(x))cos(300x)+sqrt(abs(x))-0.7)(4-x*x)^0.01, sqrt(6-x^2), -sqrt(6-x^2) from -4.5 to 4.5

And if you thought that was neat and want to try something else, plug this one into your search bar:

1.5sqrt(-abs(abs(x)-1)*abs(3-abs(x))/((abs(x)-1)*(3-abs(x))))(1+abs(abs(x)-3)/(abs(x)-3))sqrt(1-(x/7)^2)+(4.5+0.75(abs(x-.5)+abs(x+.5))-2.75(abs(x-.75)+abs(x+.75)))(1+abs(1-abs(x))/(1-abs(x))),-3sqrt(1-(x/7)^2)sqrt(abs(abs(x)-4)/(abs(x)-4)),abs(x/2)-0.0913722(x^2)-3+sqrt(1-(abs(abs(x)-2)-1)^2),(2.71052+(1.5-.5abs(x))-1.35526sqrt(4-(abs(x)-1)^2))sqrt(abs(abs(x)-1)/(abs(x)-1))

Many readers will already know that Toronto is hosting the annual conference and general meeting of CALL/ACBD in May. This gathering is a high point in the association’s calendar, and this year is even more special, as we are marking the start of our 50^th anniversary.

The program is relevant to a wide audience – no matter your level of experience or expertise, you should find something to pique your interest. The exhibit hall will offer opportunities to learn about new developments in legal information, and the social program will give you a chance to meet new colleagues, catch . . . [more]

In most provinces as well as nationally, rethinking access to justice for meeting the legal needs of Canadian families is a central policy agenda item. Law reform commissions as well as self-standing initiatives such as the National Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters have made this sort of rethinking a priority for moving forward. One of the most innovative new approaches is a multidisciplinary approach to meeting family justice needs. This approach stresses both the diversity of the legal needs of Canadian families and the fluidity of those needs. Sometimes, among professionals, there is an . . . [more]

This information came out last month, but is important to note. The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (the SEC) put out information about investment fraud and social media in January:

• SEC – Investor Alert: Social Media and Investing – Avoiding Fraud (January 4, 2012) [PDF]
• SEC – Investor Bulletin: Social Media and Investing – Understanding Your Accounts (January 2012) [PDF]
• SEC – National Examination Risk Alert – Investment Adviser Use of Social Media (Vol. II, Issue 1, January 4, 2012) [PDF]

These alerts were prompted by charges laid on January 4th against Anthony Fields, an Illinois-based investment advisor who offered . . . [more]

A Broad and Ambitious Justice Review

BC Premier Christy Clark along with her newly-titled Minister of Justice and Attorney General Shirley Bond announced a broad-ranging review of the BC justice system last week. In conrast to many previous reviews in other jurisdictions, this review is not lacking in ambition or scope. The review includes a Green Paper on Modernizing British Columbia’s Justice System and an internal audit review of the province’s justice system. It also includes a review of BC’s criminal charge assessment process, a Legal Aid Services review and a new plan to post justice system data on . . . [more]

In the post-Charter era, we’ve become increasingly aware of vulnerable populations and the need to address societal imbalances in power. But as I highlighted last month, the mentally ill still continue to face unnecessary barriers that often prevents full participation in society.

The Supreme Court of Canada released a judgment on Friday which could help combat sexual abuse against the mentally ill. The mentally disabled are frequent targets for sexual assaults given their perceived inability to relate the incidents to others. Some estimate this risk factor may be as high as four to ten times higher than the general . . . [more]

See Here We Go … Again for the first part.

I’ll complete the discussion for now – lawyers are trained to do things in threes – by picking on the British Columbia Court of Appeal and British Columbia trial judges who were only doing their jobs. For the latter, that entails applying what their Court of Appeal has said the law is, even if they think it might not be the law. For the former, that entails applying what the Supreme Court of Canada has said the law is, unless there’s a valid way to duck … sorry distinguish it. . . . [more]

As rated by Roger Skalbeck of the Georgetown University Law Center, on behalf of the ABA in their annual effort. The 200 law school websites evaluated ranged from a low of 25% to a high of 98.5%. Given the very elementary standards against which they were compared, it is surprising that any really could fare very low at all. This summary of the evaluation criteria should give you an idea:

. . . [more]

Last November, Lexum proceeded to survey the users of its Supreme Court of Canada decisions web site (scc.lexum.org/en). The results of such surveys are rarely shared; they can indeed have high commercial value or simply be embarrassing. The ones communicated here are not embarrassing and they are, at times, surprising. At least, they were not the ones Lexum was expecting. For instance, respondents are less eager to access legal content on mobile platforms than Lexum had initially assumed and their appetite for social web-related services appears much more limited than anticipated. In a more foreseeable way, respondents confirmed how the . . . [more]

The hot new thought (again) in some physics circles is that time doesn’t exist. Take a moment on this Friday to wrap what remains of your mind around that thought. Not possible. It’s like those “yes, but” thoughts you used to have lying awake at night when you were a kid and wondered what was outside the universe: nothing, right? Yes, but…

So lacking the math or the philosophical chops necessary to dispense with time, most of us reckon with it. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, ad infinitum. Yet of all of these measures, it’s really only . . . [more]

More and more lawyers are using video to differentiate themselves. Video provides potential clients the opportunity to learn more about a lawyer than what is written in the biography. Hopefully through the video, potential clients will feel a connection with the lawyer and want to make the initial contact.

So videos’ are good. They are also time consuming, can be expensive and aren’t right for everyone.

I recently completed a number of videos for a lawyer including his biography. The intention was to give the potential client a slice of information and leave them wanting more. Screen time was limited . . . [more]