The Law Society of Upper Canada publishes Practice Management Guidelines that include advice on the use of technology. Section 5.8.4 of the Guidelines say that the following practice is “not compatible with the public interest, the best interests of the profession or the administration of justice”:

advertisement of professional services using electronic media where the advertisement is directly and indiscriminately distributed to a substantial number of newsgroups or electronic email addresses.

This is clearly aimed at spam. However, a recent overview of technology and legal ethics* said that lawyers should also consider

whether the circulation of links via mechanisms such

. . . [more]

There are five nationwide holidays in this country: Canada Day (July 1), Labour Day (1st Monday in September), Christmas Day (December 25), New Year’s Day (January 1)—and Good Friday, today (which is two days prior to Easter, which in turn falls, roughly speaking, on the first Sunday after the first full moon, after the 21st of March).

There will likely be no new entries on Slaw today.

See you all on Monday—which is not a statutory holiday in any province or territory and not a holiday within the Canada Labour Code . . . though many federal government offices will . . . [more]

Again this year, the always exciting 60 Sites in 60 Minutes plenary session concluded ABA TECHSHOW 2012. Presenters Natalie Kelly, Dan Pinnington, Catherine Sanders Reach and TECHSHOW Chair Reid Trautz shared variety of serious and funs sites with the packed room. It was a lot of fun to do 60 Sites. For those who could not make it, here is a full list of the sites we presented:

Sites to help you do your job

• ABA Preview of Supreme Court Cases: Everything you want or need to know about what is happening at the Supreme Court, past,

. . . [more]

David posted yesterday about Google’s project glass. Sounds pretty cool, and I’ll probably try it at some point. However, I do have to wonder what optometrists think when they see this? Most of us already face excessive amounts of screen time in our working lives. Will we now face never-ending screen time? And what’s the impact of constantly forcing our eyes to re-adjust their focal distance?

I did some sleuthing and I found very little in terms of outraged optometrists. Perhaps it’s too early. There were a couple of blog posts, and I also found this fox news story . . . [more]

The august Royal Canadian Mint, birthplace of the lovely golden loonie (but not the snappy new plastic bills) and soon to be the graveyard for the penny, is moving to take metal out of the coin equation altogether. They’re now promoting a plan to implement the MintChip, a system for exchanging value via electronic devices with ease and security:

MintChip brings all the benefits of cash into the digital age. Instant, private and secure, MintChip value can be stored and moved quickly and easily over email, software applications, or by physically tapping devices together.

Wisely, perhaps, the . . . [more]

On March 26, 2012, the Attorney General of British Columbia announced that special prosecutor lawyer Peter Wilson has been given expanded powers to lay charges against polygamists in the province.

. . . [more]

I have been thinking lately that there is a certain similarity between how I observed the Crown operating in the lower courts in the 1970s and how I have observed the Crown working at the highest levels more recently. Let me explain and offer some brief biographical account.

I first started to do a certain kind of paralegal work – what would later be called “Native Courtwork” – making a connection between a Native person accused of an offense and a lawyer willing to represent the accused (and often doing much of the factual research) at Akwesasne, the Mohawk community . . . [more]

Google just officially announced that they are working on Project Glass – think of it as augmented reality heads up display glasses that works like a smartphone. This concept has been bandied about for a long time, but may be closer than we think.

I’m sure it will take a while before the mainstream legal software vendors will provide compatible software. And for those of us who have avoided glasses through contacts or laser surgery, the thought of wearing glasses again is not compelling. But the contact lens version might take a while longer.

But think of the possibilities. 

Face . . . [more]

In my last column, I talked about “working the room”. Attending events is an important part of for business development for lawyers. I focused on how to open conversations, rather like delivering your opening line in a play. But opening the conversation is only half of the skill needed for working a room; the other half is closing a conversation gracefully so that you can move on.

Let’s revisit the reason why you’re attending such an event. Working a room is work: you’re there to develop business. But business development is a process; don’t expect to walk away with . . . [more]

The Canadian Legal Information Institute — CanLII — has just introduced a refinement to its search and citation tools where legislation is concerned. Now, in the case of legislation for which CanLII provides a table of contents, when you consider a specific section or subsection, you’ll see a link to a popup that will offer you a link to cases citing that specific provision and a further link to a perfectly formed citation for that specific provision. As you’ll see in the graphic below (click on it to enlarge it), the number of citing cases is given in the popup, . . . [more]

A friend sent me an ad from an airlines magazine, promoting Toronto as a place to visit. In tiny print (white on gray background) at the bottom, it says ‘Toronto is a trademark of the Toronto Convention and Visitors Association.”

Can this be?

Can none of us use the name of the city without the say-so of the Association? Can no one else advertise the many attractions of Toronto without its approval?

So far as I can see from the official trade marks register, the Association does not own “Toronto”. It owns a few marks that involve a design . . . [more]