Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on technology, research and practice.

Technology

How to Use Google to Search With a Specific Website
Dan Pinnington

The search functionality on many websites is dismal, and in sometimes it is non-existent. If you are looking for something on a specific website and can’t find it, don’t despair, Google comes to the rescue.
You can use Google to search within a specific website by preceding your query with “site:SpecificSiteURL” [substitute your URL and don’t use . . . [more]

The patent infringement action between Bell Helicopters and Eurocopter has been a topic of discussion among patent lawyers since the trial decision was released in January 2012. The Federal Court of Appeal recently dismissed the appeal and cross-appeal (Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Limitée v. Eurocopter, 2013 FCA 219) in a lengthy decision covering many hot topics in Canadian patent law.

While the decision has a number of interesting issues, including utility and sound prediction, I will focus on the award of punitive damages.

In general, punitive damages may be awarded when the defendant’s conduct is “in exceptional . . . [more]

Justice Edward Belobaba has approved the settlement reached in the Groupon class action lawsuit.

For those not familiar with Groupon, the company sells a variety of vouchers at a discount that can be used towards the purchase of goods or services. For example, a customer may be able to pay $50 for a voucher that can be redeemed to obtain $150 worth of duct cleaning services.

Up until recently, the vouchers carried an expiry date. The plaintiff alleged that it was illegal (for a variety of reasons) for the vouchers to carry an expiry date.

The settlement provides that customers . . . [more]

Last week a joint report between the Financial Times and SLA was released: The evolving value of information management: and the five essential attributes of the modern information professional (free download with registration).

The report delves into changes in the work of information professionals, change in what executives believe information professionals should be doing, and any gaps between these perceptions. It then provides changes that information professionals should be considering and specific action items to achieve these.

From the introduction:

We encourage information professionals to question how the strategies in this report can assist you in enhancing the value you

My last post discussed the viability of assessing a cloud provider’s financials as part of your due diligence process, and I concluded that requesting full access to a cloud provider’s financials is simply not a reasonable request to make of a privately held company.

How can you entrust your data to a company that you don’t know the financial health of, you ask? You plan for the worst. Expect the company will fail without warning, and plan accordingly.

To be prepared for this eventuality, look for the following in your prospective cloud provider:

Data Backup in Open, Non-proprietary Formats . . . [more]

This is taken from Know How Administrative Dismissal Claims Happen, and Take Eight Steps To Immunize Yourself Against Them which appears in the September 2013 issue of LAWPRO Magazine. The article also contains the Dimissal Motions: What is the Test? chart by Debra Rolph, LAWPRO’s director of resarch.

Rule 48 [of the Ontario Rules of Professional Conduct] claims arise when it is alleged that the dismissal of a claim was due to the lawyer’s negligence with respect to either a defended (Rule 48.14) or an undefended (48.15) action. Many of these claims have been very costly for LAWPRO. While . . . [more]

The Council of the Nova Scotia Barristers Society has just released a report produced by Victoria Rees, their Director of Professional Responsibility, entitled “Transforming Regulation and Governance in the Public Interest.” The report is currently under consideration by the Council.

From the Executive Summary:

The goal of this paper is to inform, not to persuade.
In adopting ‘Transforming Regulation and Governance in the Public Interest’ as a strategic priority, Council has signalled that it wants to consider fundamental and perhaps profound change. Council members will need to approach the concept of transforming regulation and governance with an open

Innovation in the legal space is lagging behind almost every other industry. For years now, people have been saying that the law students will take up the mantle and be the new wave of innovation, a new way of doing law that will mean affordable legal services. There is little evidence of this with students or in the profession. This gap in innovation is attributed to a reason for unaffordable legal services. There are exceptions to the rule, such as Cognition, and Riverview in the UK. Why is this happening? What can we learn from the innovators? And what can . . . [more]

I remain indebted to peer review. Sure, I’ve been called a dilettante. Had ideas dismissed as half-baked. Had the floor swept with the derivative nature of my work. Been chastised for treating data as singular. And then the self-inflicted wounds of my own careless error. But having suffered from what appears only at first glance to be the slings and arrows of outrageous peer-review, I stand by this process.

I will defend a career’s worth of the anonymous and thankless work of reviewers who have provided the concerted kind of attention that I undoubtedly needed. It has made me, such . . . [more]

Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from forty-one recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible.

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. Precedent  2. SOQUIJ Blogue  3. BC Injury Law and ICBC Claims B  4. Legal Post  5. Legal Feeds

Precedent
Precedent opens the TSX
Melissa Kluger, Precedent’s editor and publisher, opened the Toronto Stock Exchange this morning to mark tomorrow night’s AIDSbeat Rock & Roll Circus. Precedent is a proud . . . [more]

According to an article in the Globe and Mail, newly appointed Justice Nadon “has been told” — presumably by the Chief Justice — to stay away, because of the pending challenge to his status.

The article quotes a letter by deputy registrar, Mary McFadyen, written at the behest of “the court” to the provincial and federal governments, making clear that:

As questions concerning the legality of Justice Nadon’s appointment are pending before the Court, it has adopted the following measures to ensure that justice is both done and is seen to be done in an independent and impartial manner: 1.

The chances of winning the Lotto 6/49 jackpot is about 1 in 13,983,816. The odds of a lawyer winning that jackpot are exponentially higher.

Don Worme of Semaganis Worme in Saskatoon hit the winning number on Aug. 31, 2013. He did not come forward as the winner until this past week, making sure his practice was in order first.

Worme won $14.7 million, the largest win in Saskatchewan. Worme has indicated he plans on making contributions to some charitable organizations, but has something else in mind as well. He plans on using the funds to “super-charging” his practice, which focuses . . . [more]