The Law Society of Alberta requires members to declare their intentions about continuing professional development each year. Each March members of the bar are required to think about and report on the activities they will undertake to maintain their competence. Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador are the only jurisdictions without a minimum hours requirement for CPD.

I was thinking about the requirements for lawyer CPD while chatting with my match from the Canadian Association of Law Libraries Mentoring Program. My mentee and I chat on the phone, engage in email correspondence and very occasionally meet in person. Every time . . . [more]

When can a party put into evidence a settlement reached between the parties, and to what end? In most cases, the answer is never. Not only are parties generally careful to insert a confidentiality clause in the settlement agreement, but in many cases, the relevance of a related settlement is doubtful to say the least. The situation is different in class action matters, where parties will inevitably have to publicize any settlement that has been reached, its terms and the amounts the Respondent has agreed to pay. Just last month, the Quebec Superior Court rendered a judgment in Cunning v. . . . [more]

Do you ever wonder about how all that tech that you’re using every day really works? What powers all those social networks that seem so important? Is that website really magic? How does Dropbox work anyway? Building and managing all this tech was once the arena of specialists, developers, programmers, system administrators and such. This is no longer true.

Thanks to advances in technology it’s possible for you to hold a fully functional Internet server in the palm of your hand. Add in a handful of open source software and you’re well on your way to understanding just how all . . . [more]

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

Create a Play List to Help Yourself Fall Asleep
Dan Pinnington

Not sure if the experts will say this is a scientifically helpful idea for falling asleep (IMHO it seems better than just counting sheep), but sometimes you will want to . . .

Research

Check the Facts
Shaunna Mireau

This post first appeared on Slaw July 2, 2009 and it is still relevant advice.”In this world of super . . . [more]

I am excited about the pre-conference workshop coming up in Winnipeg in May as part of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries conference. This will have interest wider than Association members, so please pass the word.

We are fortunate to be having Tim Knight and Sarah Sutherland present this workshop that will provide us with some initial groundwork in areas such as linked data, the semantic web and open data.

Description is below and there is more information on the CALL/ACBD website, along with registration information: http://www.callacbd.ca/en/content/pre-conference-workshop

I have already signed up and hope to see you there!

Pre-Conference Workshop 

. . . [more]

The Social Science Research Network (SSRN) was founded 20 years ago and has become a popular place for legal academics to share their research. The SSRN objective is “to provide rapid worldwide distribution of research to authors and their readers and to facilitate communication among them at the lowest possible cost.” The success of their efforts sees SSRN currently listed by the Ranking Web of Repositories site as second in the world.

So it’s not surprising that the SSRN download count has fast become a valued measure of an author’s readership and the potential impact he or she might . . . [more]

Because a cybercrime attack can cause irreparable harm, law firms should be prepared to take action immediately. Being able to do this requires an Incident Response Plan (IRP).

An effective IRP can put a firm in a position to effectively and efficiently manage a breach by protecting sensitive data, systems, and networks, and to quickly investigate the extent and source of the breach so that operations can be maintained or promptly restored. Many firms design IRPs so that they address inadvertent breaches as well – for example, a lost USB key, or a misdirected email. An IRP can help avoid . . . [more]

I’ve tended to stay out of the disruptive innovation discussion as it pertains to law if for no other reason than that my experience with large law firm and “Bay Street” practice is essentially nil. I understand — as anyone might, experienced or not — that new approaches that shake things up could bring about beneficial change, and that change, beneficial or not, will occur willy-nilly because it’s just the way things are. And I understand that the proponents or prophets of disruptive innovation mean something rather more precise by the phrase — perhaps something lying in the gap between . . . [more]

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. Susan On The Soapbox 2. Wise Law Blog 3. Slater Vecchio Connected 4. Canadian Appeals Monitor 5. Toronto Estates and Trusts Monitor

We all remember the three years we spent in law school. If one of your parents attended law school, their experience likely wasn’t very different from yours. It would likely hold true for a grandparent too.

The structure of legal education in Canada has not changed significantly for over 50 years. You attend class for three years, you article for about a year, you write the bar exams, and then you are called to the bar.

Law school courses have not changed much either. The basic courses are the same, with some new courses added from time to time. Teaching . . . [more]

I have long been an advocate for greater diversity in law, in all of its forms. One of the main barriers we faced in the legal industry in the 20th century was gender diversity, and it’s a barrier that is still with us today.

Yesterday we celebrated International Women’s Day. Two recent studies out of Ryerson University help illustrate contemporary obstacles.

The first looks at leadership roles in the business sector by examining female representation in senior positions at major corporations in Toronto. Although there has been some growth between 2009-2014, women still remain underrepresented. Gender disparities have even . . . [more]

A couple of weeks ago Monday (the third Monday in February to be exact) as I toiled away at my desk here in Nova Scotia it occurred to me that my electronic distractions were uncharacteristically quiet that day. My twitter feed was silent, and my inbox was actually manageable. I did not spare this much thought until later in the day when it dawned on me that in most of the of country it was a statutory holiday, be it Family Day or Islander Day or Louis Riel Day. My bitterness at being one of the few jurisdictions that required . . . [more]