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Archive for September, 2015

Five Ways to Make a Fast Decision

Time and money almost always need to be balanced with quality in legal projects. When you’re faced with increasing project constraints, the ability to make good decisions quickly becomes especially important.

Decisiveness requires the type of confidence that comes from taking action, rather than accumulating theoretical knowledge. You might not make the best choice. You might even offend. But you’ll move things forward.

  1. Seek disconfirmation of assumptions. Ask “Is this wrong?” instead of “Am I right? Talk to someone with relevant experience.
  2. If you’re working in a team, understand your role and the decisions you are expected to make.
. . . [more]
Posted in: Practice of Law, Practice of Law: Practice Management

More Than Semantics

Are we actually making progress toward the outcome of increased access to justice?

Dan Lear doesn’t think so. As he noted in an ABA Legal Rebels blogpost this week, to date the evidence in the U.S. points to the ineffectiveness of access to justice initiatives. In his post Lawyers need to move beyond access to justice to close the “legal services” gap, Lear notes that this lack of progress is due in part to the fact that solutions are complex and challenging to implement.

He suggests that an important, though small step in the right direction would begin with . . . [more]

Posted in: Justice Issues

Wednesday: What’s Hot on CanLII

Each Wednesday we tell you which three English-language cases and which French-language case have been the most viewed* on CanLII and we give you a small sense of what the cases are about.

For this last week:

1. Modry v Alberta Health Services, 2015 ABCA 265

[109] Whether or not the respondent surgeon is, in fact, entitled to reinstatement on account of his status as a medical staff appointment with AHS under the Hospitals Act does not end the analysis under the balance of convenience arm of the tripartite test. The evidence of harm to the respondent surgeon (in . . . [more]

Posted in: Wednesday: What's Hot on CanLII

Of Lions and Lawyers

Walter Palmer killed Cecil the lion. According to media reports, Cecil was lured from his sanctuary by food and then shot by Dr. Palmer with a crossbow. The shot didn’t kill the lion; Dr. Palmer and his guides tracked the lion for two days and killed him with a gun (New York Times, July 28, 2015). The response to Cecil’s death on social media was overwhelming. Palmer received death threats, his home was vandalized and his dental practice shut down.

The problems with mob justice in an Internet world have been explored elsewhere, including in relation to the . . . [more]

Posted in: Legal Ethics

Acting on the Ridiculous

An eBook published by the American Society for Quality in 2010 and written by Matthew Maio came my way recently. It has the engaging title Quality Improvement Made Simple…and Fast!”. The book is all of 46 pdf pages and is a fast read. It is also an engaging primer of the Plan – Do – Study – Act model for understanding what customers (clients – internal or external) want and need and making simple and quick improvements that align with those needs.

Wondering if you should read this book? The answer is captured in the first paragraph of the . . . [more]

Posted in: Reading: Recommended

Basis for Optimism About the Future

Should young persons be optimistic about the future?

Does history set the context for the present and the future? Is the past prologue?

Based on history, I submit that a young person should be optimistic about our future.

Some of our history that supports an optimistic outlook are :

  1. improvements in the health sciences and life expectancy;
  2. the growth of educational opportunities;
  3. the consolidation of governments;
  4. the growth of democratic government;
  5. the decline in violence over the centuries;
  6. the decline of wars by the major powers;
  7. the expansion of global trade.

1. Health:

In Canada our life expectancy has increased . . . [more]

Posted in: Justice Issues, Legal Publishing

Tips Tuesday

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.

Research

Expert Witnesses
Shaunna Mireau

Finding an expert or seeing if an expert has been qualified as such can be a challenging legal research exercise. Here are some tips and links to help you. Tip 1: Use the Canadian Expert Witness Directory through Litigator on WestlawNext Canada….

Practice

Manage Chaos! Create a Shared Family Calendar*
David Bilinsky & Laura Calloway

Our lives as lawyers are hectic enough even before we . . . [more]

Posted in: Tips Tuesday