We’re pleased to announce that Slaw has a new member. Geneviève Lay will be joining us. Geneviève is a new lawyer at Ogilvy Renault in Montreal, practicing in the areas of employment and labour law. Prior to joining Ogilvy, she clerked for the Honourable Marc de Wever and the Honourable Marie St-Pierre of the Quebec Superior Court. She was also director of community services for the McGill Legal Information Clinic. She is also co-editor and contributor to the Quebec Labour Law blog.

Welcome on board, Geneviève. . . . [more]

CanLII has announced the appointment of Colin Lachance as the new president of the organization.

From the news release:

Mr. Lachance obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Alberta, and was admitted in to the Law Society of Alberta in 1998. He is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Prior to joining CanLII, Mr. Lachance enjoyed a successful career at the virtual intersection of technology, law and public policy. Most recently he was the Director of Federal Government Affairs with a major Canadian telecommunications company. Mr. Lachance has also held the positions of Director

. . . [more]

Lost amid the rumpus (yes, I used the synonym function for that one) of #elxn41 was an announcement that happened shortly before the election call; from Policy Monitor Canada: Canada Launches Open Government Data Portal. From the Open Data site:

The Open Data Pilot is part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to open government, which is being pursued along three streams: open data, open information and open dialogue, and aims to drive innovation and economic opportunities for all Canadians.

While the content remains somewhat sparse as of yet, I applaud the thinking behind making data more widely available. I . . . [more]

As ex-Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Centre for Court Technology / Centre canadien de technologie judiciaire, I’m pleased to officially announce the nomination of Patrick Cormier as the new CEO of the CCCT-CCTJ.

Aside from being a close friend and confrère, Patrick Cormier is a social media, technology and information management expert. He is also the president of Government 2.0 Think Tank Inc., which provides advice to government Departments and Agencies on how to best advance their information management and web 2.0 agenda. Prior to founding Government 2.0 Think Tank Inc., Mr. Cormier was a military lawyer . . . [more]

Reminders: Legal IT 5 on Apr. 4 Montreal / Women's Law Assoc. Ont. dinner w. Winkler CJ on Mar. 30 Toronto. Register now.

The Canadian Bar Association has released a discussion paper by Ottawa law prof Adam Dodek, “Solicitor-Client Privilege in Canada, Challenges for the 21st Century” [PDF]. Although, as Professor Dodek says, the privilege has evolved into a “quasi-constitutional right,” its future is far from clear or, indeed, secure. From the conclusion to the 50-page paper:

As the CBA’s interventions with governments demonstrate, legislative intrusions on the Privilege are frequent, possibly more so. We live in an increasingly globalized legal world and Canadian law on the Privilege differs in significant respects from other jurisdictions which are important both in terms

. . . [more]

This year’s Legal IT conference will be held on Monday, April 4 at the Centre Mont-Royal in Montreal. An initiative of the Young Bar Association of Montreal, it’s a do-able single-day affair, and the program is jam-packed with presentations in both English and French on information technology and its impact on law. For example, you’ll hear Richard Granat on “eLawyering for Competitive Advantage: How to Brand Your Law Firm in a Networked World,” David Gold of Spindlelaw on “Crowdsourcing the Law” and Slawyer Omar Ha-Redeye on “Reputation Management Law.”

The full program is available online, of course. . . . [more]

Professor Kate Sutherland has launched a new blog, law.arts.culture. Sutherland, who has scholarly interests in feminist theory, constitutional law, and the law of defamation, is also a writer of fiction.

As we learn from the Welcome post, she plans to enlist contributors from the faculty and student body to “broaden the focus to include music, film, theatre, visual art, and more.”

Her first full post is up, a delightful tale of Dickens’s woes when in January of 1844, just after his (self)publication of A Christmas Carol, he sued a publisher who issued an “improved” version of his book. . . . [more]

I first posted this as a comment but it is better front and centre.

Hmmm…. unless I missed something – ok, missed something else – nobody has pointed out why SLAW didn’t get a CLawBies and why the overall award now has the name it does. They’re related.

Without more setup, then, the explanation from CLawbies. 

You’ll notice a couple of changes in our lineup from previous years. We’ve renamed our top award — “Best Canadian Law Blog or Blogger” — in honour of Professor Simon Fodden, one of the founders and the driving force behind Slaw, which is

. . . [more]

CALL has undertaken an new educational initiative this year, and the next of its series of webinars is to be held on January 25, 2011 from 1:00 – 2:30. Here are the details:

Go beyond the catalogue! The next generation of Integrated Library Systems (ILS) gives libraries new ways to deliver services, helping to position the library as a strategic information centre. Join Steve Lastres in this exploration of innovative and creative implementations which take the ILS beyond library management and into the realm of Knowledge Management.
Steven Lastres is a well-known speaker and writer on libraries and KM. He . . . [more]

Bruce Carton at Law.com’s Legal Blog Watch has honoured Slaw by picking it as one of his “10 most watched” blogs of 2010. He’s got a video of them all, which just so happens to start with you-know-which blog. Click on the image below to go to his post and the video.

We are proud to be in the company of the following great blogs:

1. Consumerist
2. Jonathan Turley
3. Legal Juice
4. Legal Satyricon
5. Lowering the Bar
6. Simple Justice
7. Slaw.ca
8. SPAM Notes
9. Texas Lawyer
10. THR, Esq.

Many thanks, Bruce. . . . [more]

The Canadian Centre for Court Technology is looking for a new chief executive officer. Dominic Jaar — a former blogger on Slaw — who held the position of CEO for two years, has resigned to become associate partner in charge of Canadian e-discovery and information management practices at KPMG, the company that bought out Jaar’s consulting firm, Ledjit.

The CCCT position announcement, from board member Chris Walpole, is available in both HTML and PDF. The role is currently considered half-time and requires the following abilities, among others:

You must be bilingual, possess a post-secondary education, and have knowledge

. . . [more]