[A side note for . . . [more]

I’m pleased to announce a new member of the Slaw family of websites — Slaw Jobs, a Canadian legal job listings service aimed at connecting job seekers with opportunities in the Canadian market.

Since our friend Simon retired in 2014, Slaw hasn’t changed much. There’s good reason for that. Everyone at Stem Legal knows that I take our role as caretaker seriously; and that we are very committed to maintaining Slaw’s culture. So when we started to discuss trying to find a new revenue stream to support the endless hours that we invest here, I wanted to find a . . . [more]

Over the years, Slaw has been fortunate to create numerous partnerships with many Canadian legal associations and groups, with the goal of providing a platform for these groups to share their views and expertise with a broader audience. We’ve also found ways to extend the reach of Canadian legal publishers, including excerpts in our Thursday Thinkpiece feature and of course, our Sunday case law summaries from SOQUIJ, Supreme Advocacy and OnPoint Legal Research.

Today I’m pleased to announce a new content partnership formed by Slaw and the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD).

Slaw readers will soon be seeing book . . . [more]

The Western Journal of Legal Studies, a “student-run, online, open access law review focusing on contributions to Canadian law and international law” has put out a call for submissions:

Do you have an “A” level law paper? The Western Journal of Legal Studies is seeking academic research papers, white papers, opinion-editorials, and book reviews. All submissions received by Friday, September 28th will be considered for publication in our Fall issue. We assess submissions using a two-part blind peer review, and as such, all submissions will remain entirely anonymous throughout the process. Submissions received after this date will be considered

A short note of congratulations to our Slaw colleague Malcolm Mercer who was elected June 28th as Treasurer of the Law Society of Ontario.

If you’re reading Slaw from within the province of Ontario, you’ll recognize Malcolm. His even-handed voice and leadership on issues impacting the profession are widely visible and respected among his peers. A long time Partner at McCarthy Tétrault, Malcolm was first elected Bencher back in 2011 and then re-elected in 2015. He has led or served on numerous LSO Committees, Task Forces and Working Groups throughout his career; and has amassed a number of well deserved . . . [more]

On behalf of everyone at Slaw, I’d like to extend a warm congratulations to our colleague Dan Pinnington on his appointment as President and CEO of LAWPRO.

Dan has written with us here at Slaw for nearly a decade. His commentary has covered an enormous range of topics related to law practice management, legal technology, fraud and claims prevention (to name a few). But most of all, Dan is a communicator — speaker, blogger, book author, teacher, magazine editor, and conference chair. While I’m sure there will be a learning curve in the days ahead, Dan has spent an entire . . . [more]

Addison Cameron-Huff is an active legal force in the Toronto tech community focused exclusively on the blockchain and internet startup space. He can often be found speaking at events and previously co-chaired OsgoodePD’s Critical and Emerging issues in Blockchain Law. He recently joined Decentral Inc., the company founded by Ethereum’s co-founder, Anthony Di Iorio.

As the world reacts to the uncertainty of cryptocurrency offerings, such as initial coin offerings, initial token offerings and sales of securities of cryptocurrency investment funds, many startups in the community are having discussions on what the future of Canadian innovation in the cryptocurrency . . . [more]

I just signed up to attend the fall IT-Can conference, and thought the conference was worth mentioning. It is a consistent high quality conference for lawyers practicing in the IT/IP fields, and for others such as CIO’s.

Topics this year include fintech, quantum computing, blockchain and smart contracts, connected vehicles, big data, health care tech, cybersecurity, and control over online content.

Perhaps I’ll see you there in Toronto on Oct 23. . . . [more]

Mandatory minimum sentences (MMS) for criminal and drug offences have been getting a lot of attention lately. The federal government recently conducted a public survey on MMS, causing some commentators to wonder whether the Liberals will make good on their campaign promises to roll back the MMS created by the previous government. The question is timely since Parliament resumes next week. Even StatsCan’s excellent Juristat weighed in last month with a detailed analysis of the effects of MMS.

We noticed that much of this debate was happening without reference to just how many MMS have already been struck down as . . . [more]

It’s been nearly 20 years since the launch of the original practicePRO.ca website. While the site was basic by today’s standards, it offered the high quality risk management articles, checklists and precedents lawyers would come to expect from the program.

In its first few years, practicePRO.ca averaged 30,000 visitors and 7,000 downloads per year. By 2016, those number had grown over 10 times larger with an average of 355,000 annual visitors and 362,000 downloads.

The practicePRO program has increased the scope of its content to help lawyers practise more effectively, and the site has grown larger and more complex to . . . [more]

The following is a Bulletin released March 6, 2017 from the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General

Ontario is helping families by making it easier for them to navigate family courts and access the legal assistance they need.

Last year, Ontario and the Law Society of Upper Canada asked the Honourable Annemarie E. Bonkalo to lead a review to consider whether a broader range of service providers could deliver certain family legal services.

Ontario and the Law Society are now seeking public feedback on Justice Bonkalo’s recommendations. People can submit feedback online until May 15, 2017.

The province, together with . . . [more]

Six years ago, two Papa John’s pizzas were traded for 10,000 bitcoins. Today, those bitcoins are worth approximately $10,000,000 and around $200,000,000 in bitcoin changes hands daily. In 2016, the technology under the hood of Bitcoin, commonly called “blockchain technology” or “Distributed Ledger Technology” is being looked to for applications in insurance, banking, trade, and finance.

Where will blockchain take us in 2020? What legal issues will you be asked to grapple with in 2017 as blockchain continues its transition from the startup community to the financial services industry?

The Bank of Canada, Senate, and Department of Finance have been . . . [more]