This month’s Canadian Lawyer has its annual Top 25 Most Influential in the justice system and legal profession ranking, and I’m delighted to announce that three members of the Slaw community, Malcolm Mercer, Colin Lachance and Adam Dodek have been honoured. Congratulations. Here’s what the magazine says:

Adam Dodek
Vice dean, University of Ottawa
Faculty of Law, Ottawa

Dodek is emerging as a Canadian champion for legal professionalism and legal ethics. He writes and speaks widely on the subject and has been very involved in issues surrounding professional regulation and legal education. Dodek has published several legal books, with his

The legal profession has many noble archetypes: dedicated advocates pro bono publico, champions of significant (not always popular) causes, and unswerving guardians of the court whose instincts shine bright as a sword against much larger opponents.

John-Paul Boyd broke the mould he was casted in quite early on. He’s not so much a noble archetype as a force of unnatural origins who continues to drop jaws with his superhuman ability to drop knowledge.

To say he is one of a kind, is not enough. The best I can do is describe him like this: 

Hawaiian creation myth relates that

The College of Law Practice Management (“COLPM”), an international organization honoring excellence and innovation in law practice management, is calling for entries for its 2014 InnovAction Awards. The awards seek lawyers, law firms, law departments, and other legal services professionals worldwide who have invented or successfully applied new business practices to the delivery of legal services. The goal of the InnovAction Awards is to demonstrate to the legal community and beyond the power of dedicated professionals with big ideas, strong convictions, and the determination to make a difference.

“We are seeking and recognizing creativity and new ways of thinking . . . [more]

Not because it is Canada Day, but because the Superior Court of Justice is revoking all of its existing Practice Directions and implementing new Practice Directions on July 1st.

Over the past year the Ontario Superior Court of Justice undertook to review and consolidate all of its Regional and Provincial Practice Directions.

The stated intention was to achieve an “administrative re-set” and to try to identify and eliminate obsolete and redundant Practice Directions while at the same time consolidating, simplifying and better organizing the Practice Directions that are to remain in effect.

As of July 1, 2014, the new Practice . . . [more]

I’m pleased to welcome Yves Faguy as a new blogger to Slaw. Yves will be joining our Thursday group of writers.

You may recognize Yves as the Senior and online editor of National Magazine, where he has also been a noticeable part of their blogging team in recent years.

Prior to working as a journalist with the CBA, Yves co-founded a Montreal-based company, Nimonik Inc., an environment, health & safety (EHS) solutions provider. He is also currently a principal at Station C, a co-working space in Montreal’s Mile End.

And of course, you can also follow him on twitter: . . . [more]

As of today I am retiring as publisher, editor, and manager of Slaw. I have asked Steve Matthews, the innovative and talented President of Stem Legal, who has been with Slaw since the beginning, to take over as publisher of Slaw; and I’m thankful indeed that he has agreed. Steve is in charge here now.

This is something of a wrench for me. I started Slaw nine years ago and have managed it since that time; I’ve written more than 2,500 entries and another 500 or so as Administrator. I’ve seen it grow from a crew of half a dozen . . . [more]

This year, as we have done for a few years in the past, Slaw will each day in the coming week host a number of student essays written for Professor Adam Dodek’s first year course in Legal Ethics at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Common Law. As Professor Dodek has said here before:

I have found that our students have great perspectives on these issues because they were so recently members of that ridiculous term that only lawyers use: “lay people”. While law school is certainly a socialization process for the legal profession, law students have not been fully

Have you developed a new and better way to serve your clients, a breakthrough way to find new business, or a truly innovative way to value and sell your services? If so, you deserve recognition from your legal industry peers, colleagues and clients. Presented by the College of Law Practice Management, the InnovAction Awards recognize lawyers, law firms, and other legal service providers engaged in extraordinary, game-changing, innovative activities. Apply today to share your breakthrough and to earn the recognition you deserve. Applications and more information are available at www.innovactionaward.com

Past winners are listed here. . . . [more]

All of the student societies at Ontario’s seven law schools have agreed to participate in a newly formed Law Students Society of Ontario. At the moment the LSSO website contains only the following press release:

From Legal Sourcery:

CBA Legal Research Section

CBA Saskatchewan is considering expanding its sections and providing a Legal Research forum for lawyers that are interested in maintaining and honing their research skills. This section will be geared towards those who conduct legal research, including lawyers with firms, the courts, government, corporations and law reform and other legal institutions, contract research lawyers, and law librarians in the private and public sectors. If you are interested in being part of the section, please contact the Branch. Based on the level of interest, the Branch will consider introducing this section during the 2014-2015

The announcement comes in a communication from David A. Wright, Chair of the new Law Society Tribunal:

I am delighted to announce that with the formation of the Law Society Tribunal today by Bill 111, the Modernizing Regulation of the Legal Profession Act, 2013, we are launching our new website. The website is designed to provide lawyers, paralegals, the public and the media with easy and transparent access to information about the Tribunal. Many resources may be found here, including legislation, rules and forms, guides for self-represented licensees, notices to the profession and a “reach out” to stakeholders. I

I’m proud indeed to announce that Natasha Chetty is joining Slaw as a regular blogger.

Natasha is the principal consultant at Bellwether Strategies in Vancouver where she works with law firms and legal organizations on strategic planning, reputation management and business development initiatives.

Natasha was one of the first Canadians to have completed major certifications from the Reputation Institute in New York (researchers for the annual Forbes magazine list of the “World’s Most Reputable Companies”). She is also a certified coach who helps lawyers throughout North America to apply legal project management techniques to their client work. She often facilitates . . . [more]