The Canadian Bar Association has today released its Legal Futures Initiative Report on the Consultation. The Initiatives project began consulting with the various stakeholders in June of last year, and the resulting report:

describes what the Legal Futures Initiative heard from stakeholders about the experience of being a lawyer in a changing environment, evolving client relationships, and views on the future. This is all synthesized to provide the key themes and novel ideas that emerged.

The final report of the Legal Futures Initiative is expected in August of 2014.

As might have been expected from a profession so diverse . . . [more]

It is with great pleasure that I announce that five new columnists are joining Slaw.

Lynn Foley

Lynn is the Co-Founder of fSquared Marketing, a consulting and outsourcing firm. A Board member of the Legal Marketing Association, Vancouver, Lynn holds a dual MBA in Finance and Media & Communications Management.

Lynn will, of course, be joining the Legal Marketing group of columnists.

You may follow Lynn on Twitter @LynnFitzFoley.

Elmer Masters

Elmer is the Director of Internet Development at the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instructiona (CALI) where he works on interesting projects involving technology and legal . . . [more]

Registration is now open for the 2014 Canadian Association of Law Libraries Annual Conference. This year’s conference will take place in Winnipeg, Manitoba at the Fort Garry Hotel from May 25-28.

From the conference webpage:

Winnipeg host city of the 2014 conference

Welcome to the Canadian Association of Law Libraries/L’Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit Conference 2014: The Confluence: Knowledge Meets Inspiration/Au confluent du savoir et de l’inspiration. 

CALL/ACBD currently has approximately 500 members representing a wide variety of law library interests. It provides a forum for the exchange of information and ideas among members, fosters cooperation among Canadian

If you haven’t done so already, head on over to the Clawbies website to get the full story on this year’s winners. I’ll only say here that the award for the “Best Canadian Law Blog” goes to First Reference Talks piloted by the wonderful (and Slaw blogger, too) Yosie Saint-Cyr.

Oh, and the three Best Practitioner Blogs are David Fraser’s Canadian Privacy Law Blog, Lisa Stam’s Employment and Human Rights Law in Canada, and Russell Alexander’s Family LLB.

And the Legal Culture Award this year goes to Andrew Langille’s great Youth and Work. . . . . . . [more]

The Supreme Court of Canada has released its decision in Attorney General of Canada, et al. v. Terri Jean Bedford, et al., the case involving prostitution that has been before Ontario courts eight times. In a 9-0 judgment delivered by the Chief Justice the Court dismissed the appeal by the Attorney-General and allowed the cross-appeal by Terri Bedford.

From the headnote:

Held: The appeals should be dismissed and the cross‑appeal allowed. Sections 210, 212(1)(j) and 213(1)(c) of the Criminal Code are declared to be inconsistent with the Charter. The declaration of invalidity should be suspended for one year.

In a news release dated today, the Law Society of British Columbia has announced approval in principal of three recommendations made in the final report of the Legal Service Providers Task Force, to wit:

• The Law Society and the Society of Notaries Public of British Columbia seek to merge regulatory operations.
• That a program be created by which the legal regulator provide paralegals who have met specific, prescribed education and/or training standards with a certificate that would allow them to be held out as “certified paralegals.”
• That the Law Society develop a regulatory framework by which other providers of

Canadian International Lawyer, a journal published by the Canadian Bar Association’s section on international law, has put out a call for submissions in all the journal’s sections (articles, case commentary, practice notes, legal developments) for its two upcoming issues (summer 2014 and winter 2015). According to Noemi Gal-Or, the journal editor:

Articles should have a practice focus, relevant to Canadian international legal practitioners. Instructions to authors can be found [via email] at CIL@cba.org.

The journal is published twice annually with articles in English or in French and is available free to CBA members who have joined the international . . . [more]

Yesterday Google Scholar Blog announced the launch of Google Scholar Library, a feature that allows a user to:

. . . save articles right from the search page, organize them by topic, and use the power of Scholar’s full-text search to quickly find just the one you want – at any time and from anywhere . . .

You’re able to use “labels” to organize the material you’ve saved to your library.

A user must log in to Google and via this link activate the Library feature.

This is clearly of potential benefit to the profession, because Scholar’s database includes . . . [more]

Innovation in the legal space is lagging behind almost every other industry. For years now, people have been saying that the law students will take up the mantle and be the new wave of innovation, a new way of doing law that will mean affordable legal services. There is little evidence of this with students or in the profession. This gap in innovation is attributed to a reason for unaffordable legal services. There are exceptions to the rule, such as Cognition, and Riverview in the UK. Why is this happening? What can we learn from the innovators? And what can . . . [more]

The deadline for program submissions for the Canadian Association of Law Libraries conference to be held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, May 25-28, 2014 has been extended to November 1st (this Friday). Submissions can be made by anyone; you do not have to be a member. If you have an idea but have been wondering if you should submit, now is your chance!

Details and links below.

2014 Annual CALL/ACBD Conference

CALL FOR PROGRAM SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE EXTENDED: November 1st, 2013

Submissions for the 2014 Annual CALL/ACBD Conference program are open! The conference is an exciting opportunity to explore and learn about emerging

This is just a quick reminder to IT law folks: the Seventeenth Annual Canadian Information Technology Law Association (“IT.CAN”) Conference will be held in Toronto, October 24-25, 2013. The full conference brochure is available on the IT.CAN website, and registration is possible online in English and en français. The brochure contains details concerning CPD and CLE credits available.

Please direct any questions about the conference to Lisa Ptack, IT.CAN Executive Director at lisa.ptack@rogers.com . . . [more]

Slaw is pleased and proud indeed to announce that Kate Simpson has joined Slaw as a columnist in the Legal Technology group.

Kate is a Knowledge Design Consultant who works with law firms from both sides of the Atlantic. With her company Tangledom, Inc., Kate works at the intersection of law, technology and design.

You can follow Kate on Twitter @tangledom.

Please welcome Kate to Slaw . . . [more]