Keep a record of research questions you have answered and the next time you have a demonstration of a new product, use one or more of these questions (amended as appropriate). You get a much better idea of how a resource performs when you can compare its results to what you have retrieved using other resources than you do from a vendor’s prepared searches.

Alternatively, when a product is being demonstrated to end users, encourage attendees to bring questions that they have run into recently to the session. It is much easier for for users to evaluate the quality of . . . [more]

This July I was able to attend the American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting in Chicago. I had a wonderful time reconnecting with old friends and colleagues. Many of the sessions focused on how to handle AI in law libraries. I was glad to go to a presentation on project management where I learned that my colleagues at the Law Library of Congress are planning to work on a project to make the records and briefs of the Supreme Court of the US available online. This is a very exciting project that will take many years to complete and . . . [more]

In his recent post “A Relationship Model of Dispute Resolution”, Jordan Furlong proposes a relationship model of dispute resolution:

The choice of dispute resolution environment should take into account the nature of the relationship that is the subject of the dispute. The more important or valued or future-looking the relationship, the farther away from trials and courtrooms it should be kept.

I wholeheartedly agree. There is value in considering ‘alterative dispute resolution’ processes outside of the courtroom when relationships are at stake. As he notes, “…trials, when they do occur, inevitably damage or destroy any relationship that existed . . . [more]

This was mentioned this in a SLAW Tip back in 2013, but I thought it worth revisiting.

AccessCLE is a free resource that allows you to search and retrieve Law Society of Ontario CPD program materials from 2004 onwards. Articles are available as PDFs and can be downloaded free of charge.

You can either search materials for keyword or browse by topic. There is also an advanced search option that allows you to restrict your search by author, title, or full text. 

— Susannah Tredwell . . . [more]

I recently attended the Annual Conference of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries / Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit (CALL/ACBD) held from June 25 to 28 in Montréal, and it was a highly enriching experience. The conference was meticulously organized under the theme of “Languages of Law”, offering a robust lineup of sessions and activities that catered to various interests within the law library community.

One of the standout sessions was the keynote titled “Navigating Bill 96: Legal, Linguistic, and Societal Perspectives,” presented by Jean-Pierre Corbeil and Julius Grey. This session provided valuable insights into the multifaceted implications of . . . [more]

If you need to research legislation in British Columbia, Gail Nash’s publication Legislation Made Easy has now been made freely available on BC Laws. 

This publication, well known to law librarians, is “a guide to the complexities of the various aspects of statutes, regulations and orders.” It covers such things as the legislative process, how bills, regulations and orders come into force (along with helpful flowcharts) along with some helpful definitions.

— Susannah Tredwell . . . [more]

The Canadian Open Access Legal (COAL) Citation Guide/Guide canadien de la référence juridique en accès libre (RJAL) is now available: https://canlii.ca/t/7nc6q

Over the course of two years, law librarians from across Canada worked together to create the COAL-RJAL Guide. The English version of the Guide is now freely available and hosted on CanLII (2024 CanLIIDocs 830), and the French version is in progress. The Guide is intended to be used throughout the legal field and incorporates feedback contributed by reviewers from Canadian courts, law firms, law journals, law societies, and law schools.

The COAL-RJAL . . . [more]

The bar examination landscape in the United States seems to be in a state of upheaval. The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) is in the midst of developing a new bar exam, called the Next Gen Bar. Meanwhile, California’s State Bar considered scrapping NCBE entirely and hiring Kaplan to write an exam for California.^[1] Though California has now paused this plan, it’s clear that they were looking for other options and thought it might be possible to write a new exam.

I once heard a teaching expert joke that she could teach anything. She would take a bet . . . [more]

In my last post, “The Potential for Reducing Claims with Plain Language”, I noted that poor communication is a leading cause of professional liability claims against lawyers. Convoluted client letters and emails may lead to clients making decisions on matters they don’t fully understand. A plain language approach offers the potential for reducing claims risk for lawyers and their clients in addition to making the law and legal processes more comprehensible for self-represented litigants. Fortunately, a plain language approach in legal training and an increased emphasis on plain language legal writing, including judicial decisions, is underway.

But has . . . [more]

The House of Commons adjourned for the summer on June 20, 2024. A number of federal bills received Royal Assent the same day, including two omnibus acts, Bill C-59, the Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023, and Bill C-69, the Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1.

While not all the amendments made by these acts came into force on Royal Assent, a number of them did. However, the federal Justice Laws Website has not yet added these changes to the consolidated legislation and, based on previous patterns, the consolidated legislation will take a while to be updated.

As . . . [more]

In the dynamic realm of international sports, conflicts and disputes frequently emerge, ranging from doping allegations to contested referee decisions. Resolving these issues swiftly and impartially is paramount to maintaining the integrity of sporting competitions. Enter the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, a pivotal institution tasked with adjudicating such disputes since its inception in 1983. Particularly noteworthy, considering the sports calendar for July 2024 is the CAS Ad Hoc Division, a specialized body established to ensure justice during the Olympics. This brief post delves into the intricacies of the CAS Ad Hoc Division, its . . . [more]

If you are searching a looseleaf or text you may find it helpful to restrict your search to just the table of contents.

This can give you a more useful set of results, particularly in situations where the terms used are very common or have multiple meanings. However you may miss some relevant content if the table of contents doesn’t use the precise words or terms you are searching for.

Both Lexis+ and Westlaw Canada allow you to limit your search to the table of contents of a specific title.

Lexis+

In Lexis+, use the Table of Contents (TOC) only . . . [more]