A brand new two-day course, “Assessments and Interventions: The Intersection of Family Law and Psychology,” is coming to the Pan Pacific in Vancouver, British Columbia in March. The course is being put on by the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC and the course chairs are myself and Morag MacLeod, a noted Vancouver family law lawyer, and Alyson Jones, a well-known registered clinical counsellor based in West Vancouver. Morag frequently presents for groups including CLEBC and the Trial Lawyers Association of BC. Alyson teaches at the Adler University and presents for the Association of Family . . . [more]

Over the weekend, I had opportunity to speak with a high school student about the path to law school and into the legal profession. We spoke at some length about the importance of her pre-law education, in terms of ensuring her grades were high enough to get into law school but even more in terms of ensuring she has a strong background in relevant skills, e.g. business administration, project management, accounting or engineering. I urged her to be practical in terms of making her under-graduate choices so as to position herself well for a future in a changing profession.

The . . . [more]

Quebec lawyers are reminded that they need to prepare for upcoming changes to the Quebec Code of Civil Procedures passed into law on February 20, 2014. These significant changes are in effect January 1, 2016, and will improve overall access to justice. . . . [more]

The Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia, Canada’s leading providing of continuing professional training for lawyers, and the Canadian Centre for Elder Law are hosting the Canadian Elder Law Conference on 12 and 13 November in 2015. The conference is open to anyone with an interest in the legal and other issues affecting Canada’s elder population, but will be of most interest to lawyers, financial planners and mental health professionals.

The conference is extremely timely, given Statistics Canada‘s recent report showing that there are now more Canadians who are older than 65 than those who are under . . . [more]

One of the many excellent presentations that I attended at Legaltech TO on September 24 focused on a couple of ways to deal with BYOD in legal. Steve Heck, Regional CIO at Microsoft Canada offered the ‘make everything securely accessible from any device’ option. Eugene Cipparone, Director, Professional Support at Goodmans LLP offered that firm’s strategy which I will sum up here as ‘educate and enable’.

Both of these perspectives have value. On one hand, mobile devices are only used to access what is secured by two factor authentication on the web. Because the content resides and can be used . . . [more]

I am happily attending excellent educational sessions at Legaltech Toronto. Follow the hashtag #IN_LegaltechTO to see the collective notes.

Four sessions in and I am very glad to be here even with the red eye flight with a 10 month old baby on the next seat.

Three screen shots of slides illustrate why:

This is the reason that I am at #IN_LegaltechTO listening to @FredHeadon pic.twitter.com/RDkLGLFaIw

— Shaunna Mireau (@smireau) September 24, 2015

Cipparone #IN_LegaltechTO #greatslide #greatmessage pic.twitter.com/vvv9ozRVmQ

— Shaunna Mireau (@smireau) September 24, 2015

@BAlarie #IN_LegaltechTO thicker #law – an opportunity to allow cognitive computing to give value answers

On Friday Oct 2, 2015 in Vancouver, BC, the ninth Pacific Legal Technology Conference will take place. But it can also take place right in your office. This year 13 sessions will be real-time webcast (the keynote will be recorded and made available for viewing after the conference due to logistical issues) allowing both in person and webinar attendees to fully participate in the conference.

28 speakers from Toronto, New York City, Salt Lake City, Alaska and all across BC will speak on such sessions as “Blending Technology with Strong Advocacy Skills”, “Practice Management Tools: There has never been a . . . [more]

Last week I had the pleasure of attending part of the Canadian Bar Association Legal Conference in Calgary. In addition to connecting with friends and colleagues, exploring the other vendors in the marketplace and chatting with people about law librarians and the value we bring to the legal community, I attended some of the excellent programming offered.

With my personal focus on process improvement, the session that caught my eye on August 14 was:

DO MORE WITH LESS: MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR RESOURCES
FRIDAY AUGUST 14 — 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Whether you are in a private practice,

The Canadian Bar Association Legal Conference, officially August 14-16, 2015, is under way in Calgary. According to the conference program, CBA Leaders are meeting and working together in anticipation of the conference’s continuing education ad wider networking elements that kick off on Thursday evening.

Before the opening reception on Thursday evening, important work of the association takes place. On August 13, there is a council meeting with a very full agenda. The day includes Resolutions, an update on the Futures initiative (which has also been so ably debated and disseminated at Slaw and through other social media), . . . [more]

Since 2012, practising lawyers in Manitoba have been required to complete 12 hours of continuing professional development programming annually and to report on those activities as part of the annual Member’s Report. Failure to do so, pursuant to Law Society Rule 2-81.1(12) may result in issuance of a warning letter from the Law Society CEO, advising the member to comply within 60 days or face automatic suspension until the requirements have been met.

Recently, a long-time member of The Law Society of Manitoba challenged those provisions as being outside the statutory authority of The Law Society, and as lacking in . . . [more]

There are many ways to stay up to date with technology specific to the legal environment. One of my favourite methods is to see technology in action and talk to the people who create it. I get significant benefit from immersing myself in legal technology events. Lucky for me, especially with the disadvantageous (for me) Canada-US exchange rate, Legaltech® is coming to Toronto in September.

Slawyers, including me, have attended Legaltech® New York and the ABATechshow and written about what we have learned. This September 23 and 24, I will be writing from the Toronto show. Slaw is a . . . [more]

The 13th annual Edmonton Law Libraries Association Head Start Program is just around the corner. As the program page states:

Welcome to the 2015 legal research program designed for students and individuals wanting to brush up on the basics. From reference request to memo, follow the trail of legal research, including finding articles, books, case law and legislation while avoiding unnecessary costs. Research professionals will provide tips, tricks and inside information on how to find materials, select the most relevant, and organize your research memo. Give us your time and we will give you a HeadStart!

Reflecting on the purpose . . . [more]