It’s difficult to tell how much of a step forward this is, but the next edition off Amazon’s Kindle is set to have a lending function built into it:

“The online retailer announced the upcoming feature in a discussion forum for the Kindle on its website Friday, saying that later in the year it will start letting Kindle users and people who use its free Kindle apps loan books to others for a two-week period. During the loan, the book’s owner will not be able to read the book, Amazon said.”

This improvement could be seen in a couple different . . . [more]

A number of new titles have caught my eye as useful additions or updates to Canadian legal literature.

In no particular order:

• Bullen & Leake & Jacob’s Canadian Precedents of Pleadings + CD (Carswell): This new title is a Canadian version of the UK classic litigation precedent service, now in its 16th edition from Sweet & Maxwell. In the absence of a Canadian edition, many lawyers here would consult the UK title. However, over time, the UK title increasingly referenced UK legislation, which made the UK service less useful. I have not seen the new Canadian version yet but

. . . [more]

On Friday 5000 people across Canada attended the LEAF Persons Day Breakfast

The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment have coordinated a new plan for reducing air pollution, according to this Communiqué, and also this Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat press release. The air pollution plan is based on the recommendations of a multi-party committee that included government, NGO, and industry experts. That report is not available, but may be soon. Check here, or sign up for their emails. The plan is “comprehensive” (though subject to provincial jurisdiction), will up air quality standards, and

[u]nder the new system, Canadians would have ready access to information about air quality

. . . [more]

7th ed. - 7th Circle

On 4 and 5 November 2010, The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is hosting meetings on Emerging Licensing Modalities, as part of its initiative on Facilitating Access to Culture in the Digital Age. These are global meetings with speakers and participants from around the world, with representatives of a variety of stakeholders. Many speakers are experts in their fields and countries. Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig will be the keynote speaker. The Themes for the meetings are:

Licensing Content Online: New Trends
Competition and Licensing of Music
Software: Tailoring Licenses to Markets
Research and Education: Emerging Licensing Platforms . . . [more]

While you won’t see it mentioned either on Canlii or the Federation of Law Societies web page, but Canlii has a new board of directors, and a much leaner governance structure.

The new Board members are

Sonia Poulin, Director of the Alberta Law Society Libraries
Darrel Pink, Executive Director, Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society
Diana Miles Director, Professional Development & Competence, Law Society of Upper Canada
Johanne Blenkin, Executive Director at Courthouse Libraries BC
Dr. Martin Felsky
Professor Michael Geist
Charmian Harvey, Directrice générale chez Totalmédia

Here is the text of the official statement: . . . [more]

very different type of presentation software

Will this spread to other jurisdictions? Will people now pay more attention when we talk to them about the importance of proper legal citation? Just a thought :)

Lawyer Fined $100 for Getting a Case Citation Wrong . . . [more]

Despite the favourable piece in today’s Information Today Dayton is waking up to learn of the power of Michael Bloomberg’s cheque-book. The IT piece says that LexisNexis has learned from WestlawNext’s debacle of a launch—which “involved telling everyone at the same time about a new product while only providing it to one market and leaving other markets to the guesswork; not telling anyone the price; and generally irritating librarians by promoting the new but often unavailable service directly to patrons”.

Instead, LexisNexis is doing it differently. LexisNexis is targeting the solo and microfirms with the new Lexis Advance. These lawyers

. . . [more]

Last week Nicole Garton Jones, a BC-based lawyer and fellow Slaw contributor, provided some thought-provoking commentary on the position of the Law Society of British Columbia on the topic of Virtual Law Firms, as discussed in the latest edition of the organization’s Bencher’s Bulletin. In the bulletin, and subsequent response to Ms. Garton-Jones’ post, the LSBC identifies several key concerns relating to cloud computing for BC-based law firms, namely:

. . . [more]

Take a look at the ♀IFLS site. The Institute for Feminist Legal Studies at Osgoode Hall Law School has been running a blog since the beginning of summer. All, or nearly all, posts are by the Director of the institute, Professor Sonia Lawrence, and they range across a wide spectrum of kinds — as should be the case in a good, general topic blog.

For example, the latest post is about a book by Professor John Kang called “The Man Question”, there’s a post about the state of feminism, a post about the recent court decision striking . . . [more]