We are very excited – and this is a word we don’t use lightly here at CanLII – to present two improvements to the search experience on CanLII.org.

Legal research generally involves (1) understanding what a case is about, and (2) analysing how a case had been considered in subsequent cases.

To help out, we’ve come up with a few features for conducting efficient legal research.

1) Decision highlights and paragraph-level note-ups: A faster way to understand what a case is about.

Decisions are getting longer, at least according to some people (ahem), and this can make it more . . . [more]

In my last post, I discussed the benefits of publishing with CanLII. Today, I’d like to dive into some of the options on how you can get your work onto the largest legal information resource in Canada. 

Publish With Publishers Who Share Their Content on CanLII

CanLII’s commentary collection has prospered thanks to the incredible group of publishers, law firms, law centres, and other institutions that have partnered with us. A great way to share your work on CanLII is to publish with one these content providers. Check out this Twitter list or browse our commentary collection to learn . . . [more]

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries / Association canadienne des bibliotheques de droit (CALL/ACBD) is accepting nominations for the 2020 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing.

This award honours a publisher (whether for-profit or not-for profit, corporate or non-corporate) that has demonstrated excellence by publishing a work, series, website, or electronic product that makes a significant contribution to legal research and scholarship.

Anyone is welcome to make nominations – you do not have to be a member of CALL/ACBD. Nominations from the author or publisher of a work are welcomed.

Nominations can be submitted to Ann Marie . . . [more]

The Canadian Foundation for Legal Research announced the winner of the 2019 Walter Owen Book Prize this morning. Congratulations to this year’s winner, Jonathan Rudin, for his publication, Indigenous People and the Criminal Justice System: A Practitioner’s Handbook (Emond Publishing).

“Founder and current Program Director of Aboriginal Legal Services in Toronto, Mr. Rudin was selected from among 35 nominees to receive a $15,000 cash prize for his ground-breaking contribution to Canadian law literature.“

Finalists for this year’s award included:

• Robert J. Sharpe for Good Judgment: Making Judicial Decisions
• Philip Girard, Jim Phillips and R. Blake Brown for 

Can you give one day to your writing? If so, there is a treat coming to Toronto just for you.

Each year, at law schools all across the United States, the Legal Writing Institute sponsors a One-Day Workshop, which establishes 10-12 satellite forums to discuss the study, teaching, and practice of professional legal writing.

This year, for the very first time outside the US, Osgoode Hall Law School and the U of T Faculty of Law will jointly host a One-Day Legal Writing Institute Workshop entitled “Research and Writing in the Experiential Learning Context.”

The Osgoode and U of T

1. Review your multi-year accessibility plans by January 1, 2020

On January 1, 2014, section 4(1) of the Integrated Accessibility Standards, Ontario Regulation 191/11 under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) required the Government of Ontario, Legislative Assembly, designated public sector organizations and large organizations (50 plus employees) to have multi-year accessibility plans in place and posted on their websites (if any), and to provide the plan in an accessible format upon request.

The multi-year accessibility plan must inform and outline the organization’s strategy for preventing and removing barriers faced by persons with disabilities and also for meeting . . . [more]

Thomson Reuters is quietly moving out of smaller businesses that do not have opportunities for significant revenue growth. It has really been only a matter of time.

The titles in question are well known in the Canadian legal publishing community for quality content but just don’t cut it from the perspective of the Thomson business model and its expectations of significant growth in the top and bottom line. As of April 1, HAB Press acquired the Lexpert, Canadian Lawyer, Canadian Lawyer InHouse, Canadian Law List, Law Times, Canadian HR Reporter and Canadian Occupational Safety media brands, including the digital, print, . . . [more]

The Western Journal of Legal Studies, a “student-run, online, open access law review focusing on contributions to Canadian law and international law” has put out a call for submissions:

Do you have an “A” level law paper? The Western Journal of Legal Studies is seeking academic research papers, white papers, opinion-editorials, and book reviews. All submissions received by Friday, September 28th will be considered for publication in our Fall issue. We assess submissions using a two-part blind peer review, and as such, all submissions will remain entirely anonymous throughout the process. Submissions received after this date will be considered

At CanLII we believe that there is a real need for legal information, including commentary, without paywalls. Over the last year we have been working on making the policy and technological developments that will support this goal, and today we are ready to announce the next step: the CanLII Authors Program.

Starting today we accept submissions of legal commentary from the legal community. If you are the author of a text that you would like to see on CanLII, whether it was published elsewhere before or not, you can now submit it to us for inclusion in our commentary section. . . . [more]

The Criminal Law Series from Emond Publishing has won the 2018 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing. The series is a collection of practical, accessible and affordable handbooks to assist criminal practitioners, judges and students.

The winner was announced yesterday at a reception held at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) being held in Halifax. The Award is handed out annually by CALL.

It is meant to honour publishers who have produced excellent products and to encourage excellence in new publishing endeavours.

Other nominees for this year’s Award were:

• Alberta Law Review

It has been a long term goal for us to have a substantial collection of legal commentary on CanLII, so we are thrilled to be able to tell you about an expansion of CanLII’s secondary sources section to include law reviews.

Law reviews are often the only place a particular topic is discussed, and they often provide insight into the law for a particular jurisdiction where no one else does that make them invaluable for research.

In addition to being able to navigate within the commentary section by law review and issue, results from law review issues will appear in . . . [more]

The 2017 Ontario Accessibility Compliance and Enforcement Report is now available online and outlines the activities undertaken by the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario in 2017 to oversee compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and its accessibility standards.

The report explains the results of the December 31st compliance reporting obligations of obligated organizations, and the various audits and inspections conducted by the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario in 2017. Overall, the report clearly indicates that there is a lot of enforcement work still needing to be done for Ontario to reach the goal of becoming an accessible province . . . [more]