Observers of the justice system and the legal profession, as well as writers of myriad reports by the Canadian Bar Association and others seeking to improve access to justice, all come to the same conclusion: to be successful, the system must be human-centred – arranged around and for the people it serves.

This should be a given – to be successful any enterprise has to think about what the people using its services need. Successful enterprises remove as many obstacles for users as possible, in order to provide a friction-free experience.

One of the frequent complaints from those who need . . . [more]

How does one describe the legal dimensions of what happened last week as a violent rightwing mob incited by the American President assaulted the US Capitol in Washington, D.C.?

What words or phrases can one even begin to apply to such a wide range of criminal acts committed that day? An acquaintance of mine quipped last week: “What can the rioters be charged with? Do you have a copy of the US Code?”

There are many resources from American scholars, legal analysts and independent sources such as the Congressional Research Service to help readers start to unpack the many concepts . . . [more]

About a million years ago…wait, that was just 2020.

Back in 2011-2012 I was invited to collaborate with colleagues on Legal Information Specialists: A Guide to Launching and Building Your Career with colleagues from the Canadian Association of Law Libraries. At the time, Annette Demers asked contributors to gather some quotes from our colleagues about the value they considered in having a Legal Information Specialist team member. As uncomfortable as it was, I asked colleagues to write something. My colleague James T. Casey, QC who was then Managing Partner of Field Law wrote this which appears on page . . . [more]

Apportionment of Fault In Tort (1981) – David Cheifetz

An unrestricted PDF of Cheifetz, Apportionment of Fault in Tort is now available. The text has been out of print for about 2 decades.

The “price”, for Canadian purchasers, will be a donation of CDN $20 to either the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children or the Vancouver Children’s Hospital. Purchasers from other countries should chose a suitable children’s hospital or equivalent in their jurisdictions.

If you want the PDF: Send a request to me at dcheifetz21@gmail.com with a copy of the donation confirmation and the email address to which you want . . . [more]

Law reform commission reports can be great sources for legal research. Many of the reports provide historical background and you can often find comparative information about how different jurisdictions have responded to an issue. Case in point: The Law Reform Commission of Ireland last week released a report on the Accessibility of Legislation in the Digital Age that makes a wide range of recommendations as to how legislation can be made available online in a more consolidated and comprehensive way. Chapter 3 of the report, “Comparative Approaches to Making Legislation Accessible”, considers, from an historical perspective, legislative developments that have . . . [more]

May is typically the beginning of the season for conferences that law librarians attend, kicking off with the CALL/ACBD conference. This year, we are attending virtually, and you are invited to our events!

You may consider yourself a law librarian, knowledge manager, legal researcher, legal information provider, legal technology developer, legal information specialist or user, or not – it doesn’t matter to us – you are welcome to join in. You may be a member of CALL or a member of a law library sister association, or not – regardless of whether you paid your modest CALL/ACBD membership fee for . . . [more]

While the courts haven’t closed, they’ve certainly slowed down. And if one thing that litigators are used to doing, it’s reading case law. The Great Library at Law Society of Ontario has announced on Twitter that all licensees can obtain free access to Westlaw and Proview for 30 days. The initiative is intended to support remote workers and promote self-isolation, but us legal geeks will likely use it just to read interesting things. Digital access to these resources are normally an extension of the services available to licensees through annual fees. LIRN subscribes to publisher collections to make this access . . . [more]

“Ask the question.” That was a phrase often heard at morning leadership meetings (AKA coffee with my admin colleagues) at my former law firm. Asking the question was intended to mean that we shouldn’t assume that others in the firm noticed the same problems that we did. It is a call to collaborate, ideate, and create solutions as a team. On February 19 at 1 PM EST the @CALLACBD Executive Board will be asking the question, quite a few questions actually, using a Twitter Chat with the hashtag #CALLACBDCHAT. The Canadian Association of Law Libraries is using a Twitter . . . [more]

As the President of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries, I was privileged to spend a few days with my fellow volunteer board members recently. Part of our time was devoted to planning around the strategic direction of our association. Though our board includes a diverse cross-section of legal information professionals when measured by geography, institution type, and role, we all self identify as “law librarians”. Even me and I am semi-retired and work in legal research technology sales. Our strategy discussion asked what is going well or poorly, who are we today and is that different from how we . . . [more]

Some of the law librarian Slaw readership will be deep in budget planning for next year. I am thinking of colleagues in private law firms and particularly those new to budget creation or those who have been caught by surprise when there are substantial and unexpected increases for print or electronic material. The Canadian Association of Law Libraries webinar team is coming to the rescue with a one hour webinar on Effective Budgeting for Libraries on Wednesday, September 25 from noon to 1 Eastern. Creating a budget document that helps decision-makers understand the true cost of information is important. It . . . [more]

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]

Legal podcasts have really taken off in Canada over the last couple of years. From niche practice areas to big picture legal profession issues, smart and entertaining discussion and commentary abounds in these podcasts. You can find a directory of 20+ Canadian legal podcasts at lawblogs.ca.

While law practice management, legal industry culture, and substantive law subjects are well represented in this list, there really haven’t been any podcasts related to law libraries–until now!

At their last annual conference in Edmonton this past May, CALL/ACDB partnered with vLex for an exclusive podcast series, hosted by Colin Lachance, interim . . . [more]