Following the April 24th Federal Court of Canada decision, the Canadian Bar Association have again urged the Prime Minister to repatriate Omar Khadr. This time, they have addressed the plea to the U.S. President as well. From the CBA’s April 24th press release:

The CBA, which earlier this year called for Mr. Khadr’s repatriation following President Obama’s order to close Guantanamo Bay, is urging the two governments to immediately expedite the return of Mr. Khadr to face judicial process here.

From the CBA’s letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama (PDF):

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Nothing like a pending crisis to get law firms to focus on critical issues. No doubt a pandemic has the potential to interrupt many a law office – everything from sending a few staff home sick to entirely shutting the office down for a few days or weeks. Here are some resources to help you and your firm prepare for the eventuality of a pandemic:

• Pandemic Preparations for the Workplace is a great article just published by The Colorado Bar Association in its Colorado Lawyer Magazine
• The ABA Division of Bar Services has a posted a good list of pandemic

Just posted on the web is a recent discussion between Mark Harding, Group General Counsel, Barclays and Professor Richard Susskind, OBE on “The End Of Lawyers?”.

If you didn’t listen to Professor Susskind’s ABA TECHSHOW keynote, here is another chance to hear his take on what the future holds for lawyers. The topics covered include:

• Market predictions and changes – technology and commoditisation
• Law firm management – new approaches for the future
• Innovation and R&D – rethinking the delivery of legal services
• Change management for clients – new ways of working
• Market competition and external investment
• Collaboration – more

Well there’s no getting around the fact that the variously euphemized swine flu is among us, spreading and causing us all to have something of an attention span. It occurred to me that as a public service I might dedicate this fillip to the sneeze, that potent source of contagion. And what better way to begin than with this flu-shot video from Australia showing a number of handsome folks indulging in unconfined sternutation all lovingly captured in ultra slow motion. It’s enough to make you do the elbow thing with those 40,000 droplets. [Click on the image to see the . . . [more]

I thought that those of you who like to stay on top of the latest in the swine flu outbreak (which is not the same as rising above it) might like to know that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cdcemergency. (Following 72; 56,452 followers.) Their posts are essentially pointers to specific information for the various organizations that are tasked with preparing for medical emergencies. (This isn’t really an occasion for 140 character data.) But a number are useful for the likes of you and me:

Parents: take steps to protect your family

Find a niche with growth potential
Organize information to make it useful
The internet is a distribution channel — not a product
Turn words into maths
Separate the signal from the noise
Computers can’t do everything
Treat content like patented material
Print’s not dead, it just needs online help

Rules that wouldn’t have been recognized by the distinguished figure below:

They’re the distilled wisdom in a well-researched piece entitled Westlaw rises to legal publishing fame by selling free information – St. Paul company outprofits Gannett, McGraw Hill, New York Times

And it started here: . . . [more]

Most Slaw readers will know that gavels simply aren’t part of the equipment of Canadian or British judges – however much they may feature in the popular iconography of the American judicial system.

Which meant that it seemed odd to see headlines like Gavel falls on Judge Cosgrove, by Tracey Tyler in the Toronto Star for April 1, (admittedly fixed in the electronic archive) or Gavel Slams Harper on Khadr in the free Toronto newspapers for April 24. . . . [more]

Gosh I know I’ve a lot of space on my Ipod, but do I really need to be able to check the wisdom of Bryan Garner all the time, everywhere. Our friends in Eagan MN announced the release of most recent 8th edition of Black’s Law Dictionary Application for the iPhone. It’s a unique publication – as far as I know, the first serious legal research tool released for that platform. And a big plus for Bryan, who got a great tip yesterday from William Safire in the NYT.

While today’s FT lauds Thomson-West’s acumen in building a . . . [more]

Swine Flu, of course, dominated the weekend’s news. I have collected some info on reliable statistics, resources and updates, and have added a Google News RSS and a Twitter RSS to the front page of the Cross-Border Biotech Blog. 

My own personal (non-medical) mini-faq:

1. coughing and fever seem to be diagnostic differentiators — if you don’t have those symptoms, you probably don’t have flu. Check WebMD if you want. Their guys have been asking a zillion symptoms questions on the CDC update calls; and
2. you can not get swine flu from eating pork, just from the guy who

I spent some time last week working with John Hochfelder on his Blawg Review that went up this morning. Mostly picture editing & being a sounding board to what, I think, is a very unique and personal approach.

John’s edition of the review was intentionally requested for today because it coincides with his late father’s birthday. The review is dedicated to him, and then proceeds to craft the theme around the highlights to his father’s life – including being awarded the Silver Star in the battle of Iwo Jima during WWII.

The pictures and the story are really amazing, and . . . [more]

Announced Friday by the Prime Minister’s Office:

PM announces appointment of new Librarian and Archivist of Canada

24 April 2009
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced today the appointment of Daniel J. Caron as Librarian and Archivist of Canada, effective April 25, 2009.

Mr. Caron, currently Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Management and Horizontal Integration Sector, Library and Archives Canada, replaces Ian E. Wilson, who is retiring from the Public Service after a very distinguished career.

The Prime Minister also announced that, upon his retirement, Mr. Wilson will hold the title of Librarian and Archivist of Canada Emeritus

Here are a few interesting projects, ideas, and initiatives highlighted on library blogs over the last couple of days. First, from Instructibles, how to build a high-speed book scanner from spare parts, trash, and cheap cameras, for about $300. According to the author, this is for a “greener future with more books rather than fewer books.”

Next, Free Green, a place to get free building plans that are energy efficient and green in other ways. Each one comes with detailed stats on energy consumption, materials, etc. They also offer advice customization, and finding builders. The site is a . . . [more]