An extraordinary warning today from the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority that fraudsters in Britain have set up phony law firm websites, sufficiently genuine looking that there’s a real risk of fraud.
Bogus firms: Are you at risk of being cloned? . . . [more]
The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD) annual conference kicked off last night in Toronto at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel and the Ontario Legislature. Yesterday we had many of the Association business meetings, the first part of the AGM and opening of the exhibit hall at the Royal York. Members and guests then headed to the Legislature for the opening reception.
We were treated to a welcome from the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Hon. Dave Levac (see photo), and a tour that included the Speaker’s apartment in the Legislative Building, the Legislative Chamber, and the Legislative Library.
Nobody whistles anymore. Seems to me you could once walk down the street and hear the people you passed whistling tunes. I remember indulging in a kind of stealth tune stealing, where I’d quietly join the whistler’s tune and gradually up my volume, maybe adding a cadenza or two, until the song was mine alone. I don’t remember learning to whistle, though I do remember being mightily impressed that my dad could do it — and could send out a shrill blast through his teeth when needed. This loud whistle so got to me that I sweated long and hard . . . [more]
This is a post in a series appearing each Friday, setting out some articles, videos, podcasts and the like that contributors at Slaw are enjoying and that you might find interesting. The articles tend to be longer than blog posts and shorter than books, just right for that stolen half hour on the weekend. It’s also likely that most of them won’t be about law — just right for etc.
Please let us have your recommendations for what we and our readers might like.
. . . [more]Rule 3.01 (1) of the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Rules of Professional Conduct is always overshadowed by its sister rules. Yet, it is perhaps one of the most important rules of our profession:
3.01(1) A lawyer shall make legal services available to the public in an efficient and convenient way.
This rule suggests that if a lawyer is not providing legal services in an efficient manner, she is breaching the rule; and, if a lawyer is not providing legal services in a convenient manner, she is also breaching the rule. Interestingly enough, the commentary in rule 3.01 . . . [more]
We are heading to a legal services world where increasingly more legal advice and legal services will be provided online. It is not a matter of if, but when. And people have access to massive amounts of information and advice online – some good, some not so good. For many online businesses geography and thus jurisdiction is unimportant and revenue can come from almost anywhere in the world.
Combine that, and it is easy for a business to take the attitude that it can figure it all out itself – without the help of lawyers or accountants. Or at the . . . [more]
In a landmark decision just 24 days after April 1, the Canadian Trade-marks Office has clarified the definition of “fish”. Constitutional lawyers continue to wrangle over whether this stunning policy reversal will be given retroactive effect.
Subject: Mise à jour Manuel de marchandises et services – Wares and Services Manual Update
. . . [more]Dans le but d’éviter toute ambiguité que ‘poisson’ est un terme spécifique et en termes ordinaires du commerce, l’entrée ‘Poissons pour l’alimentation’ dans le Manuel de marchandises et services sera remplacée par ‘Poisson’ seul, avec la note suivante: Cette entrée fait référence à la définition la plus courante de
This is a post in a series appearing each Friday, setting out some articles, videos, podcasts and the like that contributors at Slaw are enjoying and that you might find interesting. The articles tend to be longer than blog posts and shorter than books, just right for that stolen half hour on the weekend. It’s also likely that most of them won’t be about law — just right for etc.
Please let us have your recommendations for what we and our readers might like.
. . . [more]There’s the old joke about how you recognize an intellectual: it’s someone who can hear Rossini’s William Tell Overture without thinking about the Lone Ranger. Putting aside the problem of whether anyone still knows about the Lone Ranger and his TV theme music, I’d say that the real intellectual is someone who knows that the William Tell Overture begins with a glorious four-minute slow movement featuring five solo cellos. (It occurs to me: might this not be a good time for a new Lone Ranger movie? But I digress . . . )
Such is the fate of introductions. They’re . . . [more]
I’ve been thinking a lot about the “end of days” for the traditional legal services provider – partnership law firms.
And I can already hear you grumbling. “How can there be an “end of days” for the current model of law firms? And don’t give us any of that, ‘UK Legal Services Act will change the world,’ crap. Kowalski, you’re crazy.”
Perhaps, but hear me out.
The partnership model of law firms is doomed to fail because of what Mancur Olson calls the collective action dilemma. Collective action dilemma occurs when you have a group of people all acting in . . . [more]
A hackathon (hack + marathon) is an event where computer programers, often in conjunction with graphic designers or other related disciplines, get together for marathon sessions to collaborate intensly on a project. There is a specific goal in mind, such as coding specific software or solving a specific problem.
Brooklyn Law School’s Incubator and Policy Clinic recently held its first legal hackathon, a day long event for law students, lawyers and entrepreneurs to help lawyers think more like hackers. One of the organizers said “What I’m hoping to get at today is to figure out how we as lawyers stop . . . [more]
This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada | Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce au gouvernement du Canada