Are you interested in finding out what’s going on in our courts… in terms of technology? If so, you can help the Canadian Centre for Court Technology (CCCT) developing an online clearinghouse on topic with just a few minutes of your time.

You can provide your input by filling this brief questionnaire:

http://ccct-cctj.ca/launch-of-the-clearinghouse-questionnaire/

On behalf of the CCCT… Thank you! . . . [more]

The Consumer Electronics Show is one large convention. Preliminary numbers after the first two days of the conference had 132,000 people in attendance. Attendees can be found at hotels up and down the strip (hotel prices skyrocket during the convention period). The convention centre itself showcases thousands upon thousands of square feet of exhibit space, not to mention the space used for keynotes, sessions, and other events.

One of my goals was to spend time wandering the exhibits looking for products that are both cool and useful for legal practice. I only spent a few minutes looking at the items, . . . [more]

We’ve compiled the list of the forty most popular downloads for 2010. Many of them are consistently popular year to year, such as Peg Duncan’s e-Discovery reading list, limitation periods charts, retainer precedents and various technology articles (such as Essential Smartphone Apps and The best Blackberry tips). Some more popular recent articles include:

• The Sample Budget Spreadsheet continues to grow in popularity, up 20% this year compared to last (in which it had doubled in downloads from 2008). Clearly lawyers are intersted in taking steps to improve their bottom lines.
• There was also obviously a desire for

. . . [more]

The debate over legal outsourcing is going mainstream, with a special report in yesterday’s Toronto Star (print copy only; Legal temps fill holes, cut costs).

The article focuses on Toronto-based LexLocom, a joint venture between Warren Bongard of legal recruiter ZSA and Scott Ewart. The services offered range from senior counsel with specialized expertise for specific projects, to low-end document review and due diligence work, and do it for about a third less than traditional firms.

Sue-Lynn Noel of Livingston International explains in the article why she used LexLocom’s services, when the boss of her in-house legal . . . [more]

While becoming a lawyer was always my career goal, I always felt one downfall to the career path was the lack of the opportunity to travel. As law is very jurisdiction-specific, we rarely have the opportunity to go on “business trips”. This is especially true for solo and small-firm lawyers, however I’ve heard the same is true for those who practice in larger firms. Some lawyers certainly get the chance to appear before international tribunals, however this is clearly unique and not something most lawyers will experience. While those in other professional fields like accounting and consulting will be quick . . . [more]

Translating these five leadership categories to a law-firm environment, we can see the clear parallels for a law firm to achieve transformational results.

(Having allowed Simon F. the honour of the first 2011 post, not the least in recognition of all that he and the rest of the Slaw administration do to keep this place going. I trust that I am not presumptuous in thanking all of you, again.)

This isn’t quite a new year’s resolution but it will do.

Let’s hope that common sense (whatever it means) prevails this year.

Let’s hope that public (political, judicial, and other) and private reference to decisions supported by, or required by, common sense aren’t calls to the seeming authority of common sense because the conclusion . . . [more]

For a short moment, we had some innovative law firm marketing going on with Blakes flash mob dance! The Youtube video was here. That is until lawyers for the Black Eyed Peas called copyright foul. Youtube is now displaying the infringement image below:

I say boooo to the Black Eyed Peas and Will.I.Am. It’s tough enough to get lawyers to leave their offices and walk down a couple flights of stairs for a fire drill. Can you imagine getting close to 50 of them dance in the middle of a shopping mall? Unheard of.

Happy holidays! :) . . . [more]

“How long do I have to keep my closed files?” is one of the most frequent questions lawyer ask me. Certainly you don’t have to keep all files permanently – this just doesn’t make practical or economic sense. Nor is the solution as simple as a one-size-fits-all rule for when to destroy closed files (e.g., toss everything at 10 years). For many reasons, file retention and destruction is a complex issue. This post examines why and provides some direction on how long you should keep your closed files. It includes information about how long claims take to surface for different . . . [more]

Mark Schatzker of The Globe noted this week the launch of a new website, JudgeMyCop. Given the scrutiny towards police officers in the GTA following the G20, it’s no surprise that there are Schatzker provides a few amusing parodies of the conflicts, both on the side of law enforcement and the side of the protesters.

Also not surprising, the still emerging blog already has a couple of entries related to the G20, largely links to mainstream media. But many of the existing officer reviews on the site largely deal with what appear to be legitimate offences, dealt with perhaps . . . [more]

Cynthia Vukets of The Star covered today a new study that predicts the success of lawyers based on their law school yearbook photo,

A University of Toronto professor has found that he can predict how much money a law firm will make just by looking at university yearbook photo of the managing partner.

“We found that power is what predicts their success,” said Nicholas Rule, a psychologist. “It’s the impression of power that one gets from someone’s face.”

He took yearbook photos of the managing partners of the 100 top US law firms and showed them to college students. Students

. . . [more]

Yesterday LAWPRO posted an update and warning to Ontario lawyers about the ongoing bad cheque frauds it is seeing. LAWPRO continues to get daily calls and emails from lawyers that are being targeted by fraudsters attempting bad cheque frauds. Lawyers must not let their guard down.

If you have any doubt about the extent to which fraudsters are willing to work to engage lawyers and dupe them, take a look at the back-and-forth email exchanges on the Melissa Andersen and Siam Rai fraud attempts. You will be totally amazed at the level of detail in the information exchanged and the . . . [more]