The government of Quebec recently proposed regulations (February 2010) to better control who may provide provincial immigration services to immigrants. Specifically, under the proposed regulations, only Quebec-licensed lawyers, notaries and immigration consultants will be entitled to represent clients in Quebec immigration matters.

This week’s issue of The Lawyers Weekly (vol 30., no. 3, May 21/10) has an article on the first page crowing about the successful dismissal, under Quebec legislation, of an action found to be a SLAPP (a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) action. The article continues on p.3 under the caption “Decision will ‘no doubt discourage’ abusive suits and SLAPPs.”

I’m going to put aside (what is to me the obvious) conflict between anti-SLAPP legislation and the “not plain and obvious that the action must fail” threshold which, in substance, is all that is needed on the merits issue for . . . [more]

This is a bit of a global pot-pourri drawn from what I’ve been reading from elsewhere.

Access to Justice in Australia
Another Thomson/West acquisition – this time a Brazilian publisher was acquired
Harvard Law Library joins the Chesapeake Project
The Guardian picks up on Rob Martin’s hyperbolic rant against Canadian Legal Education
An English law firm outsources all of its non-billable activities, including its law library, IT and knowledge management.

. . . [more]

On June 8th, I am giving a two hour seminar via CLE-TV on “Going Out on Your Own” with Trevor Todd and Michael Anderson. The CLE BC program lawyer who created this course is Meredith Woods.

The intended audience is lawyers interested in setting up a practice or who have recently set up a practice.

The course will provide Law Society of BC CPD 1.5 credit hours and will cover topics of professional responsibility and ethics, client care and relations and practice management.

In preparation for this course, Michael Anderson provided an interesting article on developing your own personal . . . [more]

I had the pleasure of presenting on knowledge management at the CALL/ACBD/MichALL law library conference currently underway in Windsor, Ontario. I shared the panel with Ginevra Saylor of Fraser Milner Casgrain, Denise Bonin of andornot, and SLAW’s own Simon Fodden.

It would appear that knowledge management is alive and well, albeit perhaps in an evolving manner. I will try to post shortly in more detail on the discussions that ensued at the session but thought for now I would post here at the following link a PDF of the paper I submitted called The Evolution of Law-Related Knowledge . . . [more]

There’s an interesting article in the latest issue of Forbes Magazine on the Worst Words to Say at Work. For quick reference, those words are: “try”, “whatever”, “maybe” and “I don’t know”, “I’ll get back to you”, “If”, “yes, but…”, “I guess”, and “we’ll see…”.

It’s an interesting list. But I have to say, there’s a time and place for everything – including weak language. Far too often, and especially in the legal profession, command and control personalities leave a wake of unproductive business operations behind them. Workplaces that are so scared to cause waves, the ability of employees . . . [more]

Updated versions of Peg Duncan’s amazing Canadian focused e-discovery reading list and case law digests have just been posted, respectively, on the e-discovery page on practicePRO’s website and on the Ontario Bar Association’s site. Both are extremely helpful resources for lawyers that need to deal with electronic discovery related issues.

Cross posted on Avoid a Claim . . . [more]

♬ Everything is not what it seems
When you can get what you want by the simplest of means
Be careful not to mess with the balance of things
Because everything is not what it seems…♬

Lyrics and music by: John R. Adair, Ryan David Elder, Bradley Jay Hamilton, Stephen R. Hampton, recorded by: Selena Gomez.

CBC News on May 4, 2010 in an on-line article entitled: “Bank of Montreal alleges huge mortgage fraud” reported on a potential $30 million mortage/real estate fraud in Alberta.

The article is disturbing, as the size of the fraud and . . . [more]

I am in the process of preparing for the upcoming CBA BC Branch Women Lawyers Forum event Defining Moments – Leadership and Ethics. I am presenting on “Defining Success on Your Own Terms,” which is an interesting exercise. What is success anyway? I know what success does not look like – for me, pretty much most of 2003.

When I started law school in 1997, I was spurred by an interest in public affairs and advocacy for women and children. By 2003, I found myself as an associate in the commercial real estate group of a large law firm, . . . [more]

The CBA Task Force continues to work to help the profession with conflicts issues.

On top of the original report and the amended model code of conduct, there is the excellent collection of precedent documents and checklists in the CBA Conflicts Task Force Toolkit. A full list of the documents in the toolkit is here. I am a member of the Task Force did a lot of work on the Toolkit. I think it is truly a fantastic collection of resources that can help lawyers avoid conflicts of interest claims.

There is also an overview and list of . . . [more]

The College of Law Practice Management‘s 5th Annual InnovAction Awards are open for business! The Awards, which recognize outstanding and original innovation by a law firm, law department or legal services provider anywhere in the world, are accepting entries until June 1, 2010, so there’s still time for you or your organization to submit a nomination.

The InnovAction Awards, which have been given to small firms, global giants and non-firm entities in five countries on four continents, can cover everything from legal service delivery to legal marketing, from technological systems to client communication, and from law firm management to . . . [more]

I understand that the Ethics Committee of the Benchers of the Law Society of BC are meeting today and are considering whether it is ethical for a lawyer to draft a will for a client whom he or she has never met in person.

This question is interesting to me because Heritage Law currently offers simple estate planning services to clients entirely over the internet through a secure online portal on our firm web site. We received approval to do so from the Law Society of BC in January.

In the interest of hopefully avoiding a precedent such as the . . . [more]