Most of us tend to look outside our offices for threats or dangers. However, you should also be aware of potential inside dangers. Statistics show that the majority of incidents involving the destruction or loss of data were perpetrated by current, soon-to-be dismissed or recently dismissed employees. Few, if any, know more about your firm’s systems than your employees, and few, if any, are in a better position to cause major damage.

In particular, your IT staff, employees with advanced technology knowledge, and outside technology support people are potentially the greatest threat because they have the greatest knowledge about your . . . [more]

While Worldlii covers many jurisdictions, it missed last night’s decision in Malvolio v. Olivia argued before the Supreme Court of Illyria. [Nothing to do with Marmont’s division of the Illyrian territory into 96 cantons, each with a justice of the peace. The rest of the judicial hierarchy consisted of 11 Tribunals of First Instance and a supreme court of Illyria – see Napoleon and the transformation of Europe by Alexander I. Grab at 191.]

Shakespeare apparently missed out the denouement of the story of Twelfth Night, where Malvolio did not go sheepishly to gaol, but responded by suing Olivia . . . [more]

Olivier Charbonneau and I will be engaging in a conversation in 13 days with the LegalIT audience on how Web 2.0 tools are being used by lawyers.

A retired lawyer friend in Chicago tells me that Twitter is being used by sophisticated lawyers and firms down there. There seems to have been a lot of buzz at TechShow too.

But can anyone tell me how exactly lawyers are using Twitter? In the delivery of legal services? Or as a networking, communications and marketing tool? Or in some other way? . . . [more]

As reported in the Globe and Mail, among other media outlets, the Canadian Judicial Council has recommended to the Minister of Justice that Justice Paul Cosgrove be removed from office. Pursuant to s.99 (1) of the Constitution Act, 1867:

…the Judges of the Superior Courts shall hold office during good behaviour, but shall be removable by the Governor General on Address of the Senate and House of Commons.

The Judicial Council’s full report is available in PDF and there is a summary on the Council’s website.

The Council acts under the authority of the Judges Act R.S., 1985, . . . [more]

I first met Michael Rabinovici at a Legal Marketers Association (LMA) event on Social Media Success. We’ve stayed in touch periodically since, and he helps run a strategic consultation company, AR Communications Inc.

He recently gave a presentation on social media marketing and lawyers that I thought would be of interest to our readers, so I asked him to upload his slides and audio to SlideShare.

I posted on SLAW over one year ago on the issue of Copies of cases for court – official print reporters versus online versions.

I continue to hear of a “preference” for copies of cases photocopied from print case law reporters, often in terms of “the judge prefers print copies.”

Although Simon Fodden correctly pointed out in a comment to that post that the Ontario Court of Appeal formally allows electronic versions of cases, as per s. 10.5 of their Practice Direction Concerning Civil Appeals in the Court of Appeal, is there a need for the Ontario legal . . . [more]

The Ontario E-Discovery Implementation Committee (EIC) has just released eight model e-discovery precedents, as well as additional e-discovery best practices documents.

The EIC is a joint committee established by the Ontario Bar Association and The Advocates’ Society. It is composed of litigators from both the private and public sectors, and members of the judiciary in Ontario. The mandate of the EIC is to implement best practices with respect to electronic discovery within the Ontario court system and litigation bar. One of the keys tasks of the EIC is to inform and educate lawyers and the judiciary regarding the “how” . . . [more]

From Eagan today, an announcement of a free podcast featuring Justice Scalia and Bryanb Garner who wrote the excellent Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges.

Justice Scalia and Garner, editor of Black’s Law Dictionary, led a CLE seminar at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. last July. All profits from the event were donated to Legal Aid. . . . [more]

I can’t vouch for the accuracy of a piece in the Economic Times entitled Lawyers-from-US-UK-find-jobs-in-India.

It reports on “a flood of US/UK lawyer CVs to India”. “One out of every 10 lawyers in the US is said to have been laid off”.

Mindcrest recently hired five senior US lawyers. It’s planning to hire another 10 American lawyers this year.

Pangea3, another Mumbai-based LPO firm, recently hired three American legal professionals , while another two are expected to join the company within a month.

Some say the recession in the US legal market will mean a 100% growth for the

Lawyers’ Weekly reports that the Law Society of BC is considering whether it should be able to insist on doing a complete copy of a member’s computer in the course of an investigation. Pros and cons are discussed in the article, along with the proposed policy.

Concerns raised have included the lawyer/member’s privacy, and solicitor-client privilege.

Could not however the Law Society have sent in an investigator who would have had physical access to all the same files? Is the concern that once the mirror image is made, it is accessible to more people, with unknown controls?

In Ontario, the . . . [more]

Hat tip to my young – and learned – friend John Salloum for alerting me to para 28 of Leduc v. Roman, 2009 CanLII 6838 (ON S.C.) which suggests that there may be a new standard of care for Ontario lawyers emerging when advising their clients about litigation against an individual.

The issue in the story discussed by CTV arose in the context of a personal injury case where Facebook was specifically discussed during the discovery process, but the ruling by Justice David Brown of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice appears to go beyond the narrow context in . . . [more]

The Vendor Liaison Committee (VLC) of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (a committee of which I am a member), continues to put together practical information and useful tools. It is worth having a look at the full VLC page, but a couple of tools that law libraries may find useful:

• Librarian-Vendor Relation – Best Practices
  This is essentially a checklist for libraries to work through when they have a complaint with regard to a publisher or vendor. The focus is on staying factual and professional to maintain a good relationship with your vendors. It also addresses unresolved issues,