Chris Paliare was on his feet today, arguing for Friends of the Earth in a Federal Court judicial review to to force the Canadian government to follow the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, passed by Parliament a year ago. The case is a global first in seeking enforcement of the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty ratified by 180 countries, including Canada.

The Notice of Application from September 2007 is here. Press releases are here and here.

Justice lawyers argued that the Kyoto act is one of a few “unusual” statutes that Parliament never intended the courts . . . [more]

Today’s Wisconsin Law Journal raises a neat issue: whether it’s appropriate for judges to conduct their own research and decide cases on authorities not cited by the parties. I know this is an issue that we’ve blogged on before and because of Semelhago v. Paramadevan Professor Swan feels strongly about the appropriateness of it..

The Wisconsin case (decided by the Court of Appeals) settled that it wasn’t improper for a circuit court to do independent research, since a competent judge has a duty to ensure the correct law is being applied.

The case is Camacho v. Trimble Irrevocable Trust . . . [more]

That’s what the Globe described the Steele Collection as this morning.

But for Slaw readers, the description better applies to The Times unveiling of the most significant cases reported in the paper from 1785 to 1869, including links to the actual reports from The Times of that period.

David Pannick introduces the concept. . . . [more]

The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice has released a 70-page report “Justice for Nunavummiut: Partnerships for Solutions” [PDF]. (Nunavummiut are Inuit living in Nunavut or who regard the territory as their home.)

This extensive study “presents recommendations for the following key issues:”

1. Access to public legal education and information
2. Access to legal services and legal professionals
3. Litigants with unequal power
4. Enforcement of court rulings, laws and entitlements
5. Specific issues related to Family, Civil and Administrative Law
6. Geographic parallels and variations
7. Creating an evidence base – A recommendation for research

To start, huge tip of hat to our colleague Jim Middlemiss, who was live blogging all morning on the three hour hearing into the BCE Bondholders dispute.

The court reserved. . . . [more]

Here are a couple of links to interesting pieces that editors (in their infinite wisdom) decided didn’t need to appear in the print versions of either the Globe and Mail or Canadian Lawyer.

Martha McCarthy was asked to comment on the five years that have elapsed since the Ontario Court of Appeal’s Halpern decision.

Philip Slayton talks about how little we actually know about the judges of the Supreme Court of Canada. He observed from a conversation in a Yaletown bar that it was easier for two Canadian lawyers to list members of the U.S. Supreme Court . . . [more]

Forms of practice are changing — in the U.K. certainly. MyLawyer is, or plans to be, a front end for participating law firms who want a way of delivering legal services over the web. In the language of the website:

Epoq Group (www.epoq.co.uk) with its 10 years’ experience in developing legal services for customers of financial institutions, is now working in conjunction with a limited group of leading UK law firms, to develop a symbiotic partnership network (the MyLawyer network)…

And aimed at the potential client:

We will enable you to provide instructions to your lawyer over the Web instantly

The BBC is reporting that late Thursday night a convoy of lawyers left the eastern Pakistan city of Lahore to converge on the capital Islamabad to demand the reinstatement of judges who were removed last November. The government is undecided as to how to reinstate the judges, or even if they should. The lawyers are planning a peaceful sit-in after their 270 km motorized trip through various towns along the way to Islamabad.

According to the BBC report:

Organisers said the struggle of the lawyers had now reached a “decisive phase”. The lawyers have been joined by some civil

The Globe and Mail features an article in yesterday’s paper about the Supreme Court Advocacy Institute, an organization that puts together mock sessions to help lawyers who are about to appear in front of the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Institute organized mock court hearings for 20 percent of all the cases heard last year by Canada’s highest court, according to the newspaper. Some of Canada’s top litigators volunteer their time to act as judges:

“Like musicologists discussing a classical composition, the ‘judges’ then take apart a lawyer’s arguments and suggest where they may fall flat, distract the judges

U.K., that is.

Gowlings has announced the opening of a new office in London, U.K. Gowlings (U.K.) LLP has been established to serve the Firm’s existing energy, resource and infrastructure clients on a global basis.

Press Release

The wonderful Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas in Austin is developing a collection dedicated to the portrayal of law in popular culture, the goal of which “is to provide as broad a picture as possible of the image of the lawyer in the United States and British Commonwealth.” There is material from print, TV and movies, with only cartoons missing — an important aspect, I should have thought, but one that may be difficult because of copyright.

The collection circulates to those with a Tarlton library card, of course, but for the rest of us there are . . . [more]

My post about Google’s new favicon got me thinking: do law firms use favicons, and if so, how good are they?

A completely unscientific survey of “quite a few” firm websites tells me that only a small minority of law firms make use of this branding opportunity — and those that do have, by and large, really weak favicons.

Herewith five that I came up with:

This is a weak one. It’s the Cassels logo, seen to the right, in miniature. But at 16 x 16 pixels, the thing just doesn’t translate well: the shape is unclear and the colours