Presumably all Canadian Bar Association members received an email early this morning updating members on the work of the Task Force on Conflicts of Interest (Simon Chester is a consultant to the Task Force), which has just published a consultation paper “Practical Difficulties with Today’s Conflict of Interest Rules”. As the website notes, the paper “describes the current state of the conflicts requirements, reviews areas of particular concern, and asks a series of questions to find out what changes members of the legal profession feel may be necessary.”

Conflicts are an issue of growing importance. While large law firms . . . [more]

Three interesting items in the inbox today, each of which reflects a different facet of the many forces hard at work on producing imminent changes to the profession.

First comes news from the ABA’s Law School Admissions Council that the number of applications to U.S. law schools dropped in 2006 by 7.6%, the second straight annual decrease on top of a sharp deceleration in 2004 in the longstanding trend of rising admissions. The linked article focuses on the drop in both applications and admissions among women, and properly so. But many of the reasons for the decrease cited in the . . . [more]

My latest reading, listening and watching seems all to tie back to the law firm’s presence on the web. I’m sure others besides those in law firms will find this summary useful, too:

1. Law Firms Go a Bit Hollywood to Recruit the YouTube Generation , by Karen Donovan, New York Times, September 28, 2007. Interesting article highlighting some of the newer recruiting techniques. Link courtesy of Wendy R.!

2. Mentioned in the article above is Choate Hall & Steward LLP’s use of video for student and associate recruitment. Their videos playing off the “Apple vs. PC” commercials . . . [more]

Language Log, the multiple author blog on — what else? — language, continues to surprise, this time with an entry on a treason trial in Georgia (the country, not the U.S. state). Roger Shuy, a retired but very active linguistics professor, discusses his role in the trial of Maia Topuria, a leader of an opposition party in Georgia who was accused of plotting to overthrow the government. ((His article points to these sources of information on the trial: Christian Science Monitor, Russia Today, and two pieces in Harper’s: . ))

His specialty is forensic linguistics, and . . . [more]

Two cases that show that one can’t necessarily rely on judges for judgement.

The first is the wonderful tale of how a judge who was spurned for a post-retirement judge took it out on the firm he had hoped to join. Sir Peter Smith will now be remembered as much for this case ((Howell & Ors v Lees Millais & Ors [2007] EWCA Civ 720 (04 July 2007) )) in which he is censured in the strongest terms by the Court of Appeal as for his Da Vinci Code judgment ((Baigent & Anor v The Random House Group Ltd . . . [more]

According to today’s Vancouver Sun and the Globe and Mail Davis & Co has just opened its latest office:

In a cobbled street in Zurich across from a newsstand and conveniently located near a rapid transit line, although most visitors would likely teleport in rather than take transit.

Up the slate-looking steps, the door opens onto a large lobby with a large round reception desk and the requisite office ferns. A notecard on the desk welcomes the visitor: “Davis LLP is an international full-service law firm”.

The lawyers involved include Dani Lemon, colleagues Sarah Dale-Harris, known as BarristerSolicitor Underwood . . . [more]

Regular Slaw readers will recall that whenever we’ve talked about the outsourcing phenomenon, we’ve directed people to an extraordinary blog by our friend Ron Friedmann in DC.

Today Integreon, the global BPO operation, has announced Ron’s appointment as Senior V-P.

Integreon is already asking North American law students whether they want to work abroad as an intern.

Offshore internships for US, South American, European and Chinese law school and business school graduates

The Integreon Offshore Internship provides exposure for recent graduates of US, South American, European and Chinese law schools and business schools to business intelligence, research and

That too, sometimes, maybe, but not today.

Today’s subject is obliquely about something that will enrapture the heart of every litigator with deep-pocket clients: e-mail management and the fees associated with litigation that has extensive e-mail discovery.

Today’s message is also an opportunity to let others do my thinking for me.

I’m going to quote from a recent study by a US vendor [MessageOne, Inc.] which is generally applicable to Canada, too, titled “Critical Email Management Problems“. The study is available on-line here, although you might have to join ZDNet (it’s free – it’s worth . . . [more]

Today’s Daily Telegraph reports on a survey with news that the small generalist firm may not survive the upheavals caused by the opening up of the English market for legal services.

A survey of 75 leading professionals by Thomson Sweet & Maxwell found that 69pc of high street solicitors firms will be either significantly or drastically affected by the Legal Services Act reforms.

Nearly 60pc of the solicitors and barristers interviewed believed that traditional high street firms would be a rarity by 2015.

The full report is available in book form under the title Brave New World: Impact of the . . . [more]

A few links to the 2007 survey released this morning.

It covers:

Collaboration tools
Web conference software
Wikis and extranets
Instant messaging
Wireless devices
VoIP
Vista
Automating Processes
Tech Support

Don’t overlook the detailed data either at
CIO’s Pleased as Punch

Communications Chart

Software Chart

Financial Stats Chart

. . . [more]

Catching up on my reading of The Hindu, a piece on Legal Knowledge Outsourcing should be read by everyone.

Even if you discount the ambitions massively, the challenge is still quite amazing.

A few quotes:

The majority of legal services in the West can and should be sent offshore, says Mr Russell Smith, President and Chairman, SDD Global Solutions Pvt Ltd, a Mysore-based legal services KPO (knowledge process off-shoring). “And we are talking about services that now fetch a price tag of $250 billion per year and growing”

. ((Mr Smith, a Columbia Law School graduate and former partner . . . [more]

At Saturday’s Annual Meeting of the College of Law Practice Management in Philadelphia, Susan Raridon Lambreth lifted the curtain on the first global survey of law firm associates and their attitudes and aspirations. It builds on the UK survey from earlier this year, but reaches far deeper – 20,000 lawyers worldwide.

As soon as Hildebrandt and Thomson release the results, I’ll flick the links.

But one teaser is that it upends conventional wisdom about associate dissatisfaction.

Watch this space. . . . [more]