An interesting perspective on the Canadian system of articling was offered up during this week’s Twitter chat by Valarie, @YoungSmartLegal, who has recently moved here from the United States.

“The idea of articles sort of baffles me,” Valarie said in response to questions about the advantages and limitations of articling for professional training.

Twitter chat moderator Omar Ha-Redeye noted that Canadians seem to think it’s necessary, to which Valarie responded: “In principle it makes sense, but if you’re going to a big firm it just seems like a way to keep salaries low.”

Articling students would be first-years at U.S. . . . [more]

Over two and a half crisp autumn days last month, The University of Alberta Faculty of Law capped its centenary celebrations with a stimulating conference: The Future of Law School. I imagine a conference so named can either entice or repel, depending on one’s interest in the plethora of discourse on practice-ready graduates, tomorrow’s lawyers and the goals of legal education. Firmly in the camp of the enticed, I made the homecoming weekend trip to the U of A to hear the thoughts of the stellar lineup of presenters.

The keynotes, panels, and question sessions brought external experiences and . . . [more]

Last Friday I attended a symposium on alternative business structures (ABS — and not to be confused with anti-lock braking systems, American Bureau of Shipping, the absolute value of a number regardless of its sign, etc.) hosted by the Law Society of Upper Canada. I hope that over the next few days, I and a couple of other Slawyers who were there, can fill you in on some of the interesting stuff that we heard (though I’m happy to say that broadly speaking none of it would have been news to a dedicated reader of Slaw). But today I want . . . [more]

Justice Price held that a lawyer falsely informed the opposing party that he had received instructions to accept their offer to settle and asked for a draft release “believing that when he received it, he could prevail upon his client to accept the settlement and sign the release.”

However, not only could the lawyer not convince his client to accept the offer, he ended up having to pay substantial indemnity costs to both parties when the offeror brought a motion to enforce the settlement.

The full decision of the case can be found here.

The plaintiff retained a lawyer . . . [more]

Bloomberg Law released an interesting video with Lee Pacchia interviewing Steve Sunshine, partner at Bryan Cave on the program he initiated for junior lawyers in his firm on business development. The program focusses on lawyers developing their own plans for bringing in business.

The program, in its sixth year, has been delivered to about 800 members of the firm. Its original audience was junior partners, but has since been delivered to junior and senior associates, some senior partners, directors of administration and offices, and paralegals. While not all of these will be involved in rainmaking, he says there is . . . [more]

Over the last 15 years, praticePRO, LAWPRO’s risk and practice management program, has produced a large collection of tools and resources aimed at helping lawyers avoid malpractice claims. The September 2013 issue of LAWPRO Magazine celebrates practicePRO’s 15th birthday and contains a pull-out (www.practicepro.ca/15thpullout) that has our best claims prevention content in in a convenient 4-page format.

Here’s what you’ll find in the pull-out (which uses ’15’ as a theme):

• The top 15 things you can do to avoid a malpractice claim
• 15 of our most practical and helpful checklists, precedents and resources
• Top 15 Technology articles and

The College of Law Practice Management’s held its 5^th Futures Conference last Friday and Saturday at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend due to work and personal commitments. However, those of us who missed it are in luck as the presentations were recorded and are available online.

If you listen to any of the sessions from the conference, I strongly recommend you listen to Stephen Mayson’s keynote: The Future of Law – Who Will Perform It? Who Will Regulate It? Stephen has said much over the years about the changing nature of law practice . . . [more]

If you are not able to attend the 2013 Futures Conference, they are offering a live webcast of the keynote and TED presentations. Please click here for the link to the live webcast.

2013 Futures Conference agenda:

Friday, October 4
9:10 – 10:00 am CDT — Keynote Presentation by Stephen Mayson
10:00 – 10:15 am CDT — TED #1, What is the Market for Legal Services in the Future (from the buyer’s point of view), Ann Lee Gibson, Ann Lee Gibson Consulting
2:00 – 2:15 pm CDT — TED #2, Innovation in the Law Firm, Jordan Furlong, Partner, Edge . . . [more]

Once again a Canadian law firm is in merger discussions. The Blog of Legal Times said earlier this week that Dentons is in discussions with US-based McKenna Long & Aldridge to create a firm of 3,100 lawyers – assuming no one leaves.

John Grimley makes a good point on this potential merger – what’s really in it for McKenna?

George Beaton said on Twitter, “Pray, why is bigger better for clients?”

My thought is, “My God, what is with this obsession with size?”

The marketplace for large international firms is pretty small – enough for only a very few players. . . . [more]

The CBA Futures Initiative took to the Twitterverse Tuesday night to talk about legal education.

What was supposed to be a half-hour discussion about objectives and obstacles turned into more than two hours of enthusiastic participation from across the country. Mitch Kowalski summed up the responses about 75 minutes in: “So we’ve seen tuition, diversity, maturity, practicality, length of study are issues. Solutions?”

Karen Dyck summed up the legal profession’s response to these issues so far with an emoticon wink: “Don’t change a thing.”

A lot of the early discussion focused on high and rising tuition costs, in response to . . . [more]

The Personal Information Protection And Identity Theft Prevention Act (Bill 211) has recently passed in Manitoba and takes effect upon proclamation.

This Private Member’s Bill was most recently introduced on May 28, 2013 but had been put forward a number of times previously. The Explanatory Note sets out that:

This Bill governs the collection, use, disclosure and destruction of personal information by organizations in the private sector. It also establishes a duty for those organizations to notify individuals who may be affected when the personal information the organization has collected is lost, stolen or compromised.

Winnipeg lawyer Brian Bowman, . . . [more]

The Ministry of the Attorney General in Ontario announced today that they will introduce a Bill to change how legal professions are regulated in the province.

The proposed Bill would allow the law society to recover legal costs from discipline proceedings, and will allow information protected by solicitor-client privilege to be used in hearings.

The main thrust of the Bill appears to provide more equitable representation of paralegals within the law society, increasing the number of benchers at Convocation from two to five. The committee chair, who is elected by paralegal members, can attend Convocation but cannot vote unless they . . . [more]