Lawyers and law firms have a complex relationship with journalism and public relations, I’d say: control, reputation, social positioning — power, if you will — all these can intersect in interesting ways for this trio of influence- and word-mongers. The recent brouhaha in Britain over the News of the World and Murdoch’s News Corp. phone hacking mess illustrates some of the less happy aspects of this interaction. Normally, we here at Slaw would be more focused on the legalities; but I think it’s enlightening, for a change, to look at this scandal from the public relations point of view, and . . . [more]

Ubaka Ogbogu, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Alberta is writing what I expect will be a very useful blog called Health Law in British North America. The blog is very new – there are only a couple of posts, but they lead to some interesting places in google books – historical statutes of Canada for example.

I like that the blog links to places I rarely visit:
British Library: Canadian Collections
History Matters
NLM:Medicine in the Americas, 1619-1920
SSRN Legal History Page

Professor Ogbogu’s teaching and research interests include health law, law and bioethics, law . . . [more]

There is a strong likelihood that a significant metric of Slaw readers are law firm associates. If this describes you (or if it doesn’t) you may want to consider a strategy that I have learned will help advance or secure your career: Read what your boss reads. First define who your boss is, or who you would like your boss to be. Next identify what the issues are that keep your boss awake at night. Monitor those topics and concepts. Be prepared to share what you find useful or interesting.

I am extremely lucky to have colleagues who send me . . . [more]

Finding something on Social Media 101 for the right audience can at times be a challenge. There are plenty of basic documents for business, marketing and Public Relations. But what about lawyers, librarians and others? What if your audience does not care about “building a strategy” but just wants to know what social media is and how it is used?

On a recent hunt for just such material, I came across a nice briefing series from the Canadian Library of Parliament written last year. The series includes five publications on selected topics:

• Social Media 1: Introduction by Michael Dewing (Feb

. . . [more]

Scribes is an American society whose goals include the creation of an interest in writing about the law, and above all, the promotion of a clear, succinct and forceful style in legal writing.

A few years ago some Bay St law firms subjected their associates to compulsory viewing of videos of interviews of US Supreme court Judges on the subject of persuasive writing. These interviews have now been transcribed and can be accessed in PDF form at Scribes Journal of Legal Writing.

In what the New York Times described as a “trove” of interviews conducted in 2008, eight justices . . . [more]

With digital publishing coming of age, many publishers are rethinking how they produce and sell their content. One of the main challenges we face as publishers is making our content and products accessible.

The UK government commissioned a review of intellectual property policy back in November of last year. The report [PDF] of commission chair Professor Ian Hargreaves was released today, making:

…

10 recommendations designed to ensure that the UK has an IP framework best suited to supporting innovation and promoting economic growth in the digital age.

A significant thrust and recommendation of the Hargreaves Report is that policy must be made on the basis of actual evidence, principally economic evidence, rather than the urgings of lobbyists as has been too often the case. The Commission considered adopting the American “Fair . . . [more]

Howdy from Calgary! I am at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries.

There is a lot of interest in the discussions taking place at this year’s conference. I am hearing from law librarians, legal publishers, knowledge management directors, and many others as to how they can follow along if not in attendance. There is a lot of buzz about greening the library, time management, workflow, digitization, budgeting, cost recovery, legal project management, and ebooks. All the hot buzzwords! I have had more than a few people ask me to let them know the outcome of discussions. . . . [more]

Kent Law School in the UK has launched the inaugural issue of a new open access journal, feminists@law. This from the journal description on the home page:

feminists@law is a peer-reviewed online journal which aims to publish critical, interdisciplinary, theoretically engaged scholarship that extends feminist debates and analyses relating to law and justice (broadly conceived). It has a particular interest in critical and theoretical approaches and perspectives that draw upon postcolonial, transnational and poststructuralist work. The journal publishes material in a range of print and multimedia formats and in English and other languages. The journal is committed to an

. . . [more]

LisNews points us to an interesting alert on the vulnerability of ebook reader apps to linkspamming, phishing and, potentially, the full range of malicious exploits.

As the full potential of hypertext for the communication of book-length works is incrementally being explored, I suppose this development is inevitable. . . . [more]

I am always fascinated by how the law is viewed by non-lawyers. Fiction is always a good place to come across these viewpoints. I saw an excellent example recently when reading John Steinbeck’s ,The Grapes of Wrath.

It tells the grim tale of the Joad family, forced off their land in Oklahoma by drought and the economic hardship of the Great Depression.

They pile all of their belongings on to a modified truck and head west, lured by handbills calling for fruit pickers in California. Grandpa dies of a stroke on the road. The family is confronted with the dilemma . . . [more]

Lawyers work with words. Tears, fisticuffs, power drills, or whisks won’t take you very far when you’re arguing. I’m told that a good haircut and a good tailor can help; but even these won’t do much for you if you’re drafting. Basically, it’s your command over language that lets you make a case.

That being so, it’s not surprising that more than a few lawyers display an interest in grammar, syntax and usage — elements out of which meaning is made. Of course, these are some of the professional possessions of those who study in the field of linguistics. This . . . [more]