The decision that has the law world buzzing this weekend is the release this Friday of Abdullah Al-Kidd v John Ashcroft.

The Plaintiff is an American-born citizen who converted to Islam while he was a running-back at the University of Idaho. He was arrested in Dulles International Airport and transferred to several facilities for interrogation for a total of 13 months, leading to the termination of his job and subsequent difficulty finding employment when he was finally released.

Most employers are not too keen on hiring people that are treated by the government as a common terrorist.

The problem . . . [more]

There has been a legal aid boycott in Ontario by senior lawyers, protesting underfunding of the service in the province, especially for complex cases.

A report by Prof. Michael Code of UofT and the Hon. Patrick LeSage commissioned by the Attorney General of Ontario found that the previous system was placing cases in the hands of lawyers who were probably inadequately prepared to deal with them.

The Attorney General has responded to these issues by pledging an additional $150 million over the next four years for legal aid, a 21% increase, the largest in its history. Min. Bentley said, . . . [more]

If ever you should need an argument against the death penalty, you could scarcely do better than the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, a man executed in Texas in 2004 for deaths by arson — for which he was not responsible. His story is told in “Trial By Fire” by David Grann in the current New Yorker. Willingham’s case has come to prominence again because his was one of the first investigated by a Texas government commission set up to examine errors and misconduct by forensic scientists — something that Canada has recent experience with.

Craig Beyler, an . . . [more]

As Simon mentioned in welcoming me aboard, I have been writing an employment law blog for nearly 7 years now, which is hard for me to believe. At that time, there were only a few active legal blogs in Canada and over these past 7 years I have watched this space develop into a vibrant hub of information sharing, discussion and debate. So for my first Slaw post, I’ll start with a discussion of social networking sites in employment.

But first a digression. I suppose it was only a matter of time, but the ABA Journal reports that the “Florida . . . [more]

All the recent talk here about free speech online is proving extremely relevant.

In the high profile case between Marc Lemire and Richard Warman, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has refused to apply s. 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, which stated that hate messages also affected,

Tribunal chair Athanasios Hadjis said,

Since a formal declaration of invalidity [of Section 13(1)] is not a remedy available to the Tribunal, I will simply refuse to apply these

Hallelujah! Can it be true? I have been arguing for years that all of these standard form contracts that are being forced upon us in the 21st century – are about as far from being “offer + acceptance + consideration” as one can get! First, they force the whole contract on you – then there’s a provision in it that they can change the terms at any time without notice to you! Well apparently the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association has come up with a new Code of Conduct which encourages its members to provide contract language which allows users to . . . [more]

Canadian Press has reported that a group representing Canadian songwriters and music publishers is suing the company that operates XM Radio in Federal Court. The group, CSI, is a joint venture between CMRRA and SODRAC. CSI seeks an injunction preventing XM Radio from broadcasting songs by Canadian artists represented by CSI, until XM’s operating company, Canadian Satellite Radio Inc., pays royalties that CSI alleges were due on July 31.

Some previous reports on the Copyright Board tariff have suggested that the tariff was something of a win for satellite radio. The tariff was set at 6.2% of revenues for . . . [more]

This is a reminder that we should be brief in making our point.

We know this, but often can’t resist saying more than we should. Our tendency to ramble is partly a function of ego. We’re smart, we know things and we want others to know we know things whether helpful or not. It’s also a function of fear. When we don’t trust our argument we layer on lesser alternatives that can harm more than help. Finally, it can be because we’re lazy or time pressed. Long and rambling is easy while focused is hard.

The “case for short” is . . . [more]

The Toronto Star and Financial Post have reported on the latest news in beer branding wars. Brick Brewing has launched a new beer in time for the Labour Day weekend: RED BARON LIME. According to the article, Labatt and Anheuser-Busch are seeking an injunction in the Federal Court of Canada against Brick, as well as damages or an accounting of profits, on the basis of trade-mark and copyright violation. The packaging for RED BARON LIME beer displays images of limes and uses the colour green on its labels and packaging. The packaging for BUD LIGHT LIME also displays images of . . . [more]

I’ve been following the posts and comments about anonymous blogging and free speech rights with interest. It’s hard not to weigh in with a few additional comments (and here, as an academic at heart, I’ll mention a comment I wrote nearly 15 years ago for the University of New Brunswick Law Journal’s Forum on free speech as a previous example of “weighing in”). I don’t know where the parameters of free speech should be, I just know that we need to recognize that vital though it is, other values (equality, in particular, as well as people’s entitlement not to be . . . [more]

WHEN? August 27, 2009

WHERE? Toronto, Fairmont Royal York Hotel. The proceedings were also webcast from the Copyright Consultation website. For video and upcoming transcripts of the Toronto Town Hall, see the website at: http://copyright.econsultation.ca.

WHO? Hosted by the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry. Dianne LeBreton acted as Facilitator. More than 650 Canadians participated in real time (in person and online). Pre-registration to attend the Town Hall was required. Participants who spoke included three representatives from Warner Music Canada (including President Steve Kane), and a representative from each of Sony Music Canada, Universal Music Canada, SOCAN, Writers Union . . . [more]

James Gannon, a newly-minted Toronto lawyer, has a newly-minted blog, IP, Innovation and Culture. Gannon, who has a background in system design engineering, has been blogging on his own site since late July. . . . [more]