Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Use the CanLII Manual to British Columbia Civil Litigation to Find Annotated Rules of Court
Susannah Tredwell

Last Thursday, CanLII unveiled its newest endeavour: the CanLII Manual to British Columbia Civil Litigation. The resource consists of nine “pathfinders” dealing with specific areas of the law, a guide to civil procedure at the BC Supreme Court, and annotated rules of court for both the BC Supreme Court . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Practice

Stay Connected, Remotely
Sandra Bekhor

Lawyers are becoming pretty practiced at working remotely. But just because meetings, emails and deadlines are all on track, doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is under control. Despite everyone’s best efforts to normalize life with video conferencing and other remote management tools, there may still be some looming issues. …

Research & Writing

The Importance of Profreading
Neil Guthrie

The error in the . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

More Miscellaneous Misuses
Neil Guthrie

Annoying little things that have crossed the radar. Air on the side of caution: Uh, no. It’s err. But, as the poet said, to err is human, to forgive divine. … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Bad Business Jargon: The Continuing Saga
Neil Guthrie

Yet more. Above-captioned: This is a truly awful way to describe anything. Substitute this or a concise description of the subject of your e-mail or letter and it will read oh, so much better. Action item: Plain old task will do nicely, thank you. …

Practice

Trauma-Informed Lawyering: The Education You Didn’t Know You Needed
Emma Durand-Wood

What . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Ellipsis
Neil Guthrie

There are two principal and related uses of ellipsis (…), both based on their function to indicate that something has been left out (ellipsis means ‘omission’ in Greek). The first is what we might call the technical use. Here, ellipsis shows that a specific word or larger portion of text has been omitted from a quotation: … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Use an RSS Feed to Track the Progress of Federal Legislation
Susannah Tredwell

In a previous tip, I referred very briefly to the fact that the Canadian federal government and some provinces offer RSS feeds that can be used to track the progress of legislation. The federal RSS legislative feed is very flexible, allowing you to choose exactly what information you want to track. … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Confusing Pairs – More in a Continuing Series
Neil Guthrie

Oh, so many pitfalls. Here are a few more that have crossed the radar recently. Credible/creditable: The first means ‘believable’, as in Inconsistencies in the witness’s testimony led inevitably to the conclusion that her evidence was not credible. … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Situation
Neil Guthrie

If something isn’t a conversation these days, it’s a situation. An extreme weather situation. Or, on public transport in Toronto, any number of the following in service announcements on ttc.ca: an emergency situation, a power-off situation, a flooding situation, even a full-throttle situation. … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Don’t confuse e.g. and i.e.
Neil Guthrie

Many people do, like the drafters of a contract at issue in an Indiana case brought to our attention by Ross Guberman in a LinkedIn post. The contract made one party responsible for ‘the periodic repair of damages to said Easement area caused by vehicular traffic (i.e. potholes)’. … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

An Easy Way to Find Out About Foreign Legislation
Susannah Tredwell

If you’ve been asked to find foreign materials in a jurisdiction you know little or nothing about, GlobaLex (https://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/index.html) provides a number of country-specific resources covering Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Is It Treble or Triple?
Neil Guthrie

They mean the same thing: consisting of three parts or things, three in number, three times an amount. A treble is also a singer with a soprano voice, often a choirboy, or a musical instrument in a high key. … . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Practice

Remembering to Not Forget to Be Ethical
Shawn Erker

Ethical lapses on the part of lawyers are often due to mistake, rather than known wrongdoing. The problem is not intention, but lack of attention. …

Research & Writing

A Far-Flung Correspondent Writes
Neil Guthrie

From Saskatchewan, to ask whether it’s court house or courthouse. Either, really. Or, better, court-house. … . . . [more]