The Law Foundation of British Columbia has announced a new fund of $100,000 per year to support legal research in BC.

The fund will offer $100,000 annually, with a maximum of $20,000 allocated per project. The purpose of the initiative is to support projects that “advance the knowledge of law, social policy, and the administration of justice”; and also to encourage projects that “reflect the diversity of British Columbia.”

Letters of intent must be received by Sept. 23, 2011, and should be discussed with program director Michael Seaborn prior to submission.

(HT: BC Law Watch Blog) . . . [more]

Now and in the coming months, members of the Canadian Forces will be returning from military service in Afghanistan in significant numbers. Many of them, Reservists, will be returning to civilian work. We all owe these soldiers a debt of gratitude for their service. Employers specifically owe them a number of legal obligations, under Employment/Labour Standards legislation in various jurisdictions.

Hot: Discussing the civil justice system

Not: Funding the civil justice system

The civil justice system will likely never be a popular subject of household discussion or even a top trending topic on Twitter for a day, but it is receiving a little more attention in mainstream and social media of late. Sadly, it is receiving attention for all the wrong reasons. In the United States, the new feature-length documentary Hot Coffee explores a nation-wide conservative campaign to institute tort reforms that restrict the liability of corporations and medical professionals, but likewise limit access to justice for ordinary Americans. British . . . [more]

Seems that every couple of years or so I feel compelled to refer to the witticism about the unpleasant nature of making laws and sausages. This time, however, the link between the making of food and laws is rather more serious; this time the laws would compel us to avert our eyes — from farming, at least.

As factory farming has grown over the years, competition has increased and the pressure on farmers to keep the price of food low has remained steady. The result in many, or most, cases has been a deterioration in the conditions in which food . . . [more]

With all the flooding news and euphoria about getting an NHL team again (Go Jets Go!), you could be forgiven for thinking nothing else was happening in Manitoba. However, you would be seriously wrong.

Manitoboba amended the Elections Act a few years ago, adding fixed-year election terms (s.49.1(2)), with October 4, 2011 being the first one. One of the conditions requires that the government not advertise or publish information about its programs or activities in the 90 days before October 4th. This means we are seeing a flurry of announcements in this run-up to the end of the current legislative . . . [more]

Set out below is one technique I use to make doing legal research on the iPad easier. If readers have other suggestions, I would welcome comments.

Rather than create Safari browser “Bookmarks” on my iPad, I instead found it more useful to use the option of “Add to Home Page.”

What I have therefore done was this: I use a customized HTML “home page” at work and on my home laptop that is organized into 6 “boxes” providing links (and password information) to web resources covering such things as reference tools, books, publishers, journals, research databases, news, case law, precedents . . . [more]

There are a number of newly-published-or-soon-to-be published new editions or new titles in the Canadian legal literature that caught my eye as being useful research tools.

I have set some of these titles out below in alphabetical order by publisher (note: the dates indicated are from the publisher’s website; as you know, these dates are sometimes “approximate” due to the inevitable delays – usually by authors! – in getting books finalized for publication): . . . [more]

A survey by British ISP BE Broadband shows that if the three strikes proposal in the UK Digital Economy Act becomes law, it won’t significantly deter behaviour. Only 5% of those surveyed said they would reduce or stop using filesharing software. 47% said they would simply take steps to conceal their IP address. 

This article at TorrentFreak.com talks about some of the concerns about three strikes laws, such as putting innocent users at risk, and a UN report that says such laws breach human rights.

Three-strikes laws are a controversial proposal to address download infringement concerns of creators and publishers . . . [more]

In light of the recent “birthdays” of each of Canada and the United States this past week, I am somewhat re-assured of my Canadianness in noting the differences in media reporting over the relatively notorious jury verdicts on different trials released in the past few days.

Both cases are tragic since they both involved the killing of young children.

In both trials, the accused parents were found not guilty, albeit for different reasons, perhaps surpringsly so based on media accounts (but not apparently too surprising for the respective jurors who sat through weeks of testimony hearing all of the evidence). . . . [more]

You might have read last month that the Law Society of Upper Canada is worried about the newest articling crisis in Ontario. So worried, in fact, that it’s going to set up a working group to examine the problem. 

I don’t mean to belittle this effort, which is surely well-intentioned. But few subjects have been studied, task-forced and working-grouped more than articling (Ontario’s last kick at this can was in 2008), so it’s difficult to believe this new version will deliver different results.

What’s the nature of the latest crisis? According to Law Times:

• The number of registrants

. . . [more]

When it comes to purchasing things, I research things to death. One of my favourite resources is Consumer Reports magazine. It provides independent information, advice and reviews on just about any and every product or service you can purchase (televisions, cameras, cell phones, small and large appliances, cars, food products, hotels etc.).

The articles review the features you should know about in so far as selecting between different models and they have helpful charts that rate and compare the top-rated options. They provide information on pricing and other tips to save money. There is also great reliability and repair info . . . [more]

On Firmer Ground is a brand new blog site by and for law firm librarians. It is a collaborative effort of the Legal Division of the Special Libraries Association, the Private Law Libraries Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries, the Canadian Association of Law Libraries/L’Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit and the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians.

OFG is an ongoing discussion about the challenges law firm librarians face and strategies for surmounting them. We are not here to merely talk about the state of our industry. We are here to discuss proactive solutions

. . . [more]