It is being reported in the news that yesterday, the Quebec Court of Appeal overturned a decision rendered by the Superior Court of Quebec refusing to authorize a class action filed by three residents of a suburb of Quebec City against the Quebec Minister of Transport due to the alleged noise pollution caused by the nearby A-73 highway (see a French article in La Presse).

In 2009, three residents filed a motion requesting authorization to institute a class action in the name of approximately 1000 residents living in proximity to the highway. According to studies, the noise level caused . . . [more]

The term “brick” in computer parlance means to turn an otherwise usable computer into a useless piece of silicon and plastic. As a careful lawyer, you are already planning for disaster by performing regular backups, protecting your online and personal computer accounts with strong passwords, and so on. There are places in where your law practice software and hardware overlaps with your meatspace, where you become the cause of your law practice becoming a brick.

I liked how a panel on business continuity at the recent Law Society Solo and Small Firm Conference emphasized the mundane over the . . . [more]

TED Curator Chris Anderson suggests that we help curb the proliferation of emails by subscribing to a Charter that he and fellow TEDer Jane Wulf have devised. He argues that in some sense we have all joined spammers in contributing to the modern “tragedy of the Commons” that our summed-up bad behaviours have produced. You’ll get a much better idea of what he means by reading the actual Charter, set out below. (It’s available as plain text and as a PDF, also, in case you want to pass it around the office — not by email.) . . . [more]

Occasionally, we hear about celebrities or athletes whose oversized egos tripped them up in public, and we blame their downfall on “reading their own press clippings.” A similar danger lurks for lawyers who are simply trying to promote themselves online.

When it comes to marketing, lawyers are commonly encouraged to focus on the concept of expertise. Specifically, they’re advised to become the “go-to expert” in their chosen field, or even to become (a term I’ve used myself in the past) a “thought leader.” It’s a fine idea, but there’s a problem: some lawyers have taken this advice literally . . . [more]

Lawyers and their clients are more mobile than ever before. With the Internet, easy international travel and a global economy, relationships and business transactions – and legal matters and disputes – frequently cross international borders. Handling matters that involve foreign law can increase the risk that you will face a malpractice claim, and can have important malpractice insurance implications that you should keep in mind.

This article highlights activities and situations involving dealings with foreign lawyers and foreign law that can lead to situations that will likely not be covered under your E&O policy. . . . [more]

The latest in metasearch engines appears to be Fastoise (presumably rhymes with “tortoise” if the graphic is any indication). Fastoise searches across search engines Yahoo! and Bing (both of which use Bing’s search tool), YouTube and Twitter.

Results are separated into four columns, with images from the search across the top. I could not see any related RSS feed or alert service, but results can be shared across Twitter, Facebook and Google+ (the newest social network).

. . . [more]

The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) was established by the Equality Act 2006 with the ambition of creating an equal society which respects human rights. The government in its consultation, Building a Fairer Britain: Reform of the Equality and Human Rights Commission is now proposing that the equality and human rights champion has its wings clipped and turned into a mere regulator through the repealing and amending of certain sections of the Equality Act 2006. Under the proposals, the EHRC would in effect no longer be a champion of equality and human rights, but instead an isolated . . . [more]

As Toronto celebrates the 31st annual Pride Parade today, it’s worth remembering that Canada maintains some of the most progressive LGBT legislation in the world.

This year I joined the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) with a million people in what’s estimated as the largest parade ever.

The CCLA has expressed concerns about the continuing funding of the parade.

Daniel Dale of The Star caught us on Twitter. . . . [more]

Today is Canada Day, so we’re all off celebrating. But because it’s also Friday, I thought I’d schedule this fillip for the folks south of the border and those Canadians who have taken their CrackBerrys to the cottage. It’s just a bit of musing on that “best friend” of summer celebrations, the humble hot dog — the frankfurter, the wiener, and surely one of the “wurst” hits of nutrition going.

Western lit first records the hot dog in ancient Greece, marking even then the eagerness of the diner: in the words of Homer’s Odyssey,

[H]e tossed about as one who

In mid-May, the Council of Canadian Academic Law Library Directors adopted the Calgary Statement on Free Access to Legal Information.

The Statement, that promotes the principles of open access in legal scholarly publishing in Canada and free access to legal information in society, follows the Durham Statement on Open Access to Legal Scholarship adopted by the law libraries of major American universities in late 2008.

The Durham statement called for two things: (1) open access publication of law school–published journals; and (2) an end to print publication of law journals, coupled with a commitment to keeping the electronic versions . . . [more]

The CRTC today published proposed regulations for the anti-spam act. Apparently there are still some to come from Industry Canada. The CRTC invites comments on the draft until August 29. From the CRTC notice:

The Commission calls for comments on new draft regulations, Electronic Commerce Protection Regulations (CRTC), with respect to the form and certain information to be included in commercial electronic messages (CEMs) and with respect to requests for consent for the sending of CEMs, the alteration of transmission data in electronic messages, and the installation of computer programs. The draft regulations are made pursuant to legislation which gives . . . [more]

The Association of Community Legal Clinics of Ontario (ACLCO) is looking for:

a dynamic, self directed, results-oriented individual to implement a custom designed knowledge management strategy with the 77 clinics that make up the community legal system in Ontario.

The position is for twelve months, with a possibility of an extension for two years.

The ACLCO KnowledgeNOW Discussion Paper and Report of 2010 laid out a series of recommendations concerning knowledge management across the clinic system. The successful applicant is to fashion and carry out a strategy to put them into effect.

The full job description and the 2010 report . . . [more]