Watchers of the Ontario Legislature will already be aware that the House proroged last night, ending the 2nd session of the 39th Legislature. With an election scheduled for October 6, this effectively ends the Parliament.

As I did with the federal Parliament, I’ve compiled a list of “orphaned” legislation, and its status at prorogation. Please note that this list includes only the Public Bills, including Private Members’ Public Bills. Additional information on the bills which were defeated or which passed and received Royal Assent is available on the Ontario Legislative Assembly’s website. . . . [more]

Nominations are open until June 20, 2011 for the 12th Annual Justicia Awards that reward “outstanding broadcast and print or Web journalism that fosters public awareness and understanding of the Canadian justice system”.

The Awards are given each year by the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) and the Department of Justice Canada for French or English stories in two categories: print and broadcast media. The 2011 Awards will be presented at the CBA’s Canadian Legal Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia in August.

Last year, a team from the Victoria Times Colonist was the winner in the print category for a series . . . [more]

In April 2010, Terry Childs, a former IT employee with the City of San Francisco was sentenced to four years in prison for blocking access to the city’s network (which he designed) and refusing to turn over the passwords. It took Childs...

Linkedin is the most common starting point for most lawyers when it comes to social media. In recognition of that, I want to showcase a few features of Linkedin that you may not currently be using. 

Status Updates

The status update box has been around for some time now but it is relatively underutilized in the legal community. You can find the status update box either beside or directly underneath your photo on your linkedin home page or your “edit my profile” page. It is a simple white text box that you can update as frequently as desired with a . . . [more]

Today Librarian of Congress James H. Billington appointed Maria Pallante as the 12th Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office. Billington noted the role of copyright and “the particular challenges of protecting authors’ intellectual property interests in the online environment and achieving meaningful exceptions and limitations that serve the public interest in the 21st century.” Pallante’s position includes managing a workforce of 500 people, and handling a series of extraordinary challenges regarding technology, staffing and budgets. See press release. . . . [more]

News reports say that there may be a postal strike in Canada later this week. If it goes ahead, I’m wondering if it might be a tipping point that leads to even less mail being sent.

If we look at the mail we receive at home (after we recycle the junk mail), much of it is bills to pay. The major utilities and credit card companies have online bill presentment options that they encourage us to use. I suspect there are a lot of people who have not made the switch to receiving their bills online simply because they are . . . [more]

Forgive me, please if this is a tad parochial, but yesterday the Toronto Civil Court Lists were made available on the Internet

The Toronto Lawyers Association announced that working with Regional Senior Justice Ed Then, and his Court staff they have finally secured for the benefit of the profession internet access to the Toronto Civil Court lists.

They should be available here. They undertake to post the next day’s list by 5 pm each day (the lists are subject to change).

Currently they have Trials, Pre-Trial & Case Conferences, Motions and Masters’ Motions available. Soon they hope . . . [more]

The first session of Canada’s 41st Parliament is set to open tomorrow (Thursday, June 2, 2011).

Regardless of how you voted in the last election, are you cynical or hopeful that our elected politicians will earn their keep and have a productive Parliamentary session? (Alas, I remain cynical).

Early activity this week should see the election of a new Speaker of the House and perhaps some indication of the direction the new majority Conservative government will take in Friday’s Speech from the Throne.

A good Canadian Press article provides a great overview of what to expect with this new . . . [more]

Indian Kanoon, Dr. Sushant Sinha‘s innovative free-access-to-law service for India, has recently received attention from several sources in the technology world.

First, Indian Kanoon (the Hindi word “kanoon” means “law”) has been included by La Chaire en information juridique de la Faculté de droit de l’Université de Montréal in its IDRC-funded of the sustainability of free-access-to-law services. Second, MIT’s Technology Review India in March 2011 cited Indian Kanoonin its recognition of Dr.Sinha as one of India’s “Top Innovators Under 35.” Most recently, Indian Kanoon was the topic of Dr. Sinha’s VoxPopuLII post entitled

In May, Dr. Sinha . . . [more]

This morning, I’ve awoken to a significant change at my firm. The signs have been changed. New business cards have been issued. Even the stickers in the elevator have been swapped. If you go to www.ogilvyrenault.com, you will be redirected to a new site.

Ogilvy Renault LLP is no more. It is now formally known as Norton Rose OR LLP and is of the Norton Rose Group. I have no doubt we will be informally known as Norton Rose. With more than 2,600 lawyers, the enlarged Norton Rose Group is a now top 10 international legal practice with 39 . . . [more]

With the annual Edmonton Law Libraries Association Head Start program coming up in a few of weeks, and the start date of our incoming articling students just around the corner, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about learning objectives.

For Head Start, the two day legal research seminar that local law librarian volunteers have been offering in Edmonton since 2002, the learning objectives are pretty clear. By the end of the two day session students should be able to:

• Identify whether legislation on a topic exists provicially or federally using primary and secondary sources
• Identify in force

. . . [more]

It’s my opinion that too many people buy insurance policies that should be avoided. I’m not talking about auto, home, health, life and long-term disability insurance policies. Ignore these at your peril. I’m talking about insurance policies that offer questionable value for most people because they are over-priced or offer unnecessary protection.

Here are five examples of insurance policies that I believe most people should avoid.

Mortgage Life Insurance

Banks love to offer life insurance policies that pay off the mortgage if you kick the bucket. But before you sign up, ask yourself, “Who do I want my money to . . . [more]