Springtime is almost here and for those interested in spreading the word about access to justice this means planning for Law Day 2011 on April 14th.

Law Day is an annual event organized by the Canadian Bar Association that is made possible through the volunteer efforts of hundreds of individuals across the country who donate their time to this worthwhile event. Law Day takes various forms in different provinces and locations across the country however each event shares the common goal of engaging the public and educating them about the law and legal system.

Events this year are slated for . . . [more]

The AODA customer service standard outlines what businesses and other organizations in Ontario must do to make their goods and services more accessible to people with disabilities. Every person or organization that provides goods and services to members of the public or other third parties, and has at least one employee in Ontario, must comply; this includes law firms.

Fronterion, a consulting firm for outsourced legal services, recently revealed the Top 10 legal process outsourcing (LPO) trends for 2011 and released its second annual report outlining the prospects for the LPO industry in the coming year. 

The Top 10 LPO Trends for 2011 are: 

1) A Fundamentally Changing Legal Profession. Continued downward pressure on costs and the globalisation of legal services provide a perfect environment for LPO. Those who refuse to engage with LPO will increasingly become a minority – the industry can no longer be ignored.

2) Enterprise Approach. Many firms already outsource legal work at . . . [more]

I’m inspired to write about cycling to work by just experiencing some of the worst riding weather mother nature has served up this winter. My socks have barely dried out and my toes are yet to thaw, but I still have it in me to plant a bike riding seed.

I re-committed to regularly riding about six months ago. A twice-daily 20 minute ride has since been great for me because:

• it’s faster than commuting by public transport;
• it’s more reliable than commuting by public transport;
• it’s cheaper than public transport;
• it’s good for the environment; and
• it makes me

. . . [more]

I see from this week’s Ontario Reports that there is an advertisement from LexisNexis Quicklaw for their new free app in the iTunes store for the iPhone (but it also works on the iPad).

LexisNexis should be applauded for being first to the market in Canada with a case law database app.

However, in testing it just now on my iPad I think in most cases I would simply launch a Quicklaw session on my iPad’s web browser.

The app is fairly simple. I find the iPhone “size” too small but there was a feature, as is common for iPhone . . . [more]

I’m wondering what readers think about ipad2 vs Android tablet.

Lets assume for the sake of argument that one wants a tablet now, rather than waiting for another year to see how the market shakes out. And assume that the choice is between the iPad2 and the Motorola Xoom. 

Lets also assume that the intended use is a combination of work and personal.

While this is not an exhaustive list, some things to consider are:

ipad2 pros: 

existing user base of 15,000,000 units for ipad1.

huge number of apps

thinner and lighter

ipad2 cons:

no flash support

must use . . . [more]

WordPress is one of best examples of an open-source community delivering a feature rich and market-leading product. From lawyer blogs to law firm websites, it has become as popular within the legal community as it has elsewhere. But the benefits of open-source software ownership inevitably come with some requisite cautionary advice.

Last January, I wrote about a hacking trend whereby automated scripts test every word in the dictionary trying to gain access to your WordPress administration password. This is a problem, not least because at least 55% of all content management system (CMS) installs operate on WordPress. 

It’s becoming clear . . . [more]

In a decision just now handed down, the Alberta Court of Appeal has ruled against the federal government in Reference re Securities Act (Canada), 2011 ABCA 77. The main question put to the court by the government of Alberta was as follows:

1. Does the Parliament of Canada have the legislative authority under the Constitution Act, 1867:
(a) to pass sections 295, 296 and 297 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2009 S.C. 2009, c.2,
(b) to pass legislation that is co-extensive in substance with the Alberta Securities Act and similar to the draft Securities Act appended to the

. . . [more]

The Paris Court of Appeal decided in late January that Google was not liable to the holders of copyright in images found through the search engine, for publishing their images or for contributing to infringing uses of the images. A summary of the decision (in French) is here.

The court held that both Google Inc and its French subsidiary were subject to the jurisdiction of the court, and that the searches had occurred in France. However, the images located by Google were those on the publicly accessible sites of the content owners. Google could not be held responsible for . . . [more]

The stress of passing the Bar is present in every student’s mind from the very beginning of their legal studies. In Quebec, the ideal time to apply and find an internship in one of the top prominent law firms is during the second or third year of law school, during what is referred to as the ‘’course aux stages’’ (i.e. the race to find an internship). Not every student participates in the event and only a select few who take part have the privilege of landing an internship. Some students with connections find a spot in midsize firms, . . . [more]

Thumper’s law: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all”.

The cost of not being nice was recently measured in a recent social media defamation settlement. The New York Times (among others) recently reported a $430,000.00 settlement was reached in Simorangkir v. Love.

The Citizen Media Law Project has a great deal of information on this saga, including pleadings.

I would like to see a judicial decision address the issue of whether there is defamation via a 140 character tweet. I don’t think media reports of a settlement are quite enough to settle this . . . [more]

Thanks to a tweet by Colin Lachance, I found out about the U.S. site Supreme Court Haiku, where judgments of that court are rendered in seventeen syllables. Colin challenged Slaw to come up with mini-poems for our own high court opinions, and I’m picking up the glove here, with the hope that our readers will add to my effort.

Supreme Court Haiku follows the typical move of this Japanese form into English, as described in Wikipedia:

Haiku (俳句 haikai verse?) plural haiku, is a form of Japanese poetry, consisting of 17 moras (or on), in three phrases

. . . [more]