As mentioned earlier this month on Slaw, the UNCITRAL Secretariat has published WP.107 for its meeting next month, setting out the first draft of a set of rules for procedure in online dispute resolution (ODR). That document is available online. With the same link you will find the report of the first meeting of the Working Group on ODR, from December 2010, to see how the group got to where it is now.

The principle of the draft rules is that they should apply readily to low-cost, high-volume disputes, so they should be simple and accessible and allow . . . [more]

I recently received at my work email address a link to a YouTube video of a very popular Irish television show, Mrs Brown’s Boys. In my opinion, this is the best comedy show that has come from the BBC in a very long time. The episode in question, “Mrs. Brown gets a bikini wax”, was so funny to me, I was crying from laughter at my desk. My first impulse was to share the video with some of my co-workers who have a similar sense of humour. However, I hesitated before I pressed the send button, and I . . . [more]

In my last post on young people’s legal capability, I explored how NGOs such as PLEnet and IARS are piloting innovative Public Legal Education (“PLE”) programmes to enable individuals to take control of their own legal problems. One of the main arguments that I made for PLE is the long term pecuniary advantage to be gained from empowering (young) people to resolve their own legal problems before they reach the stage at which the state might need to step in and provide legal aid funded support. I also made the point that PLE is not a panacea that completely . . . [more]

The United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal released its decision on Monday in FACEBOOK v. CONNECTU, INC., dismissing the claims of the Winklevoss twins, who wanted to renege on a cash and stock settlement deal with Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

The twins claim that Facebook hid information from them during settlement negotiations, estimated at $65 million. They are depicted in the 2010 Hollywood movie, The Social Network. . . . [more]

This is not about the election – it is about the need to consider this issue carefully before passing any new laws.

Michael Geist and David Fraser (here and here) have written detailed articles on this issue that I concur with and recommend. I want to weigh in as well as this is an important issue. I have a problem with legislation that erodes privacy and requires ISP’s or others to retain information for the sole purpose of government access to it. And when that access is not tempered by the need for a warrant.

Issues include erosion . . . [more]

The topic has entered my ken a couple of times recently from unconnected sources (here at the ABA TechShow and in the Economist), so I figure the time may be ripe to do something about the plague of verbiage that infects the bottoms of many emails sent by “important” firms and people. I’m talking about the disclaimers that tell the recipient — often in 8 point type — that the email may contain privileged information, is meant only for the person to whom it is addressed, and should be eaten if it winds up in the wrong hands.

Although . . . [more]

The ISO has been Studying ZIP

Annex A of "New Work Item Proposal on Document Packaging" (April 12, 2010), ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34 N 1414, said:

Today many electronic documents are embodied not in wholly proprietary formats, but in formats built on the foundation of standards.

One increasingly common approach is to specify formats in which XML documents and other digital resources are stored together in an archive based on a minimal implementation of what is known as the “ZIP” format.

Examples of document-centric formats which take this approach include:
• ISO/IEC 26300 (Open Document Format for Office Applications)
• ISO/IEC

A new study of Israeli judges reported on recently in the Globe and Mail strongly suggests that if you’re a prisoner looking for leniency, you may want to wait until His Honour has finished his cream cheese and lox.

Researchers studied 1112 rulings by Israeli judges presiding over parole hearings. At the opening of the court session, 65% of rulings favoured the prisoner but the chance of a favourable ruling dropped nearly to zero by the end of the morning session. Amazingly, after the lunch break favourable prisoner rulings jumped back to the 65% level before beginning a steady decline . . . [more]

As we often do on Slaw, I’m going to alert you to a nifty Google doodle today:

Today is the 50th anniversary of the first spaceflight of a human being. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth for 108 minutes in his Vostok spacecraft. Gagarin died on March 27, 1968. . . . [more]

There is an excellent message from Governor General David Johnston in the Canada News Centre about National Volunteer Week.

This spirit of giving, which often develops at a very young age and helps to define our collective identity, forms the very basis of any dynamic society.

and later

During National Volunteer Week, I invite Canadians to think about how they can make a difference in their communities and get involved. Let us take this opportunity to recognize and celebrate the work of all volunteers.

I hope you enjoy reading Slaw.ca this week. It is the work of many volunteers. If . . . [more]

Roberta Shaffer, the Law Librarian of Congress, recently gave a keynote to the American Association of Law Librarians Vendor’s Colloquium in Chicago, and during that presentation made a number of observations about socio-info, law practice, legal research, and legal publishing trends [Fn. 1], two of which I found particularly important to highlight. First, she said that legal publishers can find lawyers to update existing content, but are having problems getting lawyers to write new treatises. Second, she said our vocabulary has changed, specifically that we are using shorter sentences and shorter words to help us cope with information overload. [Fn. . . . [more]

Standards for on-premise, cloud and mobile technologies used by lawyers have, to-date, been lacking. While an abundance of recommendations, best practices and other guidelines have been issues by Bar Associations and other organizations, there has not been a single, comprehensive document lawyers could look to for clear guidance on what minimal standards should be adhered for on-premise, cloud and mobile technologies.

The International Legal Technology Standards Organization (ILTSO) aims to change that. ILTSO is a non-profit organization consisting of attorneys, bar association representatives, IT professionals, and business leaders with a stated mission of “helping attorneys and clients better understand the . . . [more]