Boasting performance that is an order of magnitude faster than traditional Hard Disk Drives (HDDs), Solid State Drives (SSDs) are quickly becoming a must-have upgrade for desktops and laptops. While HDDs utilize spinning platters that encode data magnetically, SSDs make use of solid-state memory that stores data electronically, therefore eliminating all moving parts and magnetic sensitivity.

While SSDs offer vast performance improvements over traditional HDDs, they introduce new issues for users that would like to wipe data from their SSDs. As pointed out by a recent Ars Technica article, the usual protocol of “secure deleting” files by writing zeroes . . . [more]

But not to smoke in city parks, in Clayton, Missouri, at least. And Arthur Gallagher is fuming about it to the point that he’s hired a lawyer to sue the city for having infringed his constitutional rights. This is hardly a newsworthy event in the land of litigation. What made Courthouse News Service pick up the story was the humorous way in which the lawyer, W. Bevis Schock, set up the complaint. I’ll reproduce the opening bit, and let you peruse the rest of the complaint [PDF] on the Courthouse News site, if you’ve a mind to:

With a bit of effort, the simple and profound 2/3 Rule can transform you and your practice. I have mentioned this rule in dozens of presentations over the last several years and it always gets great feedback so thought it was worthy of a SLAW posting.

This simple rule says the goal of being a happy lawyer with a successful practice can be achieved provided all your clients/matters meet at least 2/3 of the following requirements:
1. You are working on interesting and challenging legal problems.
2. You are working with people you enjoy.
3. You are getting paid for . . . [more]

A few months ago, I left my Blackberry in favour of an Android device and I thought I’d share my experience for any lawyers out there who have been drooling over the many devices that have been hitting the market in the past while and may be wondering about making the switch.

I’ve had my Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant on the Bell Canada network for a few months now and I have to say that I adore it. It’s my first Android device and I switched from a Blackberry Bold that was on the Rogers network.

I’m the only person . . . [more]

With the amount of information available to lawyers increasing alarmingly, anything that can unclutter our lives, and relieve the info-burden deserves attention. 

Adrian Dayton explored one aspect in his article “ “. He pointed out that “… it isn’t about consuming more content, it is about consuming more relevant content.“ While on the one hand, presenting us with a ridiculous amount of information, what tools such as Google, and hypertext/the web also do is protect us, to some extent, from this information burden and complexity, at least with respect to navigation.

We know of hypertext via the web, typically as . . . [more]

Lyonette Louis-Jacques recently mentioned the criminal libel charges brought in France against an American publication for a review of her American book. The French court has now ruled that the case was not properly brought in French courts, that the charge in any event had no merit, and that as a French-trained lawyer, the plaintiff ought to have known that and was therefore liable for abuse of process and ordered to pay the defendant 8000 euros.

Nice to see justice done so forthrightly. . . . [more]

When Watson trumped several Jeopardy champions, Simon Chester wondered what the implications would be for lawyers. The New York Times appears to have answered that question, at least in part, in a story this weekend by John Markoff, Armies of Expensive Lawyers, Replaced by Cheaper Software.

Markoff points to the California litigation support companies Blackstone Discovery, who can analyze 1.5 million documents for under US$100,000, and Clearwell, who assisted DLA Piper meet a one-week court deadline by searching 570,000 court documents for specific concepts, rather than key words.

“From a legal staffing viewpoint, it means

In a previous post, I have outlined a draft Request for Proposal structure (RFP) in relation to courts securing services to develop, deploy and manage a web site designed in accordance with the CCCT IntellAction Working Group Guidelines on Court Web Sites.

In this post, please find our draft evaluation criteria in relation to the RFPs. . . . [more]

Crime Writers of Canada (tagline: the write kind of crime) has released their latest roundup of Canadian recent and imminent crime fiction. . . . [more]

How can individuals be treated equally and yet have their characteristics merged for the purpose of spreading rights to payment over a large group? This question comes up in designing pension plans and insurance premiums. Two recent decisions seem to point in opposite directions.

The Supreme Court of Canada today released its decision in a case about pension benefits and survivor rights. Withler & Fitzsimonds and Attorney General of Canada. The Court upheld the lower courts in finding that reducing a supplementary death benefit to a surviving spouse according to the age of the pension plan member at death . . . [more]

It seems Canada is not experiencing the same level of conflict over the issue of citizens photographing police as our neighbours are. In the UK, the US, and Canada, the general rule seems to be that a person is allowed to take pictures of whatever is visible while standing in a public place. But, as always, the devil is in the details.

In the UK the Counter Terrorism Act of 2008 makes it an offense to photograph certain types of police (see s. 76) where the photos could be useful to a terrorist (with the onus of proof on the . . . [more]

I had a couple of bright ideas recently, one of which I forget and the other of which — well, like my idea for creating a website for good ideas — turns out to have been already done. The thought was to have a web page for each year, where you could find the signal events of that year along with links to news stories and so forth. And Wikipedia had that thought, too.

If you Google 1944 — or 1987, for that matter, though why you would I can’t imagine — the first thing in your results will . . . [more]