Rachel Rodgers makes a great point in her post today at SPU — the idea that in business, everything has a cost. She illustrates:

“Using an old laptop that gives you trouble every now and then has a cost. The cost is lost time that could have been spent working and the ensuing frustration that prevents you from being creative.”

or,

“Not purchasing software that makes work flow and management efficient has a cost. Not having staff that can handle certain time consuming tasks has a cost.”

She also correctly notes that even for a new business, sweat equity . . . [more]

The issues of prayers and religious symbols in provincial legislatures and municipal councils; religious-based schools and practices; and Canada as a multicultural country have caused widespread debate in Quebec and across Canada of late. You can hardly open a newspaper or listen to a news report and not catch at least one instance of it. Furthermore, with the recent increase in immigration, many Quebecers—and Canadians—are trying to define their identify: what does it mean to be a citizen of Quebec and a citizen of Canada? It has become a national issue!

Wanted: Legal project manager.

Reports to: Every lawyer in the place, and some of the paralegals as well

Required Skills: 

• Herding cats
• Finding the words in alphabet soup without the noodles
• Singing that song from Man of La Mancha with a straight face (though not necessarily on key)
• Able to leap at least small buildings in a single bound (trampoline permitted as accessory, but candidate must supply the trampoline)

Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Babysitting harried grown-ups 
• Saying “no” to professional negotiators who carry Getting to Yes in their pockets
• Plate spinning and chain-saw juggling
• Doing more with less
• Getting dual-optimal results

. . . [more]

Apple just held its press conference. Details about the iPad 2 will be found in the tech press. Engadget.com, wired.com/gadgetlab, and cnet.com are good ones to look at. Even the CBAPracticelink has an article about it. No doubt they will all have articles very soon comparing the iPad2 to the Motorola Xoom, and the upcoming Blackberry Playbook. And speaking of the Playbook, RIM gave an update and demo yesterday – but apparently still no details on launch date or price.

As I’ve mentioned before, tablets will forever change how we consume information and media – both as a consumer . . . [more]

Marketing of philanthropic activities is not a new concept and now appears to be the norm for most law firms with their involvement in various charitable campaigns, fundraising events and pro bono work. What is surprising is the low profile these activities have on law firm websites and the lack of a consistent approach within the profession. An informal survey of 15 large to mid-size law firm websites found Corporate Responsibility under the following sections:

• “About Us” section – 10 sites
• “Student Recruitment” section – 4 sites
• “Home Page” – 1 site had a direct link on its home page

. . . [more]

SUBJECT: Distribution of Hard Copies of Senate
Publications – Phase II

On may 26, 2010, following a proposal adopted by the standing committee on internal economy, budgets and administration, the distribution of hard copies of the senate order paper, journals and debates was eliminated within the parliamentary precinct.

This venture reinforced environmental stewardship by reducing paper printing and followed up on the Senate Administration’s strategic review of expenditures.

On December 9, 2010, the Internal Economy Committee adopted Phase II of the paper reduction exercise which will further assist in this venture.

Effective immediately, the printing and distribution of all Senate

. . . [more]

The Beef Cattle Marketing Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. B.5, s. 3, provides:

3(1) Except under the authority of a licence, no person shall sell cattle.

(2) Every person who sells cattle shall be deemed to be the holder of a licence.

This technique certainly cuts down on unnecessary paper work!

I did not find this; a colleague directed me to it. He described it as “the best tautological statutory provision” that he had seen. . . . [more]

Every so often — it seems to happen as Spring approaches — I ask your indulgence as I leave the law track to wander off to some shiny thing or other that pleases me so much that I need to write about it on Slaw. I ask it now, in order to point you to a pair of developments at Google that might just please you while you wait impatiently for Winter to end.

If you enjoy food, you may cook. And if you cook, you may occasionally want to glance at a recipe. It used to be that you’d . . . [more]

A frequent posting on the Canadian Association of Law Libraries listserv (CALL-L) is a request for an English translation of a Canadian court decision written in French, typically from a Quebec court.

Although the CALL-L Archives contains some of the information that follows, it does not contain all of this information. In addition, responses in the Archives are not accessible by non-subscribers and hence are not indexed by Internet search engines. As such, my goal with this post — with the help of any SLAW readers adding additional information or clarifications in the Comments section below — is to update . . . [more]

Software developer Aji has just released a new version of iAnnotate with some feature upgrades that will please lawyers who’ve given up reading printouts of cases but crave an active electronic reading experience. Here’s Aji says about version 1.4:

Version 1.4 adds: Typewriter annotations, thickness and transparency for drawing annotations (including a “free-form” highlighter), and ability to view many other types of PDF annotations created in other tools. The ability to save web pages as vector (fully-searchable, highlightable) PDF files. The ability to import Word and PowerPoint files as vector PDF. Single-page mode option including swipe, slide, and tap to

. . . [more]

This post concludes with the last two draft recommendations of the CCCT IntellAction Working Group on Court Web Site Guidelines:

• Site Features – Keep It Simple
• Publication of information – Make It Simple

The previous draft recommendations can be found here:

• Court Web Site: Use a Web Content Management System
• Court Intranets: Use the same Web Content Management System
• Recommended content of court web sites
• Search, Navigation & Taxonomies – Keep It Simple

Grateful for any comments and suggestions that you may have – merci! . . . [more]

Now that 2010 has come to a close and the ink is dry on the flurry of year end deals, many of us can now sit back . . . draw in a long, deep breath . . . relax . . . and start to focus our vision on the opportunities that lie ahead for 2011. What would the start of a new year be without some predictions on the future of business process outsourcings (BPO). Here’s some of our projections for 2011: 

Importance of Cost Reduction – Cutting Measures 

The debates continues as to whether or not we . . . [more]