The RCMP has recently made changes to the national system for accessing information about individuals’ criminal records. This post describes the relevant background and the changes, with a focus on what is relevant to employers .

Background on CPIC and background checks

The Canadian Police Information Centre or “CPIC” is an information system through which Canadian law enforcement agencies obtain information on crimes and criminals from an RCMP administered national database. The national database contains a range of information useful to law enforcement, including records about hybrid and indictable offences. “CPIC agencies” (local police forces) voluntarily report information to the . . . [more]

♬ Red alert! Red alert!
It’s a catastrophe..♬

Lyrics and music by Buxton Ratcliffe, recorded by Basement Jaxx.

It reads like a bad lawyer joke. How many lawyers does it take to get caught in a fraud scam? Apparently the number is 80. The ABA Journal reported on Nov. 22, 2010 that Federal prosecutors have indicted 6 people in a $32 Million dollar internet collection scam that caught 80 lawyers in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Alabama and Georgia. . . . [more]

Although my copy of the new Bullen & Leake & Jacob’s Canadian Precedents of Pleadings (Carswell, 2010, $299 CDN) arrived earlier this Fall, I am only now taking the time to review it in detail.

The Canadian version of the British classic litigation precedents title comes in a 612-page bound monograph. It is divided into different parts, by topic, with each part edited by a leading subject expert:

Part A: Class Actions (John A. Campion/Sarah J. Armstrong)
Part B: Construction Claims (Duncan Glaholt)
Part C: Defamation (Howard WInkler)
Part D: Employment Law – Wrongful Dismissal (Stuart Rudner/Erik Marshall)
Part E: . . . [more]

Several sources are reporting that a Chinese company called MIC Gadget has stopped selling their Steve Jobs action figure after receiving a nastygram from Apple’s lawyers stating that it violated Apple trademarks and copyrights. See for example Mobiledia, MacLife, Mashable.

This image is from the MIC store.

I get that companies need to police their brands – but let’s think about this for a minute.

Its not as if this in practice causes any harm to Apple or Steve Jobs or confusion about their brand. It doesn’t put Steve or Apple in any bad light- in fact, . . . [more]

I’m currently collaborating with a colleague who is doing a lengthy research project attempting to identify the characteristics, traits and behaviors of the most effective law firm managing partners. In our most recent discussions he posed this question: “In firms you’ve observed where the managing partner isn’t doing well or leadership is weak or dysfunctional, what one or two things do you find are the biggest or most common causes of failure?”

To provide a meaningful response, I went back through a decade worth of notes from training practice group leaders, scrutinized the results from the psychometric data that I . . . [more]

Thanks to our neighbour, Mary Saulig of Goodmans for lending me her copy of an old acquaintance, Benjamin on the Sale of Goods. But this post isn’t about presumptions of delivery or FOB contracts. It’s about one of the most remarkable stories of a legal author I’ve heard.

Let’s start at the Cimetière du Père Lachaise‎ in the 20th arrondissement, though the website doesn’t list this grave, which has this inscription on the tombstone:

Judah Philip Benjamin, Born St. Thomas West Indies August 6,1811, Died in Paris May 6,1884, United States Senator from Louisiana, Attorney General, Secretary of

Let me start by saying two things that I believe:

1. I am an optimist
2. Change is good

I imagine that Slawyers, being those with an intellectual bent who read widely on the web and elsewhere, already know about Patrick Lamb’s recent ABA New Normal column titled “Does It Pay to Hire a Law Firm Librarian?” The comments are interesting and there have been plenty of follow up posts:

LLB – Do law firms still need librarians?
3 Geeks and a Law Blog – Who needs a librarian anyway?
iBrary Guy – A grain of salt and a teaspoon . . . [more]

I am relatively pleased with having updated my iPad last night to the newest version of their operating software, being iOS 4.2.

The much-talked-about update provides folders for apps, integrated email accounts, keyword searching within a Safari browser when on a webpage, the ability to have multiple apps open at the same time plus other features that may prove promising in the future (including AirPrint, currently limited to selected HP printers with that feature).

All in all, it was about a 30 minute process, with it taking longer to sort apps into appropriate folders.

What was not immediately stated . . . [more]

A couple of weeks ago The Guardian covered the publication of Feminist Judgments: From Theory to Practice, by Rosemary Hunter, Clare McGlynn, Erika Rackley, a book of judgments (re)written by British feminists to produce the reasoning and results that should have been there in the first place. It’s the product of the UK Feminists Judgments Project.

If all of this sounds vaguely familiar to Slaw readers, I wouldn’t be surprised. The acknowledged inspiration — indeed, the model — for the UK project is the Women’s Court of Canada, an organization that we’ve covered a couple of times . . . [more]

China China China. 

It’s the mantra of global business & finance and following their lead comes the legal industry.

The flood of international law firms into the Asian region to service the new opportunities in an ever expanding legal market over the last decade has been phenomenal and in 2010 there’s a new gold rush for law firms with china connections for this year’s huge IPO boom

Where the law firms go, so go the feeders, all of them desperately hoping for a piece of the pie.

The region’s two leading locations with a rule of law based on the . . . [more]

I don’t know if this letter is a significantly new version – I haven’t seen it before and am too lazy to check the scam information sites – but it’s the first time I’ve seen it. It’s worth a read and giggle. It’s the version of the scam that involves scammning the mark by warning him or her that there are scams out there. In this version, the mark is explicitly told that he or she has to travel to Nigeria to get the money. . . . [more]

Many of you will launch the same group of sites each time you start your browser at the start of a the day (i.e., email, LinkedIn, Facebook, SLAW, New York Times etc.). Firefox has a great feature that will help you do this more easily.

Notice that the bottom of each folder in the Firefox bookmarks list has a “Open All in Tabs” option.

Create a bookmarks folder called “Startup” and add bookmarks to the various sites you want to launch at the start each day. One click on the “Open All in Tabs” link will open all the sites . . . [more]