Peter Fogh Knudsen, the director of European Consumer Centre Denmark, will be one of the keynote speakers for the 2010 ODR and Consumers Conference scheduled for Vancouver, BC on Nov. 2-3, 2010.

This week in biotech, Canada’s competitiveness was discussed and challenged.

The 2nd Canadian Science Policy Conference took place in Montreal this week. As with last year, the conference this year was full of well-reasoned and compelling ideas. In some areas, like genetically-modified food, Canada is a world leader. In others, like “Encouraging Investment in Science and Innovation”, we are not world leaders. I had the privilege of moderating the latter panel, where one of the few points of unanimity was that biotech entrepreneurship in Canada still faces a cultural hurdle. Programs like those at MaRS and UTM help, but . . . [more]

Ethics committees across North America are, as always, in the process of examining issues of great importance to lawyers in the US and Canada. As part of process of establish new ethics opinions and rules, ethics committees typically hold hearings or publish proposed opinions for comment, seeking input from practicing attorneys.

Unfortunately, these hearings and requests for comment are often met with silence from practicing attorneys. Vendors and other interested parties respond in force, but the group that will ultimately be most impacted by ethics committees decisions have, apparently, nothing to say.

For example, only one practicing lawyer signed up . . . [more]

The University of Manitoba is going to publish the new, peer-reviewed Canadian Journal of Human Rights. Launch is scheduled for the spring of 2011.

From the “about” page:

[The CJHR is] a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal of law and policy with a national and international scope… [T]he CJHR seeks to attract human rights research from around the world. From queer rights in Africa and Aboriginal rights in Australia to the European Court of Human Rights and Human Rights tribunals in Canada, we will explore varied areas of research from diverse perspectives.

The nascent journal is seeking submissions and has set . . . [more]

In this electronic age, many governments are trying to increase their capacity to use information and communication technology, and many citizens expect to deal with their governments electronically. It is natural that attention has turned to using these technologies for voting.

In the United States, in the wake of the problems with old-fashioned voting systems in the 2000 presidential election, many people have been tempted to push voting into the computer age. Congress voted large sums to help states do just this.

However, in its year-end review of 2003, Fortune magazine called electronic voting the “worst technology of the year”. . . . [more]

very different type of presentation software

The Supreme Court of Canada released the highly-anticipated decision in Globe and Mail v. Canada on Friday. The court considered three appeals emerging from the Sponsorship Scandal or “AdScam,” where a misappropriation of public funds in Quebec under Paul Martin’s Liberal Party of Canada, which ultimately led to his party’s downfall. The scandal is still cited as one of the main reasons why the Federal Liberals continue to suffer in the polls.

The Globe & Mail has made their factum and the respondent’s factum available on their website, along with responses from various individuals in the legal and publishing . . . [more]

Some email programs automatically delete old emails after a fixed time. Most come with a function that allows the owner of the system to set up a time after which old emails are automatically deleted (unless they have been moved to particular storage folders, probably). This function seems useful to avoid clutter. It’s like a record destruction schedule.

Is there a standard time at which such auto-delete functions should be set, or should there be? What’s a safe time, legally as well as practically? It is clear enough that without such a function, some people (most?) would never get around . . . [more]

Perhaps not an entirely new concept, considering how well traveled the roads to co-ownership are, but nonetheless, here’s and interesting look at the law of what is becoming easier to do with people you know less well: sharing. . . . [more]

I’m forever blowing bubbles,
Pretty bubbles in the air.
They fly so high,
Nearly reach the sky,
Then like my dreams,
They fade and die.

James Kendis, James Brockman and Nat Vincent – 1919

I refer, of course, to the unfortunate Officer Bubbles, the Toronto police officer who has become something of a celebrity because of, among other things, his lawsuit against YouTube for publishing cartoons of his response during the G20 meeting to a protester who blew soap bubbles in his direction. For those three of you who missed the fuss, the Toronto Star has the story and a . . . [more]

privilege for legal advice from accountants?

“When it comes to customer service,” James Surowiecki noted in an insightful New Yorker column last month, “it seems people are unhappy no matter what side of the counter they’re on.” Surowiecki’s article describes how the only ones more miserable than those who provide front-line customer service these days are those who receive it: neither the buyer nor the seller values or enjoys the post-transaction relationship. 

The reason is pretty simple: during the recession (and, Surowiecki points out, even more so during the boom that preceded it), companies slashed customer service because it was little more than a cost center . . . [more]