U.S. President Obama today signed into law the “Speech Act,” which is aimed at protecting U.S. writers from foreign libel judgments from jurisdictions that, in the opinion of a U.S. court, do not adequately protect freedom of speech. Such foreign judgments will not be enforceable in the United States — where, presumably, the writer’s and publisher’s assets are located. The legislation was prompted, as the BBC report says, by a libel suit against American writer Rachel Ehrenfeld who was sued in England, a notorious destination for libel tourism, because of a book on the funding of terrorism.

I believe that . . . [more]

Coming up this fall are two conferences dealing with aspects of law and technology that you won’t want to miss:

1. The Canadian Forum on Court Technology, hosted by the Canadian Centre for Court Technology, takes place in Ottawa on September 22 and 23, 2010. Keynote speakers include Richard Susskind (author of “The End of Lawyers”), Allan Seckel (Deputy to the Premier of British Columbia) and Justice Louise Charron (Supreme Court of Canada). Panels will cover a wide variety of topics including the use of video in the courtroom, online dispute resolution, e-discovery, and modernizing the electronic records in Canadian

Customer service is something that many different types of service providers talk about. But it often fails in execution. While many customer service concepts should be obvious, it is often not done well. Sometimes its not easy when you are the one providing the service to see things from the customer / client’s perspective. 

How many of us, for example, get frustrated at a repair service that says they will arrive at your house sometime on Tuesday.

Or when someone promises to show up at 2:00, and its now 2:30, and you have heard nothing.

Or going for a doctor’s . . . [more]

Not all Slaw’s readers will be aware that Osgoode Hall Law School is being renovated; in fact, it might be more accurate to say the School is being rebuilt. The existing building has been completely gutted, all interior walls and finishes have been removed and everything is being reconfigured, redesigned and replaced. We’re also getting a large addition. For all intents and purposes, it will be a new law school – and this includes the library.

Since starting at Osgoode two years ago, nothing has consumed more of my time than planning the new Osgoode Hall Law School Library. . . . [more]

This is a follow-up to Gary Rodrigues’ excellent discussion about Access Copyright on July 26. Access Copyright has some proposed changes to its tariff before the Copyright Board of Canada. In contention: the high jump in fees per student in academic institutions, and Access Copyright’s definition of “copy” which includes uses already permitted under the Copyright Act.

Some good write-ups about the proposed tariff increase (from anti-tariff viewpoints): Michael Geist, Howard Knopf and Techdirt. I was looking for something pro-tariff not written by Access Copyright themselves, but didn’t see anything. Additional links welcome in the comments! . . . [more]

May we draw your attention to the fact that Slaw book reviews are now published as columns. This means that on the main page they will show up along with other columns in the sidebar to your left. As with other columns, of course, they can be read in full by clicking on the “more” link beneath the main page excerpt.

We have done this so that book reviews can remain on our home page somewhat longer than would be the case if they stayed as blog posts. As you will doubtless appreciate, writing a book review requires a good . . . [more]

New editions of three Canadian legal research guides are coming out this summer, in time for the 2010/2011 academic year. Each is reviewed individually below, followed by some general comments. The books reviewed are:
Legal Research and Writing, 3rd edition, by Ted Tjaden
Legal Problem Solving – Reasoning, Research & Writing, 5th edition, by Maureen F. Fitzgerald
The Practical Guide to Canadian Legal Research, 3rd edition, by Nancy McCormack, John Papadopoulos, Catherine Cotter

Legal Research and Writing, 3rd edition
by Ted Tjaden
published by Irwin Law, 2010
price: $48.95
ISBN: 978-1-55221-175-2
Companion website: www.legalresearchandwriting.ca

"A sophisticated . . . [more]

As we were alerted in a comment by Nick Holmes last year at this time, the U.K. has gathered together in one place nearly all of its online legislation. Legislation.gov.uk is managed by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, in turn part of the U.K. National Archives. At the moment the site is still lacking a promised “changes to legislation” function that will chart the various amendments, repeals, etc. to legislation occurring since 2002. There is, however, a point-in-time search facility.

Curiously, I’ve been unable to find a statement on the site as to whether the online version of . . . [more]

An English court has ruled that the material hyperlinked to an online article alleged to be defamatory can be read to put the article in ‘context’ to understand its meaning: Islam Expo Ltd v The Spectator [2010] EWHC 2011 (QB). (See the story on OutLaw.com.)

Despite the rather unusual statement by the judge that he took the hyperlinked material into account “without thereby intending to imply any ruling, one way or the other, as to whether that approach is right in law” (para 15), I don’t find what he did to be unusual.

Would not a Canadian court do . . . [more]

On more than one occasion, clients have complained to me about what happens after the outsourcing contract is negotiated. The customer or service provider is sobering up from the euphoria brought on by signing the contract, often after months of intense, complicated discussions. They are starting to grapple with the overpowering reality of managing a complex outsourcing relationship on a day-to-day basis. That is exactly the moment when large components of the negotiating team disappear, usually including the lawyers who have supported the delivery organization throughout the contract negotiations. Members of the delivery team aren’t lawyers, but they are left . . . [more]

Actually, it’s this fortnight’s biotech highlights as we catch up from the long weekend. Like everything else in this feels like 35° summer, the biotech market freeze is melting a bit. Ontario in particular has been heating up lately, thanks to two government funding initiatives:

The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), which gave BDC $50 million for Ontario tech investments last year, has allocated $45 million this year to the NRC’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP). The NRC-IRAP program has been active in funding life science companies, so this money seems likely to provide a . . . [more]

One of the biggest “aha” moments of my life happened in a self-development course in my mid-30’s when I realized that I didn’t have to practice law like a man in order to be successful. I could be feminine and still be taken seriously. This realization was enormously liberating, as I was able to relax in my own skin and stop trying to be someone I wasn’t. I discovered that a more collaborative and “softer” approach in negotiations or when dealing with opposing counsel was more successful for me than the aggressive male style I had been trying to emulate. . . . [more]