One of the unique requirements that we have in North America to be called to the bar is the articling process, the merits of which have been discussed here. And we have seen law students try to use social media to get these positions.

But I still know an astonishing number of students from the class of 2010 that do not have any articling position at all. Not just from my school, but across Ontario and the country. So here’s my attempt to try and do something about it. . . . [more]

A recent English case considered when an email message is received, for the purpose of accepting an offer of a contract. Thomas v BPE Solicitors, [20100 EWHC 306 (Ch). (The relevant parts of a very long decision are at paras 85 – 90.)

In short, the court held that the postal rule did not apply to an email, as it had been established by authority that it did not apply to other instantaneous forms of communication, like telexes (Entores [1955] 2 Q.B. 327 and Brinkibon [1983] 2 A.C. 34). That said, was the mail received for legal purposes . . . [more]

I am a bit surprised that no one has posted the news on Slaw that Ted Tjaden received the Denis Marshall Memorial Award for Excellence in Law Librarianship at the Canadian Law Libraries Association annual meeting on Monday. A description of the award can be found on the CALL website.

I assume that in due course the Association will be posting some sort of testimonial to Ted on their website along with pictures of the award presentation, but I‘m quite certain that Slaw readers will want to send their congratulations to Ted as well. We are certainly proud to . . . [more]

The Canadian government announced a consultation on the future of Canada’s digital economy at the Canada 3.0 conference this week. I encourage readers to add their thoughts to the consultation process – which is open for the next 60 days.

It is summarized as:

Digital technologies are critical to every aspect of our economy and society. That is why a strategy for the digital economy is needed to ensure that Canada is positioned to benefit from the opportunities that it presents.

All Canadians have a role to play in helping shape Canada’s digital future. Your perspectives, suggestions, ideas and submissions

The text of the Eliminating Pardons for Serious Crimes Act, Bill C-23, introduced in the House yesterday, is available here. It amends the Criminal Records Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-47. The official summary of the Bill reads as follows:

This enactment amends the Criminal Records Act to substitute the term “record suspension” for the term “pardon”. It extends the ineligibility periods for applications for a record suspension. It also makes certain offences ineligible for a record suspension and enables the National Parole Board to consider additional factors when deciding whether to order a record suspension.

According . . . [more]

On May 6th, the federal government introduced Bill C-22, the Protecting Children From Online Sexual Exploitation Act. If passed, the Act will impose a duty on persons who provide an “internet service” (internet access, e-mail or internet content hosting) to report child pornography offences in certain circumstances. This includes when a service provider has reasonable grounds to believe its service is being used to commit a child pornography offence. Fines and offences range from $1,000 to $100,000 for repeat offenders.

This adds to duties embodied in legislation in Manitoba (in force since April 2009), Nova Scotia (in force since . . . [more]

I had the pleasure of presenting on knowledge management at the CALL/ACBD/MichALL law library conference currently underway in Windsor, Ontario. I shared the panel with Ginevra Saylor of Fraser Milner Casgrain, Denise Bonin of andornot, and SLAW’s own Simon Fodden.

It would appear that knowledge management is alive and well, albeit perhaps in an evolving manner. I will try to post shortly in more detail on the discussions that ensued at the session but thought for now I would post here at the following link a PDF of the paper I submitted called The Evolution of Law-Related Knowledge . . . [more]

The CALL/ACBD/MichALL law library conference currently underway in Windsor, Ontario, has had lots of useful sessions, as previously mentioned here on SLAW by Shaunna Mireau.

A busy schedule at the conference, combined with outrageously expensive wireless Internet access at the Caesars Windsor conference hotel, has prevented “live” blogging but I hope to post some entries shortly on lessons learned.

In sharing a panel session of free Internet legal research with Connie Crosby and two American law library colleagues, I learned about and briefly perused Connie Crosby’s new book called Effective Blogging for Libraries available from Neal-Schuman so wanted to . . . [more]

The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History has announced its 2010 Publishing Programme. According to an announcement published in the 2009 Annual Reports and available on their website at osgoodesociety.ca, this year the Society will publish four new works:

1. Work on Trial: Canadian Labour Law Struggles
edited by Judy Fudge and Eric Tucker and published for the Osgoode Society by Irwin Law. $45 incl GST.

2. A History of the British Columbia Court of Appeal
by Christopher Moore and published for the Osgoode Society by the University of British Columbia Press. $45 incl GST.

3. Viscount Haldane: Wicked . . . [more]

The Supreme Court of Washington issued a decision on May 6th supporting a public library’s decision to fully filter Internet content, stating that such filtering could be viewed as “collection development”. The case is known as Bradburn vs. North Central Regional Library District.

Library Journal has an article that summarizes the decision and provides reactions and predictions from various experts. . . . [more]

I am currently attending the 2010 World Summit & Symposium on Elder Mediation and am presenting on ethics on May 11th and advance directives on May 12th. I enclose my presentation slides as follows:

It is estimated that there are currently 3.7 million Canadians over the age of 65. With the leading edge of the “baby boomers” poised to hit retirement in 2011, seniors will soon make up close to a quarter . . . [more]

Hello from Windsor. Like many of my Slaw colleagues, I am lucky to be attending the Canadian Association of Law Libraries Annual Conference this week. The conference has been interesting, invigorating, and energizing so far. 

This evening, an event was held at the University of Windsor Law School, sponsored by Canada Law Book. The event was titled “Innovation gallery”, but really, it was a speed dating event with presentations by a number of very talented people.

Conference attendees had an opportunity to attend five 10 minute presentations highlighting a variety of interesting projects, including:

• “Developing an On-Line Search Thesaurus