Everybody here over 45, with an OHLS LLB, or who has been out more that 10 years, or has a settled position doing something acceptably remunerative, regardless of how long it’s been since you stopped regurgitating (sorry, graduated), put up your right hand if you can think of one valid reason to bother paying OHLS anything to issue you a piece of paper that has York U on it in bigger letters – oops, sorry, that says you can call yourself a Junior Dick(head) – other than it’s somehow more prestigious because it uses the same questionable Latin that would . . . [more]

A notice to the profession on the Ontario Court of Appeal website reads:

Electronic Delivery of Copies of Reasons for Judgment

On January 1, 2010 the court will modernize its procedure for delivery of copies of its reasons for judgment to counsel and litigants.

Rather than requiring litigants or counsel to attend at the registry office of the court to obtain a paper copy of the decision, the court will send a PDF copy of the signed judgment by e-mail to those counsel and litigants who have provided an e-mail address. Copies will continue to be available for those parties

I’m pleased to share that Lawblogs.ca has added another 18 new Canadian law blogs. Since our update in mid-September, the following websites have been added to the list:

• Canadian Business Law Blog (Shane McLean)
• Disability Denied (Mark Yazdani)
• Les chroniques de droit criminel (Eric Bernier)
• IP, Innovation and Culture (James Gannon)
• B-Law-G (Auger Hollingsworth)
• Blogosarus Lex (Legal Resource Centre of Alberta)
• Fired Without Cause
• Nova Scotia Car Accident Law Blog (David Brannen)
• Heritage Law Blog
• Morton’s Musings
• Aboriginal Law Blog (Davis LLP)
• Rehan Khalil

And for Slaw’s Law Librarian readers, you’ll want to check out the latest addition by Tim . . . [more]

I am greatly afeared that this may be old news to some (though I did search slaw.ca to try to make sure that it has not been mentioned here), but it was news to me. And very cool news indeed. The federal parlimentary website has added XML/RSS tracking for the status of Bills. Want to know when a bill is out of committee, or has been sent to the Senate for a sober second thought? Just go to LEGISInfo, choose your favourite bill (or your least favourite bill). Then click on the tag and let your browser or . . . [more]

The Wall Street Journal reports today:

Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI) said Thursday it will cut 240 jobs in its legal businesses, with layoffs focused on locations in North America.

The company employs about 13,000 people worldwide in its businesses providing data to legal professionals. That represents about a quarter of Thomson Reuters’ 53,000 global workforce. In 2008, its legal divisions, which include West, FindLaw, Elite, Carswell and its legal publishing unit, represented roughly $3.5 billion in revenue.

The legal business is part of the financial data and news provider’s professional division, which sells information to professionals in health care, science . . . [more]

Almost every day lawyers send me copies of emails they have received that attempt to dupe them into acting on a matter involving a bad cheque or bank draft. Some of these messages are clearly attempts at fraud; others can look very legitimate. We have seen some one in which a lawyer is contacted and asked to refer the matter to another lawyer, presumably to fool the lawyer getting the referral.

Thankfully, most lawyers seem to recognize when they are being targeted. But we are still seeing some lawyers that are getting fooled – including one just this week on . . . [more]

“The Internet is an open door to knowledge, entertainment, communication – and exploitation.”

This quote is in R. v. Legare, 2009 SCC 56, Justice Fish writing for the unanimous majority (at para 1) (emphasis in original).

While I have no wish to write about the facts in this particular matter, it is interesting that a decision about exploitation should be published by the SCC in December.

Unfortunately, the holiday season is often rife with frauds. A grandson in jail scam was recently reported and McAfee has posted an article in their newsroom titled the 12 Scams of Christmas . . . [more]

The New York Times has released a viewer for its newspaper called the Times Skimmer, which displays stories in a simple grid format for use on small screens such as those on smart phones. Readers are able to choose stories from a menu of Times topical sections and categories. Keyboard shortcuts allow readers to thumb their way more efficiently through the news. As well, they can choose from seven different formats. Click on any of the thumbnails below to see an enlarged version of the format.

The Skimmer isn’t the best way to read the Times on an iPhone: . . . [more]

Here’s a recent statistic from an American study:

“Sprint Nextel provided law enforcement agencies with its customers’ (GPS) location information over 8 million times between September 2008 and October 2009. This massive disclosure of sensitive customer information was made possible due to the roll-out by Sprint of a new, special web portal for law enforcement officers.”

More on the blog of a PhD candidate in informatics, Slight Paranoia.

We have had some debate in Canada about law enforcement’s right to collect from ISPs (without a warrant) the name and address of people behind IP addresses. Cases have gone both . . . [more]

I came across this opening paragraph in a judgment of the British Columbia Court of Appeal in Kripps v. Touche Ross & Co, 1991 CanLII 2261.

On December 4, 1990 this appeal was heard by three judges of this court. Judgment was reserved. In the course of drafting reasons for judgment it was discovered that two judgments of this court relied on by the appellant had been the subject of adverse comment in the judgment of the House of Lords in Rush & Tompkins Ltd. v. Greater London Council and another, [1988] 3 All E.R. 737. It

Since one doesn’t often get a chance to hear Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin being interviewed candidly and directly, here is a link to a video of last night’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin entitled Setting the bar high: Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin on her role as Canada’s top judge.

Among other minor indiscretions, she appears to like the Ottawa Senators: toujours rouge.

We’ve come a long way since Felsky’s, “The Berger Affair and the Independence of the Judiciary” (1984), 42. U.T. Fac. L. Rev. 118, which showed Chief Justice Laskin so anxious to protect the . . . [more]

Some substantive law both because of what happened and because it may give some people cause to think about the consequences of our past action on our environment.

If the decision stands – I expect the plaintiffs will try to get leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada given the amount involved: more than $1.7 million plus interest plus legal fees – it’s proof that the courts aren’t the answer to all problems.

I’ve set out all that’s needed to understand what the problem was, and the end result.

Berendsen v. Ontario, 2009 ONCA 845

http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/2009/december/2009ONCA0845.htm

[1] In . . . [more]