This post is what you call “an attention getter.” It will raise eyebrows, but I promise its content is completely family – unless you let your imagination get away from you. No pharmaceutical products are being promoted by this post in any way.

I do apologize to e-mail subscribers of Slaw because their spam filters probably will catch this, if they’re doing their job.

To proceed…

Drafters of legislation can have rather dull jobs at times. At least that’s what my statutory interpretation professor, Randal Graham, claims. He is probably the foremost authority in the field and also drafts . . . [more]

I’m a known advocate for the Google Labs apps, except of course when they fail. But there is a reason – it’s because the development team actually responds to the needs of their users.

This new app announced today proves my point. We have all sent e-mails we wish we hadn’t, whether it was a typo or a forgotten attachment. For some of my peers it’s because they were writing late at night while considerably inebriated.

Undo Send will let you recall this email, hopefully before they receiver reads it.

But there are critics of the new app who . . . [more]

I’m a fan of myths… those big and little stories that persist in various forms within a culture, and often across cultures. Some folks treat “myth” as a dirty word, opposing it to truth or reality, and there’s no doubt that in the grip of a powerful myth we can, individually or collectively, go to places we ought not. But good or bad, myths drive us much of the time, in my view, and so we’d be best off knowing them as well as we can, retelling them consciously, and generally mixing them up to suit our own purposes.

Today . . . [more]

In Montana, W.R. Grace and five of its executives are in court defending charges that:

the company and the employees named engaged in a conspiracy and cover up that risked the lives of people in Libby, Mont., by allowing them to be exposed to a type of asbestos stirred up by the company’s vermiculite mining and ore processing near town.

The case is being reported in great detail, and with lots of context, as a joint project of the University of Montana’s Law School and School of Journalism. Here is the website, and here is the page describing the project. . . . [more]

On behalf of trees everywhere I have made an initial inquiry with the powers that be asking why the weekly paper part of the Ontario Reports is not distributed only in digital format.

Although this issue may of less interest to those outside of Ontario, it does raise questions that are regularly discussed on SLAW.

Background: Members of the Law Society of Upper Canada receive a weekly paper part of the Ontario Reports as part of their membership fees. It contains (in this order): a Table of Contents with brief details of typically 5 to 7 cases per weekly . . . [more]

The Australian Communications and Media Authority plays a role somewhat similar to our Canadian Radio and Television Commission. Recently there’s been a kerfuffle over a list on Wikileaks purporting to be the ACMA website blacklist. The ACMA says that under Australian legislation it is required:

to take action if as a result of an investigation it locates content that is prohibited content or potential prohibited content. In the case of content that is hosted in or provided from Australia, ACMA must issue a take-down notice to the person hosting the content. ACMA has no power to direct the removal of

The Local Government Association has issued a list of 200 words and phrases banned from communications. Here’s the BBC story. And the full list of banned words is here.

While I doubt that any of us will miss predictors of beaconicity, I do wonder at a few of the selections. “Advocate”, for example – what are we going to use instead. “Ask for” does not lend the same weight.

Already I feel myself wandering down the path trod by colleagues during a plain language course I took a few years ago. (Insert your favourite “lawyers and plain . . . [more]

The Alberta Law Reform Institute has been drafting a new set of court rules for Alberta since 2001. Our previous rules came out in 1968 and after 40 years of use, they are not a cohesive read. A little about the project from ALRI’s perspective:

The project goal was to create rules that are clear, useful and effective tools for accessing a fair, timely and cost efficient civil justice system. The proposed rules are:

* short — arranged and written in plain English,
* clear — describe a logical step-by-step process for carrying out a lawsuit, and
* user-friendly —

♫ The lips of the righteous teach many,
But fools die for want of wisdom.
The rich man wealth is in his city;
Do you hear, do you hear, can you understand?! ♫

Lyrics and Music by Bob Marley, recorded by Bob Marley & the Wailers “Wisdom“.

Omar Ha-Redeye’s last post on the iPhone and Privacy caused me to reflect. In particular, he started a train of thought that led to the conclusion that courtesy of the Internet, finding out answers to questions (i.e. the search for knowledge) has never been easier. One can seek information on . . . [more]

The Quebec Government yesterday introduced Bill 18 in the National Assembly.

Officially known as An Act respecting the Compilation of Québec Laws and Regulations, one of its effects would be to give official status to electronic versions of Quebec statutes.

Section 17 of the Bill reads:

“17. The laws published by the Québec Official Publisher on its website, including the Civil Code and the Act respecting the implementation of the Civil Code, are the laws of the compilation and have official status as of (insert the date of coming into force of this Act).”

“Within 24 months following that

I’m not a big fan of receiving press releases, and am likely gluing a bulls eye on my back by writing this post, however… an interesting item did drop into my inbox this morning. McGraw-Hill Ryerson has launched a new website called AuthorExperts.ca to help connect their stable of writers to journalists and MSM.

The concept in itself is interesting, and certainly a value add component for their Authors. In a world where self-publishing has become so incredibly easy, publishers bringing more to the table seems like a smart move. Traditional services like concept vetting, editing, and distribution are . . . [more]

The 7th edition of the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (AKA The McGill Guide) will soon be coming out.

The editors of the Guide at the McGill Law Journal are asking for reader input about any changes to make the famous legal citation bible more user friendly.

They ask that people not forget to press “SUBMIT” at the end of the survey. . . . [more]