Further to an earlier SLAW posting on blogs by library technicians, I wanted to mention the Library technician dialog blog by colleagues Brenda Wong and Karen Sawatzky that I had previously overlooked. Recent posts cover such topics as lifelong learning, Twitter (on my “to do” list, long overdue, but I remain skeptical) and library operations and procedures. Thanks Brenda and Karen for your perspectives. . . . [more]

WikiBooks was mentioned here sometime ago on Slaw.

I recently stumbled across the site and see that there is some more development, including some law-related books.

For example, an “Introduction to Canadian Law” has been started here (but is still very bare) and there is a start on Canadian legal citation here.

There is more US content, and some topics tagged with a “green box” indicate comprehensive coverage/treatment. There were 3 such titles:

US Copyright Law

US Patent Law

US Trademark Law . . . [more]

With all the exposure we get these days – including published articles, speaking engagements, blogs, websites, twitter, facebook, linkedin, flickr, … – when do we actually “meet” someone for the first time?

When we meet someone in person, we may very well have seen them in those places, or even had a conversation with them in those places. And because us humans have imperfect memories, when we “meet” for the first time in person, there can be that puzzling “haven’t we met before” thought, look, or conversation. And perhaps we have met before – but just not in a . . . [more]

Hi everyone. I’m very pleased to become a member of the SLAW community.

For my first post I want to talk about conflicts of interests claims. They are a key area of risk as I detailed in an article I recently penned on The Biggest Malpractice Claims Risks for LAWPRO Magazine. LAWPRO provides legal malpractice coverage for the 21,800 lawyers in private practice in Ontario. Over the last eleven years in the LAWPRO claims portfolio, conflicts of interest claims ranked fifth by both count (1,322 claims) and cost ($6.0 million), accounting for 6.4 per cent of claims reported and . . . [more]

The Amsterdam Law Forum, an online law journal from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, has just released its first volume, which focuses on the theme, “Inclusion and Exclusion in Western Immigration.”

The A.L.F. strives to offer an online platform for legal and policy commentary articles, with an academic character, yet accessible to a broader public , and furthermore serve as a forum for academic publications by young legal scholars…

The student-managed journal is not peer-reviewed at the moment, though they plan to become so in the future.

Not only is the ALF open access, but it’s also published using open source . . . [more]

In the Video Your Vote project, YouTube and PBS are asking U.S. citizens to video their polling stations today. They are hoping for citizen journalism-style updates as well as recording of problems at polling stations.

From the Video Your Vote website:

“Wait – are you really allowed to take video at the polls??”

Most states do allow you to film at your polling place. However, some states expressly prohibit videotaping and others have strict rules about how close you can tape near a polling place. For information on your area, visit http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/documenting-your-vote

In any location, basic rules of decency apply

I’m pleased to be able to report that Dan Pinnington has joined Slaw as a regular contributor. Dan is the Director of practicePRO at the Lawyers’ Professional Indemnity Company (LAWPRO) in Toronto, an important initiative to give lawyers the tools and resources to avoid malpractice claims. Dan practiced as a litigation lawyer for a number of years and has extensive experience with legal technologies, having been Manager of Information Systems at his firm.

Dan writes and speaks on risk management, technology and law practice management issues, and is currently editor-in-chief of the ABA’s Law Practice Magazine. As well he . . . [more]

The recent announcement by Carswell that its multi-volume print work “Words and Phrases Judicially Defined in Canadian Courts and Tribunals” is available online means that both Westlawecarswell and LexisNexis Quicklaw now offer access to edited extracts of of the meaning of words and phrases as discussed in judicial decisions.

“Plugged in” legal researchers should note however that this does not mean that the same information is now available on both services. Each database is a unique compilation of words and phrases, with different operating guidelines and scope, and different sources of content. Depending upon your need, both services may have . . . [more]

I stumbled across part of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition website, where I found a good swathe of the 6th edition of the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation available online in PDF. The parts that are up are, of course, those that deal with “international materials.” Still, you’ll find nearly 75 pages, all in all. . . . [more]

I noticed this webinar from the American Association of Law Libraries and thought others might be interested:

How to Train Without Showing Up

Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 – register by November 5th.
Time: 12:00 – 1:15 p.m. Central Time

Find out how screencasts and podcasts can be created and used for educational purposes. Our speakers will share how they use screencasts and podcasts in their libraries and will offer you suggestions on how you can use them for training purposes in your own library.

In this webinar you will:

• Get introduced to how screencasts and podcasts are created
• Receive

I’ve been away for a bit, but I’ve been busy studenting (a new word in honour of the impending replacement of W). I expected somewhat of a challenge from the shift to being a full-time student but I will freely admit that it has been a bigger challenge than I first anticipated. It has been more of a mindset question more than any other factor (and perhaps this has been exacerbated by the fact that I am accustomed to being at the front of the room standing and doling out information rather than sitting down and absorbing). But I have . . . [more]

I dropped by the Lords of the Blog site, just to see what was happening with the posting peers and found this nifty question, which Lord Norton took from the Times:

When was the last US presidential election won by the Republicans in which Nixon or a Bush was not on the ticket? . . . [more]