As many of you are aware (and as Connie referred to last week) the CALL/ACBD conference is set to begin this weekend in Ottawa.

In preparation for the conference I want to draw your attention the CALL/ACBD Website, and more specifically the activities of the various committees and special interest groups of CALL/ACBD. Over the past year and a half, CALL/ACBD has embarked on an ambitious redesign and rethinking of how the organization is represented on the web. As part of that process, we have tried to flatten out the structure of maintaining the website. Currently, the chairs . . . [more]

Thinking of using one of the cheap Indian legal research outsourcing firms? Does outsourcing Legal Research breach any rules of professional ethics?

While there has been no determination of this issue in Canada, at least three American bar regulators have chimed in on this subject. The answer is yes, with full disclosure and the referring firm being liable for the work outsourced. . . . [more]

This morning the Parliamentary Committee released its report on the review of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

There are 25 recommendations: . . . [more]

This study, commissioned by the Research Information Network and the Consortium of Research Libraries, looks at how researchers interact with academic libraries in the UK. Based on qualitative and quantitative data from over 2250 researchers and 300 librarians, its aim is to guide the future development of academic libraries in responding to researchers’ information needs. Key themes/issues discussed in the study:
-open access
-branding the library
-researchers’ behaviour (e.g., how they find information, their use of print information resources, etc)
-the library as a physical space/place
-availability of digital information
-researchers’ new ways of working
-communications between librarians and . . . [more]

While I’m not too entranced with some of the fluff questions, there are useful thoughts in Law.com’s profiles of three pioneers in the application of technology to knowledge management.

John Alber – and for John’s other work see KM for law firms–legal or not?

Oz Benamram who’s doing such extraordinary things with Recommind at MoFo.

And Anthony Cordeiro at Shearman and Sterling. . . . [more]

First, the serious stuff. 

A plaint and a plea –

As many (some?) of you have probably seen, there’s a distinct lack of commentary / posting / discussion on the court by people who are (1) not undergraduate law students or (2) maybe “qualifed” [bg] lawyers not hiding behind anonymity. I happen to think both trends are not helpful and not likely to draw participation from practitioners, or at least not those The Court would generally want to have.

I’ll leave it to others to comment on how those trends might affect academics.

If any of you feel you can . . . [more]

It was shown that 87 percent of the popular Wikipedia pages are in the top three result positions for Google, whereas this only the case for 72 percent of the pages if the Yahoo or MSN search engines are used. The presented data has helped to explain how search engines, and Google in particular, fuel Wikipedia’s growth and shape what is popular on Wikipedia — Google giveth, Google taketh.

Anselm Spoerri, What is Popular on Wikipedia and Why? First Monday

The implication in this article is that Google has somehow arranged for Wikipedia’s most popular material to show up in . . . [more]

Between Lawyers has been discussing virtual law firms for some time; they even have a dedicated category. On Monday, fellow blogger Ron Friedmann chimed in with his post The Office is Dead.

So, at this point in time, how realistic is the idea of an entirely virtual firm? I wouldn’t go as far as Bruce and say that ‘face-to-face’ is a fundamental necessity, but I certainly have doubts.

Conceptually, I think many of us techie-types see the day coming when office space won’t be as essential. Tool wise, we’re certainly getting closer. But the idea of taking an . . . [more]

If you don’t find enough to meander through here at SLAW, I highly recommend browsing through The Chronicle of Higher Education. I don’t know a lot about The Chronicle, but it covers broad and varied subject areas. You are bound to find something of interest. We receive their email service Daily Report and we find they dig up a lot of current, solid, pertinent information.

From May 1 to 8 they are having an “Open House“ to let you search for free. They are opening up a number of features as well, and to entice . . . [more]

David Bowie, the eBay auction site and the inventors of YouTube will be honoured with Special Achievement Awards at the 11th Webby Awards, often described as the Internet Oscars, this June 5th in New York.

The Webby Awards are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, “a 550-member body of leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities”.

Academy members include musicians Beck (and David Bowie), Internet inventor Vint Cerf, “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening, Virgin Atlantic Chairman and Founder Richard Branson, and film impresario Harvey Weinstein.

There are awards in some 70 categories, . . . [more]

In a case that marks new firsts – such as an eight million pound legal bill – their Lordships today handed down an odd trilogy of cases concerning claims in tort for economic loss caused by intentional acts. The three cases involve five different alleged wrongs, raising possible causes of action for economic loss: inducing breach of contract (Mainstream), causing loss by unlawful means (Zeta-Jones) interference with contractual relations (OBG); breach of confidence (Zeta-Jones) and conversion (OBG). Lord Hoffmann’s speech is a tour de force – as one would expect.

For the media the central case is the last act . . . [more]

Forty four years ago, President Eisenhower decided to co-opt May Day, the traditional day to celebrate workers – and to honour the Rule of Law.

So was Law Day born.

Law Day in Canada was two weeks ago.

But the controversies over the administration’s policies have raised serious questions about how meaningful is the proclamation of Law Day. The Post and the New York Times both thunder over the issue.

The Times concludes:

The less committed a president is to the law, the more need there is for Law Day, which makes it a holiday whose time has come.