I’d like to find out who else from Slaw is going to the KM Conference for the Legal Profession June 13-14 in Toronto, and any comments about the Arc Group if you’ve had experience with them. . . . [more]

Check out a new blog on research and legal writing. Susan McDonald is a Tennessee attorney, and a graduate of Vanderbilt University and Ole Miss Law School. She practices solo as a legal research and writing specialist, and on her Research & Writing Blog, offers tips and information to help other lawyers improve their writing.

Early in April Slaw, together with the CBA, posted a survey inquiring about public access to Supreme Court of Canada factums. Recently the results of that survey were analyzed and presented to the Court.

PUBLIC ACCESS TO SUPREME COURT OF CANADA FACTUMS
SUMMARY OF A SLAW SURVEY

The Canadian Legal Research and Legal Technology Collaborative Blog, known as https://www.slaw.ca launched a web-based survey of views on the issue of public access to SCC factums. This report summarizes both postings to a discussion of the issue and responses to a web-based survey that was distributed across Canada. Just under sixty responses . . . [more]

Hi Simon,

Looks like I’m going to miss this week’s Slaw post. Here’s my excuse. :-)

See you next week,
Steve . . . [more]

Courtesy of House of Butter comes news of a new social space for lawyers called Lawbby. Oh, the clever name! Launched in April, Lawbby has yet to really take off. I haven’t tried signing up for an ID (not being a lawyer and all), but it has room for browsing of profiles, blogs, discussion forums, polling, classified ads, and group pages (Slaw, anyone?). Here is the press release for more details. . . . [more]

According to a report in the Ann Arbor News the information and published works database company ProQuest is in financial trouble:

The accounting problems at ProQuest Co. raise questions about whether the company will continue to exist – at least under that name – even as it begins moving into a new $34 million headquarters building on Eisenhower Parkway next Monday….

Its problems are big enough that it is planning to sell off its most profitable division to raise cash – and company officials say they are not counting out selling the entire company to maximize shareholder value.

Readers may . . . [more]

The CLA Standing Committee on Intellectual Property and Public Access – International Trade Treaties Working Group has two documents that should be of interest to SLAWers: their report on the WTO/TRIPS agreement, which concludes that the agreement is not especially hostile to balanced domestic copyright legislation, and advises so-called “user groups” and other advocating for balance to confront claims that “international agreements” require extension of ownership domain. The Working Group has also created a GATS and Libraries Pathfinder to assist information retrieval.
Thanks to Lindsay Johnston of the U of A for this. . . . [more]

Well it seems official after the weekend’s vote (barring a re-count) that Montenegro is the world’s newest country, pretty much completing the break-up of the old Yugoslavia (although Kosovo’s status has yet to be resolved). I did some checking this morning to see what law-related resources exist for the new soon-to-be country and it looks like some work needs to be done. Most links are still under the heading for Serbia-Montenegro, which was the latest name for the surviving Yugoslav rump, consisting of a federation of the two entities so that will need to be changed. The link from WorldLII . . . [more]

In the world of legal research, we often take indexes for granted. Alice JanischThanked by David Mullan for a great index to his adminstrative law text. taught me years ago at CLIC that the contribution an intelligent indexer can make to improving the accessibility of legal information is extraordinary.

My single favourite case research tool is the Index to the All England Law Reports, a topical index with multiple cross-references that permits me to see in less than five minutes just how English law has evolved on a particular topic. Much faster than Halsbury’s Laws, even in its electronic . . . [more]

Thanks to Google design whiz, Dennis Hwang for another witty logo this time commemorating Conan Doyle’s birthday.
The other neat feature is that if you click on the original logo, it runs a search of Sir Arthur and his birthday.
Google has an amusing archive of its logos. . . . [more]

The news is that there is no news. but there is an article in The Times today which reviews progress, and explains the copyright issues specific to the UK. With luck the database will be available in the new academic year. But don’t hold your breath! . . . [more]

While I was looking the other way, Slaw received its 1000^th comment. (I don’t usually bold my links, but this one deserves it.) It happened quietly yesterday at 3.27 p.m. E.D.T. and the lucky commenter was Connie Crosby. Drats, I missed it by one… and so did Steve Matthews. This is turning into a good, long, interesting conversation. . . . [more]