Here out west you’ll find a “Beads and Granola” culture (thank you, Douglas Coupland), where our mild work ethic, sea-to-sky nature and hospitable year-round climate lures would-be lotus eaters from across the vast confederation. British Columbia’s fresh air and crisp scenery encourages outdoor activities of all kinds. Even our roadways are a balmy, unblemished asphalt invitation for physical enjoyment through bicycling.

So it’s somewhat surprising that despite a progressive vibe, BC’s cycling laws are among the least friendly in the country.

Even as BC’s capitol city boasts astonishing commuter stats—at 5.9% Victoria has basically three times more bike commuters . . . [more]

Many lawyers assume that simultaneously acting for members of the same family and their business or corporate entities is relatively safe from fraud and conflicts issues. After all, the parties all know each other and everyone is on good terms.

Unfortunately, this is just not the case. An analysis of LAWPRO claims files tell us that there is actually a greater likelihood of a fraud or conflicts of interest issue when clients are related to or know each other.

Understanding when and why malpractice claims arise when work is done for related clients can help you avoid a claim.

When . . . [more]

One of the more opaque aspects of learning about linked data can be understanding and using SPARQL to query RDF triple stores. In a recent post to the LODLAM Google group (which originated on the CODE4LIB list) Arwen Hutt (Geisel Library, University of California, San Diego) asked a question about any SPARQL workshops that might be available. He received references to a number of good resources that I thought I’d highlight for anyone interested in learning to SPARQL.

UK Library and IT consultant Owen Stephens suggests his presentation from November, 2013, called, “Selecting with SPARQL: Searching . . . [more]

My February post suggested that a “Social Lab” may be a way to tackle the “implementation gap” in justice reform. On June 1 and 2, an important step was taken towards using this approach in British Columbia as a strategy to improve the family justice system for children and families. The BC Law Foundation / Legal Services Society Research Fund funded a two-day workshop in Vancouver facilitated by Adam Kahane and Monica Pohlmann of Reos Partners. This post highlights the key learnings coming out of those two days.

What is a Social Lab?

The workshop provided both a deeper exploration . . . [more]

Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award­-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from sixty recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible.

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. Excess Copyright  2. Canadian Appeals Monitor  3. Law of Work  4. Slater Vecchio Connected  5. Clicklaw Blog

Excess Copyright
Leuthold Loses Longshot Appeals In Her Litigation Against CBC

The Federal Court of Appeal on June 27, 2014 has given its judgments in Catherine Leuthold’s two uphill appeals in a . . . [more]

Today is the finals for the 2014 World Cup between Argentina and Germany.

Although I don’t follow sports much, you cannot but help notice the sea of multicoloured jerseys around you. So I did what any disinterested lawyer would do, and I started taking a look at the laws around the FIFA competition.

Of course FIFA has its own Laws of the Game, a 140 page document which details how the matches will be taking place. I’ll be carrying this handy document to the finals to look closely for any contraventions of the rules, though it’s unlikely any of . . . [more]

Every week we present the summary of a decision handed down by a Québec court provided to us by SOQUIJ and considered to be of interest to our readers throughout Canada. SOQUIJ is attached to the Québec Department of Justice and collects, analyzes, enriches, and disseminates legal information in Québec.

Droits et libertés : La réhabilitation en vertu de la Loi sur les jeunes contrevenants constitue un pardon au sens de l’article 18.2 de la Charte des droits et libertés de la personne; la portée de la protection offerte par cet article est la même, que le pardon ait été . . . [more]

On one Sunday each month we bring you a summary from Supreme Advocacy LLP of recent decisions at the Supreme Court of Canada. Supreme Advocacy LLP offers a weekly electronic newsletter, SupremeAdvocacyLett@r, to which you may subscribe.

Summary of all appeals and leaves to appeal granted (so you know what the S.C.C. will soon be dealing with). (June 12 – July 9, 2014 inclusive).

APPEALS

Aboriginal Law: Title; Duty to Consult
Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia, 2014 SCC 44

The S.C.C. held:

• aboriginal title flows from occupation in the sense of regular and exclusive use of land
• in this

Occasionally I like to crowd-source an answer to a question here at Slaw as I appreciate the insight and experience that Slaw-yers bring to the table. Today is one of those times when I have such a question that I have been turning over in my mind. Before I pose my question I want to state that I ask it in all earnestness; I also want to preface my question by stating that I am a huge fan and user of Twitter, it is currently one of my top current awareness tools. That being said one thing bothers me a . . . [more]

You have to wonder whether Stephen Wolfram was thinking of top dog when he named his . . . what shall we call it? . . . marvelous machine Wolfram|Alpha. After all, the man is not noted for his humility, though I have to say that when you look at his biography you might conclude that any immodesty on his part is merited.

I’m sure that most of you have at one time or another visited the “answer machine” that is Wolfram|Alpha. If you haven’t been there in a while, I encourage you to go again now and tour . . . [more]

Incubators are in. They are popping up everywhere; Google the word and see. Most of your hits will have nothing to do with babies born too soon. There are even national associations of incubators. In these economic times an incubator is a thing that helps starting entrepreneurs further develop and scale up their idea. For a good definition, see here. Incubators started in the strictly for-profit world. With the rise of social entrepreneurship and the idea of impact investing, they have also moved into that area. I have been asking myself for the past year how we can benefit . . . [more]

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) has just published summaries of many of the sessions at its most recent annual conference held in late May in Winnipeg. Here are a few of the sessions for which CALL has prepared summaries (the list is not exhaustive):

• Legal research instruction: a whole new classroom, Eunice Friesen, University of Manitoba (May 26, 2014)
• Mysteries of government information revealed, Erica Anderson (Ontario Legislative Library), Susan Barker (University of Toronto Bora Laskin Law Library) and Wendy Reynolds (Ontario Legislative Library) (May 26, 2014)
• Notes from the road to access to justice,