There are many ways for writing to come to grips with the contingent nature of life. One of the oddest has to be the prose of P. G. Wodehouse, which occupies a niche in the neighbourhood of nonsense, farce, satire, and fairy tales. It is as light as down, utterly lacking in apparent social import, and seemingly artless. Yet it would be a mistake to dismiss it for any of these reasons. The writing is the product, in fact, of a brilliant mind and a great deal of careful labour, and it treats the poignant fact that we are all . . . [more]

Trinity Western University views sexual relations outside of a marriage between one man and one woman as inconsistent with “biblical and TWU ideals”, and requires its students and faculty to agree to abstain from such activities. In short, TWU discriminates against people on the basis of their sexual orientation.

My wish for Canada is that that sort of discrimination becomes so contrary to the social and public mainstream that, regardless of whether it is legally permitted, only the most marginal and outsider groups will engage in it. That to require students to sign a community covenant eschewing same-sex expressions of . . . [more]

The Canadian Bar Association has today released its Legal Futures Initiative Report on the Consultation. The Initiatives project began consulting with the various stakeholders in June of last year, and the resulting report:

describes what the Legal Futures Initiative heard from stakeholders about the experience of being a lawyer in a changing environment, evolving client relationships, and views on the future. This is all synthesized to provide the key themes and novel ideas that emerged.

The final report of the Legal Futures Initiative is expected in August of 2014.

As might have been expected from a profession so diverse . . . [more]

Each Thursday we present a significant excerpt, usually from a recently published book or journal article. In every case the proper permissions have been obtained. If you are a publisher who would like to participate in this feature, please let us know via the site’s contact form.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION TASK FORCE ON THE FUTURE OF LEGAL EDUCATION
ABA Task Force on the Future of Legal Education, January 2014

Excerpt: pp. 22-28

VII. THEMES ADDRESSED TO ALL PARTIES

[This is the second of a two-part column on open access and public access to Canadian legal scholarship. The first part is available here.]

There is an overwhelming public good and social benefit to be obtained from open access publishing. The principle that the results of research that has been publicly funded should be freely accessible in the public domain is itself a compelling one, and fundamentally unanswerable. Arguments in support of mandatory open access publishing are even more compelling when the university is a public one and the researcher’s salary is supported by public funds. The US National . . . [more]

♫ Only made me more focused, only wrote more potent..♫

Lyrics and music by Kanye West, Aldrin Davis, recorded by Kanye West.

Milton Wedman Zwicker or just “Milt” as he liked to be known, was the retired managing partner of Zwicker Evans & Lewis, an Ontario law firm. His law practice was restricted to business and commercial law and estate planning. He was the author of many articles and books on the subject of law firm management, and he was a past member of the editorial board of Law Practice Management magazine (as it then was known) published by the . . . [more]

Like many in the legal profession, I spend a significant proportion of my days working at the craft of writing.

Sometimes, I write on risk management topics for Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association. Weekly, I sit down to write a post for publication here on Slaw. From time to time, I also write reports, meeting minutes and more.

Because I work mostly alone, I often have found myself lamenting the absence of another set of eyes to review what I have written. No matter how many times I review my drafts, it seems I always miss something that any good . . . [more]

Looking at the current contents of my ever expanding inbox, I see January has been a month of conflicting messages from the legal information world.

One moment it appears we really might have a real sea change in the way that legal content is perceived, published and prostituted.

Then, in the flash of an eye, a slew of endless press releases from Thomson Legal & Regulatory and LexisNexis praising themselves for the fact they are themselves; combined with their endless desire to control and purchase every and any new company (mainly tech based these days) that may actually have products . . . [more]

Each Wednesday we tell you which three English-language cases and which French-language case have been the most viewed* on CanLII and we give you a small sense of what the cases are about.

For this last week:

1. Mihaly v. The Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta 2014 AHRC 1
   

   [1] Mr. Ladislav Mihaly filed a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission (the Commission) on August 5, 2008, alleging that he was discriminated against by the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGGA)[1] when he was denied registration as a Professional Engineer. This complaint

It is with great pleasure that I announce that five new columnists are joining Slaw.

Lynn Foley

Lynn is the Co-Founder of fSquared Marketing, a consulting and outsourcing firm. A Board member of the Legal Marketing Association, Vancouver, Lynn holds a dual MBA in Finance and Media & Communications Management.

Lynn will, of course, be joining the Legal Marketing group of columnists.

You may follow Lynn on Twitter @LynnFitzFoley.

Elmer Masters

Elmer is the Director of Internet Development at the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instructiona (CALI) where he works on interesting projects involving technology and legal . . . [more]

I was surprised recently that I had a hard time finding something. It wasn’t something big or terribly important; it wasn’t a grey area question or an interpretation of legal information. All I want to know is where 9-1-1 calls are answered in Alberta. No one asked me about this, but the Proclamation of the Emergency 911 Act and the publication of the Emergency 911 Grants Regulations made me curious about who exactly would be eligible where a regulation says:

Eligibility criteria

4 Any person owning or operating a public safety answering point is eligible to apply for a grant