September 10, 2013 is World Suicide Prevention Day

It only took one day for the Ohio prisons director, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, to launch two separate reviews into the suicide of Ariel Castro, the Cleveland kidnapper who was sentenced last month to life in prison, plus 1,000 years, for crimes relating to the kidnapping and sequestration of three women over the course of a decade. Castro had been taken off suicide watch during his trial, after authorities determined he was no longer at risk of taking his own life. While public opinion was far . . . [more]

The Seventeenth Annual Canadian Information Technology Law Association (“IT.CAN”) Conference will be held in Toronto, October 24-25, 2013. The full conference brochure is available on the IT.CAN website, and registration is possible online in English and en français. The brochure contains details concerning CPD and CLE credits available.

As usual, the speakers’ list is a who’s-who of experts in IT law and includes a number of lawyers who write or have written for Slaw, namely: Daniel Logan, James Kosa, Andrew Terrett, Richard Austin, John Gregory, and David Canton.

If you have any questions about the program please contact Lisa . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on technology, research and practice.

Technology

Check Your Credit Report to Combat Identity Theft
Dan Pinnington

All of us should check our credit report on an annual basis. Not only is this a good idea to cheto to make sure there are no mistakes on your credit record, it can also protect you against identity theft. If someone has stolen your identity, the transactions they have completed can tip you off that your identity has . . . [more]

Only rarely do patent cases proceed to trial and even more rarely are contested judgments on remedies issued. A recent Federal Court decision on damages considered whether non-infringing alternatives to the defendant’s infringing activities should be considered.

In most patent cases, the quantification of damages are bifurcated, or deferred until after a trial decision on validity and infringement. Only if the patent is found valid and infringed, will the remedies need to be considered. Unfortunately, for those interested in following decisions on patent remedies, in most cases the patents are found invalid, not infringed or a settlement is reached prior . . . [more]

Justice Pardu has quashed the decision of Arbitrator E.E. Palmer, and as a result (former) Hamilton Tiger Cats’ wide receiver Chris Williams is free to explore greener pastures in the NFL.

Williams had been under a two year contract with the Tiger Cats which contained a team option for a third year. The Tiger Cats had attempted to exercise the third year option and Williams tried to get out of the contract in order to explore potential options in the NFL, where he would earn significantly more money.

The Canadian Football League Players’ Association (who brought the case on . . . [more]

In the September 2010 issue of LAWPRO Magazine, we asked our claims counsel about what they feel are the biggest malpractice hazards in each area of law based on the claims files they work on every day. Here is an excerpt from that article that discusses the risks that can arise when dealing with elderly clients. Click here to read the full article “Practice Pitfalls”.

Changing demographics are leaving their mark on trends that concern LAWPRO counsel: We are seeing increased potential for claims surrounding issues of the capacity of elderly clients and undue influence. The increased number of elderly . . . [more]

U.S. lawyer Stephanie Kimbro who writes about running virtual law practices shared an infographic she created last week with everyone — Technology in Legal Education (excerpt of the image below). It essentially shows why there is a need to teach law students and lawyers about technology, how the technology has been a “disruptive” force in the industry and its effect.

I especially like her outline of new roles people are playing in law firms today.

This is just an excerpt of her infographic. For the full graphic, visit her website Virtual Law Practice.

Hat tip ABA LTRC on Twitter. . . . [more]

Last week’s revelations that the NSA may be able to decrypt most of the traffic on the internet sent shockwaves through the global community. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption was thought to provide a secure and virtually impenetrable “tunnel” for sensitive internet traffic, such as credit card data or confidential client documents; the NSA, however, has reportedly circumvented the security of SSL connections through a combination of brute-strength computing power and a network of “back doors” inserted into the equipment and algorithms that provide SSL security.

These code-breaking capabilities have left many users of cloud-based services asking if traffic they . . . [more]

My last post here before the summer break was on the OBA end of term speech by Alan Lenczner which lamented the condition of the Ontario civil justice system, and in particular, delays in obtaining hearing dates.

On 15 August the executive of the OBA civil litigation section passed a unanimous resolution to the effect that it believes the civil litigation system in Ontario is in “disarray”, that “corrective action is needed urgently” and requesting that the OBA Board and Council take immediate steps to address the matter effectively”.

The OBA has now established a Court Delay working group. Its . . . [more]

Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada's award-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from forty-one 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. The Court   2. Wise Law Blog   3. Youth & Work   4. Entertainment & Media Law Signal    5. Off the Shelf

Mobile technology offers opportunities to be more efficient. One area that has seen a lot of improvement is mobile printing. I’m not thinking about taking a portable printer with you, but printing to your office while mobile over the Internet. This is sometimes called “cloud” printing but the use of cloud is marketing guff.

The Wi-Fi-enabled printer has been with us for years, but there is more to it than printing across your internal network from your laptop, tablet, or phone. The basic use case is that you are away from your office and need to have something emerge . . . [more]

Chaque semaine, nous vous présentons un résumé d'une décision d'un tribunal québécois qui nous est fournis par la Société québécoise d'information juridique (SOQUIJ) et ayant un intérêt pancanadien. SOQUIJ relève du ministre de la Justice du Québec, et elle analyse, organise, enrichit et diffuse le droit au Québec.

Every week we present a summary of a decision by a Québec court provided to us by SOQUIJ and selected 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.

Pénal : L'article 16 de la Loi réglementant certaines drogues et autres substances ne prévoit pas l'exception de l'effet démesuré à l'égard des biens meubles; la demande de confiscation de biens infractionnels, à savoir une somme 10\000\$ saisie et un véhicule automobile, est accueillie.