At the “Smartphones and Tablets: What’s Right For You” session at the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Solo and Small Firm Conference last week (archived webcast is available for purchase), there were a number of questions on syncing Android devices with MS Exchange/Outlook. In response my co-speaker Mike Seto prepared the following. As these questions appear quite common, I thought it would be helpful to share Mike’s answer with a wider audience.

If your calendar/email/contacts are on a Microsoft Exchange server, you can set up current Android phones to sync over the air without further software.

1. Add your exchange . . . [more]

Is it the future if it’s already here?

The Canadian Bar Association launched its Futures initiative with a view to helping legal practitioners best position themselves to face the challenges ahead, but it also took a look at the legal service providers who have already taken the plunge.

The Futures research has shown that there is no lack of ideas about how to face the future of the legal system, but none of them present a clear, obvious option. Any of them, or any combination of them, could work. Or maybe there’s another silver bullet out there, one creative solution . . . [more]

About five years ago I developed and began co-facilitating a special one-day workshop for brand new firm chairs and managing partners to help them prepare for taking on the enormous role of becoming their firm’s leader. This opportunity came about as a result of my having been engaged back in 2004 by a long-time client, an AmLaw 100 firm, to assist the Board in its selection of the next full-time managing partner and to then help that individual get comfortable in his new role.

What I quickly discovered was that most professionals have a naiveté about the skills and knowledge . . . [more]

Questions have been raised about the spending of Senators Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau and Mac Harb, especially after the involvement of Nigel Wright, former Chief of Staff for the Prime Minister, were raised.

The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson is now investigating Wright, and the Office of the Senate Ethics Officer is investigating Senator Mike Duffy. But the scandal may potentially have criminal implications as well.

Former RCMP superintendent Garry Clement has indicated that charges of fraud or breach of trust may be applicable:

If you look at the allegations and you look

One Sunday each month OnPoint Legal Research provides Slaw with an extended summary of, and counsel’s commentary on, an important case from the British Columbia, Alberta, or Ontario court of appeal.

Federation of Law Societies of Canada v. Canada (Attorney General), 2013 BCCA 147

1.CASE SUMMARY

Areas of Law: Constitutional Law; Charter of Rights and Freedoms; Solicitor-Client Privilege; Independence of the Bar; Money Laundering

~Independence of Bar recognised as principle of fundamental justice under Charter~

Discussion: Since 1989, Canada has brought in a series of statutes and regulations intended to combat money laundering. Beginning with the 2001 . . . [more]

Summaries of selected recent cases are provided each week to Slaw byMaritime Law Book. Every Sunday we present a precis of the latest summaries, a fuller version of which can be found on MLB-Slaw Selected Case Summaries at cases.slaw.ca.

This week’s summaries concern:
Courts / Criminal Law / Murder / Indians, Inuit and Metis / Estates :

R. v. Buzizi (D.) 2013 SCC 27
Criminal Law – Murder – Provocation – Evidence and proof

The accused was convicted of second degree murder. He appealed.

The Quebec Court of Appeal, Bich, J.A., dissenting, dismissed his appeal. The accused  . . . [more]

The Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (known as CPSR) has decided to wind up, having pushed for responsible – and notably peaceful – uses of information technology for over 30 years. As they say in their notice, back in 1981 there was no one else with their message. Now there are many – though the task remains to be done.

As the official announcement states:

CPSR was launched in 1981 in Palo Alto, California, to question the
computerization of war in the United States via the Strategic Computing
Initiative to use artificial intelligence in war, and, soon after, the

In fact, it’s necessary for the efficient functioning of the legal system.

Merits and appearances matter.

Cojocaru British Columbia Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, 2013 SCC 30 [CanLII link here], released today, holds, unanimously, that the mere fact judicial reasons duplicate, with or without attribution, a party’s submissions does not amount to reversible error.

The plaintiff succeeded at trial. The BCCA (by a majority) ordered a new trial. The SCC allowed the appeal. Then dealing with the merits, the SCC unanimously varied the trial judgment so that the plaintiff obtained judgment only against one of the defendants. The . . . [more]

Noise. Some like it, some don’t. I go back and forth myself, donning a pair of noise-cancelling earphones when I have to fly but keeping the radio tuned to a classical station when I’m working. But, unlike a lot of people, I don’t plug into music when I’m wandering out and about, preferring city noise to earbuds.

If you’re one who likes “ambient” sounds when you’re working, relaxing or dropping off to sleep, I’ve got some links for you — and even some research that suggests a mild amount of ambient noise can boost your creativity.

Let’s stop by the . . . [more]

Many professionals find developing a business plan a daunting and somewhat scary thing to do. In law, so much of what a professional does is taught and yet one of the most important parts of practice – finding and keeping clients – is not. Lawyers like things that are definable and business plans can be made to be just that.

If we break down a business plan to its simplest form, there are three areas: Objectives;
Strategies; and Action Plans.

Well conceived Objectives will help focus towards specific results, provide targets, define success, minimize subjectivity and establish a framework for . . . [more]

This week’s issue of the Weekly Checklist of Canadian Government Publications includes the Handbook for Police and Crown Prosecutors on Criminal Harassment:

“Criminal harassment, which includes ‘stalking,’ is a crime. While many crimes are defined by conduct that results in a very clear physical outcome (for example, murder), the offence of criminal harassment prohibits deliberate conduct that is psychologically harmful to others. Criminal harassment often consists of repeated conduct that is carried out over a period of time and that causes its targets to reasonably fear for their safety but does not necessarily result in physical injury. It may