The internet is a-buzzing: after 60 years of display, a court in Santa Monica, California has ruled that the city did not overstep when it barred, in one of its public parks, an annual traditional nativity scene, as well as any other private displays during this holiday season (read article here).

A U.S. federal judge rejected the Santa Monica Nativity Scenes Committee’s motion to allow the religious display this year. The judge found that the city had banned the display booths for holiday-themed installations in that one specific city park as they were a drain on the city’s resources . . . [more]

The Edmonton Journal headline reads “Edmonton judge’s cut-and-paste findings tossed by appeal court“. The sensational headline is about a decision cited University of Alberta v Chang, 2012 ABCA 324 (linked to the Alberta Courts website).

The appeals were from two chambers decisions:
University of Alberta v. Chang, 2011 ABQB 595 (CanLII), http://canlii.ca/t/fp692
University of Alberta v. Chang, 2011 ABQB 596 (CanLII), http://canlii.ca/t/fp6bv

In the above decisions, the judge granted the applications to dismiss the case for delay and prosecution and dismissed the actions.

The Court of Appeal was very critical of the reasons:

[17] The chambers judge followed

. . . [more]

As we are writing these lines, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law’s (UNCITRAL) working group III is meeting in Vienna to continue its work on online dispute resolution (ODR) or, rather, on establishing guidelines for potential ODR service providers. Since previously scheduled obligations have kept us from taking part in this year’s meeting, we’ll have to wait for feedback from other participants to comment on how things are moving forward.

In the meantime, however, those who wish to get a broader picture of the UNCITRAL negotiations and their potential impact are in luck since Professor Ronald A. . . . [more]

Two judges of the Divisional Court have quashed the decision of a private high school to expel a student, on his last day before graduation, for smoking pot in his dorm room.

Gautam Setia attended Appley College (a well regarded private high school) in Oakville, Ontario. The night before his final exam he met up with some friends to celebrate the end of high school. They smoked some marijuana off campus and Gautam and a friend later returned to his residence. While in his room they smoked the last bit of pot, and got caught. Gautam admitted to smoking marijuana . . . [more]

National magazine from the CBA now has a new website www.nationalmagazine.ca

The UK government is introducing legislation that will provide, among other things, that as between candidates for the bench who are equally qualified, preference may lawfully be given to the one whose appointment would contribute to rectifying the under representation of a disadvantaged category.

Jonathan Sumption of the UK Supreme Court delivered the Bar Council Reform Lecture last week in which he says “Attitudes have changed but their legacy will take a long time to disappear.” He states that positive discrimination is the only thing that is likely to accelerate the rate of progress in reaching judicial diversity, but argues . . . [more]

Clio’s third annual Apple in Law Offices Survey is a wrap with over 1,200 respondents. The survey’s results show Apple products, ranging from the iPad to MacBooks, are rapidly increasing in popularity among lawyers.

iPad

The iPad continues to be a game-changing device for lawyers: over 57% of respondents indicated they currently use an iPad in their law office. Of those that don’t, nearly 60% planned on purchasing an iPad in the next year:

Enthusiasm for the recently-announced iPad mini was also high: 23% of respondents indicated they plan to purchase an iPad mini in the next twelve months.

Mobile . . . [more]

The following article by Nora Rock (corporate writer and policy analyist at LAWPRO) appears in the October 31 edition of the LAWPRO Webzine, which focused on wills and estates matters.

Will-drafting is an area of legal practice that demands extremely careful attention to detail. Decisions in this area make it clear that even where a will is well-drafted and is consistent with the testator’s known intentions, failure to have the will executed in accordance with the applicable legal formalities will render it invalid.

When that happens, the lawyer responsible for arranging and supervising the execution of the will may . . . [more]

The Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales has published a series of reports on legal need in the various states and the country as a whole based on empirical surveys. The Legal Australia-Wide Survey: Legal need in Australia, for example:

provides the first comprehensive quantitative assessment across Australia of an extensive range of legal needs on a representative sample of the population. It examines the nature of legal problems, the pathways to their resolution, and the demographic groups that struggle with the weight of their legal problems.

The Legal Australia-Wide Survey

had the largest sample of the

. . . [more]

As law librarians many of us teach our users the best approaches to using the internet, which includes how to best construct a search. It may seem pedantic to talk about operators and specificity, but it does sometimes help to narrow the results to a manageable number. We know that most people do not look beyond the arbitrary 10 results on the first page of a Google result screen, so it is pretty important that those ten are the right ones. We teach this stuff on the assumption that we are working on a level playing field with the various . . . [more]

There have already been several posts on Slaw and elsewhere about the current articling debate in Ontario.

As one of the invited moderators of the debate I have been actively involved in reflecting and commenting on the issues, and I’m quickly coming to the conclusion that this could be the start of changes across Canada. A recent article in The Lawyers Weekly noted that even though Manitoba graduates currently can find articling positions, the situation there may drastically change because of what is going on in Ontario.

Where We Are Right Now

During October Convocation a number of legal organizations . . . [more]

Four new titles were launched yesterday evening at the Osgoode Society’s 33rd annual book launch and reception for authors and supporters. As usual, the event was presided over by Roy McMurtry, the progenitor and President of the Osgoode Society, and the genial host of most if not all of these occasions. He proudly noted that the Osgoode Society had now published 88 titles, over the thirty three years of its existence, and has established itself as one of the leading historical societies in the world.

The Osgoode Society is well known and respected for its approach to legal history. As . . . [more]