This is a discussion of principle and principal.

As ever, it wouldn’t hurt to have a glass or cup of your favourite beverage at your side while you ponder. . . . [more]

Today, a brief interview on PBS with US Supreme Court Justice Scalia, who published in June Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts. In the interview he says the book sets out in detail the full range of originalism as he understands it (with the help of co-author Bryan Garner, Editor of Black’s Law Dictionary). The first part is a rationale, reportedly, and the second a how-to. To my knowledge, this is quite novel for a sitting judge.

Originalism does not have much purchase in Canada, apparently, on the grounds that it is unnecessary to conceal the policy making . . . [more]

A B.C. woman who won a personal exemption from Canada’s ban on doctor-assisted suicide will keep that right as the case makes its way through the province’s Appeal Court.

One of the reasons I’m no great fan of winter is that it moves you away from nature, at least the quick and the colourful; embrace winter how you will, the smells, sounds, and hues of flora and fauna are all seriously muted. In summer nature is very much in your face, flashing, cheeping, biting, croaking and generally redolent. This is when you take the car trips on which you count the cows, when you fish (and release), when the garden’s profusion nearly overwhelms.

So it seemed a good idea to offer you and the family something straightforward about this . . . [more]

This is a post in a series appearing each Friday, setting out some articles, videos, podcasts and the like that contributors at Slaw are enjoying and that you might find interesting. The articles tend to be longer than blog posts and shorter than books, just right for that stolen half hour on the weekend. It’s also likely that most of them won’t be about law — just right for etc.

Please let us have your recommendations for what we and our readers might like.

. . . [more]

In 2011, the typical corporate email user received about 105 email messages a day (source: The Radicati Group), many of them on a handheld device. So if you’re trying to reach a busy person who’s likely checking email in between meetings, your best shot is to write a good subject line for your email message.

Think about what causes you to open an email message. As you scan your inbox, you probably check whose name is in the ‘From’ line and then you read the subject line. If you don’t know the sender, the subject line is all that . . . [more]

Today’s Toronto Star has an article on the email-based scams that have been plaguing lawyers the last few years.

It claims that these frauds have cost law firms in North America $70 million. That sounds like a huge figure at first, but from what we’ve seen the size of these scams are about $200,000 to $300,000, so it would only take about 250 or so lawyers to fall for it to reach that total. practicePRO’s fraud-reporting email address has received thousands of emails since it was set up, but that’s probably only represents a small portion of the lawyers who . . . [more]

The Quebec Bar Association has launched the Votre Justice (Your Justice) website to raise access to justice issues during the provincial election campaign. Quebecers will be electing Members of the National Assembly on September 4th, 2012.

The Association has identified four issues.

For each one, the website describes the current situation, outlines the Association’s position, suggests questions for debate, and (when available) summarizes the proposals of the 5 main parties (Parti libéral du Québec, Parti québécois, Québec solidaire, Option nationale, and Coalition Avenir Québec).

The issues are:

• underinvestment in the justice system
• changes to the tax system to increase accessibility

. . . [more]

ABA’s Law Practice Management section has launched an App version of their Law Practice Magazine in both the iTunes App Store and on . Here’s a screen shot:

This new digital rendition will be available as both a member benefit (free) and to non-member subscribers for a $20 per year. For current LPM section members, gaining access was as simple as typing in your email address registered with the ABA. The interface has a simple page-by-page finger slide to navigate, and is built on the Texterity platform.

Count me as impressed. The look and feel of the App’s execution seems . . . [more]

Next month I begin teaching a course on innovation in legal services at Western University Law School. I’m excited about teaching this new course, but I’m even more interested in the mood and thoughts of today’s law students. How do they perceive the legal marketplace given that 13% of Ontario law school graduates did not find articling positions this year? More importantly what do they think of the profession itself?

Do they feel the same sense of uncertainty about the future that many lawyers feel today? Or do they see themselves on the cusp of a new era with boundless . . . [more]

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice just decided that although an employee was constructively dismissed when he was suddenly “laid off,” the employer did not owe the employee any damages because he failed to mitigate his loss.

Over one year ago, Canada Post and its largest union, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), were involved in a disruptive labour dispute that put employees out of work, disrupted the flow of mail and lost Canada Post money (brief background here). In an effort to stop the bleeding, the Conservative Government passed back-to-work legislation that provided for set wage increases and mandatory interest arbitration to impose a new collective agreement – with an arbitrator appointed by the Federal Government (unless the parties settled). Some months later, the Government appointed Colter Osborne, a well-respected former Ontario judge to . . . [more]