At the end of this week Ontario lawyers will be receiving our third annual review of LAWPRO operations.

The big story in 2011 is claims. The number of claims reported is up 11 per cent to 2,468. And based on actuaries’ projections, claims costs in the E&O program could top the $90 million mark for 2011.

What’s driving the increase in claims?

As is more fully explained in the article, no matter how we slice and dice the numbers, the trend is up:

• It’s a more complex business environment in which you’re handling more complex files that seem to

. . . [more]

An article soon to be published in the Virginia Law Review caught the eye of the Boston Globe, from where it came to my attention. In “Confronting Supreme Court Fact Finding” Alli Orr Larsen criticizes US Supreme Court judges for doing internet research on their own in order to supply legislative facts they feel are needed to resolve a case. I must say I hadn’t appreciated the degree to which, facilitated by the ease of access to data on the internet, the justices do this supplementary fact finding on their own.

The issue isn’t new, of course . . . [more]

Much is written and said about how it is undemocratic for unelected judges to make decisions that have an impact on public policy.

An interesting article last week in the UK Human Rights Blog makes the point that it is not so much the unelected bench that results in a democratic deficit, as the lack of meaningful public access to court decisions.

The authors point out that although judges may be somewhat out of touch, in the eyes of the public they are objective and fair.

The problem, they say, is that the courts are failing to use technology to . . . [more]

(and by Meredith James)

With Bill C-38, the omnibus Budget Implementation Act, Bill C-38, the Conservative government will bring sweeping changes to Canada’s environmental landscape. To make approvals easier for oil sands projects and related pipelines, the Fisheries Act will be particularly affected. Major changes will dramatically narrow what a reduced corps of fisheries officers will attempt to protect. However, while there will likely be even fewer prosecutions, penalties for those that convicted will soar.

According to the federal government, the purpose of these changes in is “to focus …on the protection of fish that support commercial, recreational . . . [more]

I always thought that I could never fall for an Internet-based scam.

Even if I needed them, I would never purchase pharmaceuticals over the Internet. And I’m pretty sure that I’m not on the rolodex of the Nigerian prince who needs urgent rescuing.

But I was recently contacted by a potential client via e-mail. They were contacting me from the Far East about a Canadian matter in an area I practiced in. I obviously requested the requisite pieces of identification, and expressed that I needed money up front in trust. Since they weren’t asking for any money from me, I . . . [more]

On Friday June 15, 2012, the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled that the Criminal Code of Canada provisions prohibiting physician-assisted dying unjustifiably infringe the equality rights of Gloria Taylor and the rights to life, liberty and security of the person of Gloria Taylor, Lee Carter and Hollis Johnson.

Here are the three most-consulted English-language cases on CanLII for the week of June 8 – 15.

♨ 1. Gayman (Re) 2012 LSBC 12 [Newspaper story here.]

[1] This is a credentials hearing. The Applicant, Michael Grant Gayman, requests readmission to the Law Society of British Columbia, as a barrister and solicitor. The Applicant was disbarred by a hearing panel of the Law Society on May 6, 1999. The basis for disbarment was conduct unbecoming a lawyer. Specifically, the Applicant, acting as a trustee, knowingly breached a trust instrument resulting in a loss of approximately one million dollars to

. . . [more]

Unless you have intentionally avoided any and all Canadian news sources this week, then you have been riding the Omni-Bus with everyone else. All the conjecture inspired me to look at the past several Budget Implementation Acts and see how long they have been or in other words how “omni” they have been.

41st Parl-1st Session: Bill C-38: 753 sections.

40-3: Bill C-9: 2208 sections

40-2: Bill C-10: 471 sections

39:2: Bill C-50: 164 sections

39-1: Bill C-52: 154 sections

39:1: Bill C-13: 217 sections

38-1: Bill C-43: 143 sections

37-3: Bill C-30 . . . [more]

. . . [more]

This is another in a series of columns about developing a law library collection development policy for the new, digital information environment. In my last two columns, I discussed journals. In this column, I’ll consider legislative materials as a subset of government documents generally, their role in legal research, their place in a contemporary law library collection, controversies surrounding print vs digital formats, and possible policies for collecting them.

A discussion of the role of government documents has recently taken on immediate significance in light of last month’s press release from Publications Canada that the decision has been made to . . . [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]

The May 2012 issue of Connected is available online. The bulletin covers news about the impact of new social media on the courts.

It is published by the Virginia-based National Center for State Courts and the Conference of Court Public Information Officers.

According to the inaugural April 2011 issue:

“This newsletter will provide news, information and resources on topics such as how courts are using new media, the impact of new media on court proceedings, ethical implications of judges and court staff using new media, and court policy issues relating to new media.”

Most of the stories are about . . . [more]