The Sunlight Foundation launched a beta version of Scout today, a free service which compiles information from a variety of sources to let you search through bills and speeches before Congress, State bills, and Federal regulations. The site allows the creation of custom alerts when a specific issue is going before Congress, as well as tracking these issues over time.

The Sunlight Foundation is a a non-profit who “uses the power of the Internet to catalyze greater government openness and transparency, and provides new tools and resources for media and citizens, alike.” Sounds like powerful stuff. You can see more . . . [more]

I predict that Windows 8 will not catch on for mid-sized and large law firms. Windows 8 Enterprise is offered and has some interesting features, but the change is so huge that I see little potential for adoption by law firms.

Today our IT Manager showed me his iPad running a virtual instance of Windows 8 sourced from his home Mac. The interface has radical and interesting new flavour that sources apps and reminds me of my iPhone.

Among many others, BBC News has a preview article today. Microsoft also offers a consumer preview that links to a video for . . . [more]

The Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta released the decision today in R. v. Whatcott, upholding the decision by the Provincial Court of Alberta, which held that William Whatcott’s s. 2(b) Charter rights were violated when the University of Calgary prevented him from distributing what was characterized as “anti-gay literature.”

Although the Crown appealed on the basis that the Charter did not apply to the enforcement of a university policy prohibiting the distribution of all printed material on campus without permission, regardless of content, the court focused on the use of provincial trespass legislation to respond to an . . . [more]

Attentive readers of this blog know that the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) has a working group actively considering online dispute resolution (ODR). The working group has met three times and meets again at the end of May. Slaw.ca has had progress reports from time to time, notably here a year ago, and more recently here . It is time for another. I expect that the Canadian delegation, and possibly others, would be interested in your views on the texts that the working group will have before it in May. Comments on this article will come to . . . [more]

The following is adapted from practicePRO’s Managing a Better Professional Services Firm, and it and the other Managing booklets are available here.

A post-matter client survey is one of the best ways to collect information about what clients thought about the services you provided to them. Make sure your survey is structured to help you identify specific areas for improvement. Ideally, it should include some open-ended questions.

For major or top-billing clients, consider sending a managing partner or other senior person to meet with clients on an annual basis to review and assess how the relationship is going, . . . [more]

Today is World Book and Copyright Day, initiated by UNESCO and promoted by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).

Here is a message from Ingrid Parent, President of IFLA and University Librarian at the University of British Columbia:

It is perhaps best that I start my first column with a brief introduction about what will feature most visibly in what I write. It will help the reader determine whether to look out for the next one or not.

Our world is more globally volatile than ever; an event in one place quickly has consequences in many other places. It is more connected than ever: people, ideas, and things travel very fast. And it faces a multitude of challenges that are in different ways ‘global’. In such a world good rule systems are important. They enhance stability, trust, and . . . [more]

Today is Earth Day, or as the United Nations calls it, International Mother Earth Day. It was first celebrated in 1970, which also coincided with the founding of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA has a webpage highlighting the history of the agency and the role it has played in promoting environmentalism,

It may be hard to imagine that before 1970, a factory could spew black clouds of toxic into the air or dump tons of toxic waste into a nearby stream, and that was perfectly legal. They could not be taken to court to stop

This had escaped my attention earlier this week.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms last Tuesday, the Canadian Bar Association organized events across Canada such as conferences, mock court sessions for high school students, and flash mobs:

“Lawyers and other members of the legal community in Ottawa celebrated by organizing a flash mob at noon on the busy Sparks Street at Metcalfe, right in front of the Federal Court and a stone’s throw from Parliament Hill. In front of dozens of curious tourists, media cameras, and civil servants on lunch break, legal

The full quote is actually, “(t)here are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics”; it is on odd quote to lead off with in a post where I am going to urge you to attend a session on getting, “Behind the Numbers: Statistics for Librarians”, but I believe it is appropriate. The line could be interpreted in several ways, one way to interpret the quote, the positive way, is that understanding statistics allows you to understand a given set of data or information in a multitude of ways, not just: “52% percent of people say blank” that . . . [more]

If you can remember books, you’ll also likely remember book jackets, those slipcovers that help you mark your page, keep sliding off when you try to read in bed, and announce to the world what it is you’re into. Of course, they also hook you into buying the book in the first place — if they’re good enough. And that’s where a man called Chip Kidd comes in: he’s the star of book cover designers.

Bright. Startling. Imaginative. And above all, effective. His efforts wrap the authors’ in just the right judge-stuff.

No surprise then, that in person he’s… well, . . . [more]

Satellite libraries, as the name suggests, are libraries that are adjuncts to a principal library. In law firms, they can vary in size from a bookcase in a hallway to a full-sized library. Satellite libraries may be in the same building as the central library, or they may in a different city or even country. They may or may not have library staff running them. Unstaffed satellite libraries present a greater challenge as they depend on articling students, receptionists, or secretarial staff to do such things as loose-leaf filing and reshelving books.

Why do satellite libraries exist? For satellite libraries . . . [more]