♬ Listen,
Do you want to know a secret?,
Do you promise not to tell? ♬

Lyrics and music by Lennon/McCartney.

At last week’s Pacific Legal Technology Conference held in Vancouver, BC, Canada, “The Cloud” was one of the hottest topics in the Conference. Of course the REPORT OF THE CLOUD COMPUTING WORKING GROUP from the Law Society of British Columbia was recognized as a leading document in terms of lawyers looking for a thoughtful analysis of moving to the cloud.

One of the other hot topics within lawyers using the cloud is the security in and . . . [more]

The new library of Osgoode Hall Law School is open, even if not yet quite finished. We’re still waiting for some of the furniture to be delivered and the rare books reading room (Canada Law Book Rare Book Room) is still under construction. I’m crossing my fingers that the missing pieces will be in place for the official opening of the new Ignat Kaneff Building, home of Osgoode Hall Law School, on October 16.

But there’s much more to a good library than well-designed facilities, access to good resources and helpful staff. One of the essential ingredients of any successful . . . [more]

The OIPC BC released Guidelines for Social Media Background Checks yesterday. The Guidelines were developed “to help organizations and public bodies navigate social media background checks and privacy laws.”

The Guidelines outline the privacy risks associated with the use of social media to screen and monitor current and prospective employees, volunteers and candidates, including:

The collection of potentially inaccurate personal information;

The collection of too much or irrelevant personal information;

The inadvertent collection of third-party personal information; and

The overreliance on consent for the collection of personal information that may not be reasonable in the circumstances.

The Guidelines also provide . . . [more]

I’m sure most Canadians law firm denizens have heard about some of the latest firm merger news, but I thought it might be good to catch up with a few links to the news stories.

Macleod Dixon & Norton Rose

Probably the biggest news in Canada for some months now is Norton Rose. You may recall they merged in June with Ogilvy Renault to create Norton Rose OR in Canada. They now have plans to merge with 250 lawyer Canadian firm Macleod Dixon and will be rebranding the newly expanded Canadian arm as Norton Rose Canada. From the press . . . [more]

The Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) released a study by Pierre Lortie today concluding that Canada does not need a national securities regulator. The report details how decentralization has allowed flexibility in the different provinces, allowing them to respectively adopt best practices, and finds a higher degree of performance as compared to other nations.

One notable finding was that Ontario is not a participant in the “passport” system, which allows dealers to register and companies to file prospectuses and have them apply in all other jurisdictions. The report strongly urges Ontario to join this system for it to . . . [more]

This morning’s Intapp Law Firm Risk Management Blog features a piece I recently published in Managing Partner Magazine in London entitled: “Managing Screens,” which explores the tension between tightly controlling access to sensitive client (and firm) information and fostering internal sharing, which I characterize as: “the potential of exploiting collective professional knowledge.”

“What has changed is that, in the past decade, so-called ethical screens have proliferated within law firms. Ethical screens are what used to be called Chinese walls: institutional mechanisms combined with technological safeguards and personal undertakings which ensure that confidential information is tightly protected.”

I am among a decreasing number of Canadians who are unilingual. I am grateful for a small innovation that Canlii has made to their main page. They added a check box for remembering your language selection.
Thanks CanLII.
Merci. . . . [more]

It is commonplace these days for parties to an IT contract to consider alternative dispute resolution (mediation or arbitration) as a means for resolving disputes. I have written on the topic of mediation in outsourcings, and concluded that it was useful in some outsourcings, but not all. At an engaging lunchtime seminar I attended the other day on ethics and professionalism issues arising in IT law, I had my thinking on this topic jolted by a turn in the discussion towards the use of subject matter experts by the court. One of the speakers, Don Johnston, pointed out that . . . [more]

The 15th Annual Canadian Information Technology Law Association (IT.CAN) Conference is coming up fast. The program for October 27 & 28 is jam-packed with all your favourite topics and a bunch of hot new issues (such as compliance with the new anti-spam legislation). For a full view of the program, see the conference brochure. You can register online. If you have any questions about the program please contact Lisa Ptack, IT.CAN Executive Director at lisa.ptack@rogers.com.

This program is accredited by provincial Law Societies for CLE credit. . . . [more]

Last year at about this time the Court of Appeal for England and Wales overturned the conviction of one T (R. v. T. [2010] EWCA Crim 2439) on the charge of murder. It was an identification issue and a critical element in linking the defendant to the crime had to do with a shoeprint left at the scene. The judgment is heavily redacted, reminiscent of some grudging government compliance with a FOI order; nevertheless, it’s clear that shoes found at the defendant’s house had soles that matched the patterns found at the scene of the crime. The important . . . [more]

A video has come to light in which Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, responded to a question by saying that “all these concerns about privacy tend to be old people issues”.

While it may be that some younger people may be a bit more permissive with their information than older generations, it does not mean that younger people are not concerned about privacy, or are not exercising control over their personal information.

His comment has lead to a strongly worded rebuke by Ann Cavoukian, the Ontario Privacy Commissioner.

From her article:

Here we go again. Once more, the chief

Not that Research in Motion needs more bad news and Apple more positive press, but today Apple launches a significant update to its operating system along with its new cloud service.

I am looking forward to testing out both new developments since I continue to more heavily integrate my iPad into the practice of law (in addition to amassing more Zombie games, including the highly addictive Call of Duty: Zombies HD; my joy in slaughtering zombies, albeit only in a video game app, is causing me concern, although there are apparently no moral issues in killing the undead . . . [more]