Site news for those who read Slaw only via RSS or email

1. Comment Watch:

In the last week there were 30 comments. You might be particularly interested in these:

• The “Dark Side” of Maternity Leave
• Dialogue on Human Rights Relating to Religious Belief and Practices

You can subscribe to the comments on Slaw either as a separate matter (RSS, email) or as part of a subscription combining posts and comments (RSS, email).

2. SlawTips

This week’s tips on SlawTips are:

• Tuesday: Technology: MS Outlook Tip: Drag and Drop Items of One

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The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has invited citizens to submit short papers (six to eight pages) toward a dialogue on human rights, specifically relating to religious belief and practice as shaped by the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

To answer the question, we interviewed our friend and colleague Matt Kesner, the CIO of Fenwick & West LLP, a West Coast law firm representing high tech and bio-tech clients. Matt has “walked the walk” when it comes to security and protecting data.

Is the data at a law firm really different or are there “special” considerations when dealing with security within a law firm? Matt suggested that there are a lot of tensions at play within a law firm. There’s always the tension between IT and end-users. The end-users are more difficult to tame and are more independent than . . . [more]

The draft regulations under the anti-spam legislation have attracted a lot of comments, most them negative. See this article by Lorne Salzman and Barry Sookman for a detailed summary.

In essence, the common theme is that the legislation and draft regs will be a compliance burden on business and charities, and the regulations don’t do anything to temper that.

From the article:

Unless the proposed regulations are reformulated, many worry that CASL will impede rather than facilitate e-commerce. It will hurt small and large businesses, cause significant economic harm and stifle innovation in the use of electronic messaging systems. It

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Thanks to a post on 3 Geeks and a Law Blog we learn that Kingsley Martin has developed a simple means of producing, via a Google Docs form, non-disclosure agreement minimally adjusted to your clients’ circumstances.

Martin runs a business that analyses legal agreements and develops software tools to help lawyers facilitate the production of contracts. He also publishes a blog and, as a service, Contracts Standards, that:

openly share[s] contract standards–transaction analysis, checklists, and clause libraries–in an effort to establish global contract norms.

Based on his Non-Disclosure Agreement Checklist, the form asks for a few inputs . . . [more]

I see that LexisNexis Canada has announced a new court docket service in Canada for dockets at the Federal Court, Federal Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada:

From one intuitive online interface, LexisNexis CaseConnection Dockets enables fast access to key case information for ongoing and new proceedings filed with the Federal Court, Federal Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada. This information helps law firm, government and corporate professionals stay on top of emerging legal issues and cases quickly, cost-effectively and securely.

The press release was not clear on cost of the service, although registration here was . . . [more]

In what is very welcome news, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has released a practice direction, effective 1 October 2011, authorizing the use of reliable online versions of court decisions for filing in books of authorities and providing for special citation rules:

Practice Direction Regarding Filing of Judicial Decisions from Electronic Databases, and Regarding Citation of All Judicial Decisions

Practice Direction

Judicial Decisions from Electronic Databases

Effective October 1, 2011, copies of judicial decisions obtained from approved electronic databases are acceptable for filing provided the report of the judicial decision contains paragraph numeration consistent with the numbering of

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I witness this same scenario play itself out, time after time, and we never seem to learn.

Imagine this: The practice group leader or managing partner has their attention drawn to the fact that one of our beloved partners is underperforming. This leader knew that the particular partner was underperforming. It didn’t come as a shock. But they were content to let the situation drift without resolution, rather than have to confront the ugly reality of the circumstances. But today we have the facts thrust before us and now something must be done.

Our devoted leader, unaccustomed to having to . . . [more]

 

Quite a few of us in Canada have been on Google+, but we’ve found there are far more American lawyers trying it out. Let’s hope that changes fast.

Vic Gundotra of Google announced today a number of changes. Google claims it made 91 improvements to the platform during the 90 days of operation. Today they add 9 more improvements, largely related to the Hangouts feature (including mobile video chats), as well as a much-needed search function. But the 9th new “feature” is that they are opening it up to the public. It was previously in beta testing . . . [more]

Jasmine Budak wrote an interesting article about the “dark side” of maternity leave in this month’s edition of Canadian Business magazine (the original article can be found here). In it, she addresses the operational difficulties caused to employers by statutory maternity leave protections. Ms. Budak explains the predicament as follows:

Today, the year-long mat leave is standard practice, while parental perks such as salary top-ups, extra health benefits and flextime options have become commonplace expectations, especially among the generation Y. Yet even as employers accommodate parents, particularly in fields that fiercely compete for talent, their concerns haven’t changed much

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Texas, it seems, has a problem with barratry. What, you may ask, is barratry? It is — or once was — a crime, a tort, and an act of professional misconduct. And if you were unclear about all that, you’re in good company. The former Associate Chief Justice of Ontario confessed in McIntyre Estate v. Ontario (Attorney General), 2001 CanLII 7972 (ON CA) that, “I include myself among those who had never heard of the tort of barratry until I read the material on this motion.” He went on to explain:

[23] Barratry is related to, but clearly

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Everyone is talking about how to stay connected on-line and how social media is changing the way we do business. And you know what? It is. Just think of the hundreds of thousands of tweets and fans there were of Pippa Middleton’s bum at the Royal Wedding.

That said, one to one communication is still key. And meeting people face to face has never been as important as it is this day and age.

So with that in mind, here are few tips to remember the next time you step out from behind your desk.

• Have business cards with you.

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