PACER fees will be going up 25% effective November 1st.

A a press release on the U.S. Courts website explains:

The increase in the electronic public access (EPA) fee, from $.08 to $.10 per page, is needed to continue to support and improve the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system, and to develop and implement the next generation of the Judiciary’s Case Management/Electronic Case Filing system.

PACER fees are set by the Judicial Conference of the United States. The electronic public access fee has not changed since 2005. If my memory is correct, in 2005 the price rose . . . [more]

The following article by Tim Lemieux is from the latest Fall 2011 issue of LAWPRO Magazine. It looks at communications-related claims at LAWPRO in different areas of law and asks claims counsel how these mistakes can be prevented.

No matter what the area of practice, the number one source of claims at LAWPRO is a breakdown in communication between the lawyer and client. And those numbers are increasing.

Between 2005 and 2010, more than 4,200 communications claims — an average of 711 a year – have been reported to LAWPRO. The total cost of these claims to date is about . . . [more]

Two galloping horses. A single rider, with one foot on each. The three are approaching a fork in the road.

Call me melodramatic, but this is the image that bubbled up in my mind as I examined the material I received from the Advocates Society this week.

The Advocates Journal contained an article by Sheila Block entitled “Advocacy Lessons from the Past”. It is an engaging piece sprinkled with references to the succinct styles of Maloney, Dubin and Robinette. The author reminds us of advice from Orwell on writing, relishes ‘beautiful, simple language’, and questions whether today lawyers focus enough . . . [more]

The September 23 issue of The Lawyers Weekly includes a list of the 24 top social media influencers in Canadian law. A remarkable number of the names will be familiar, because they are also contributors to SLAW (with some well deserved special mention going to Simon Fodden).

For me, the most interesting part of the article is where Jordan Furlong and Warren Smith describe the selection process. Their observations should be given serious attention by firms looking to market via social media, or individuals trying to build credibility in their area of expertise.

I think it would also be interesting . . . [more]

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. For a lesson in how to do it, we can turn to a real pirate. Here’s Jama Ali, a Somali pirate: “They can’t stop us—we know international law.” According to the 2008 New York Times article from which this was taken:

Even if foreign navies nab some members of his crew, Mr. Jama said, he is not worried. He said his men would probably get no more punishment than a free ride back to the beach.

It seems that international law has walked itself off the plank on real piracy. To see . . . [more]

While Dropbox continues to lead the way in easy-to-use cloud-based file synchronization, recent security- and privacy-related lapses have left many Dropbox-loving lawyers looking for alternatives. To date there has been a lack of viable options, but AeroFS, a new startup, is looking to become the Dropbox for security-conscious users.

AeroFS offers the same ease-of-use that characterizes Dropbox, but adds a new spin to how file synchronization works: rather than storing your files in the “cloud”, as is the case with Dropbox, AeroFS synchronizes files directly between your devices via an encrypted channel. This “peer-to-peer” synchronization technique means your data never . . . [more]

Those watching Canadian copyright law developments are encountering a busier than usual season.

1. Heritage Minister James Moore hopes to re-introduce Bill C-32 on copyright reform this fall, without amendments, and he is also hoping that the bill is passed by Christmas. This will be the fourth attempt by the Canadian government to amend its copyright laws so that Canada may adhere to the World Intellectual Property Organization digital copyright treaties, and address various digital copyright issues as well as other much discussed copyright issues.
2. The Supreme Court of Canada will simultaneously hear on December 6 and 7 2011, five copyright

Larry Bodine, former law firm marketing consultant known for his LawMarketing Blog, has been named the new editor-in-chief of Lawyers.com and Martindale.com. (If you are in Canada the Lawyers.com link may flip you to the Canadian site http://www.canadian-lawyers.ca/ unfortunately).

According to an article from the Law Technology News on September 16, Bodine has indicated he is going to overhaul the Lawyers.com site:

…the site could stand improvement, Bodine said. Currently its content is aggregated from other sites. “The switch that I want to make is generating our own material. You’re going to see a complete change

On July 29th, 2011, the U.S. federal appeals court reaffirmed, in effect, the right to patent genes, if in limited cases. The court’s ruling overturned a lower court decision that voided a patent held by Myriad Genetics on BRCA1 and BRCA2, two human genes used in determining the risk that women face with breast and ovarian cancer. Much hinges on the outcome of such patent challenges, given the thousands of genes that have been patented in the United States and elsewhere.

The appeals court accepted that the chemical structure of DNA, once removed from a cell was “markedly different” from . . . [more]

On Tuesday, September 13, 2011 the Opening of the Courts was held in Toronto, preceded by an interfaith service at Church of the Holy Trinity. The service consisted of a fascinating mix of a number of readings, including a South African anti-Apartheid song (and dance). I couldn’t help but think that this would have been impossible a couple decades ago.

But attendees were surprised by a protest outside of the church as soon as the services completed. A video of the protest is available here, with one of the speakers saying,

We’re going to be here every single year.

In war, truth is the first casualty.

For those who need to drive home, to their new hires, that litigation is usually not about truth but victory. When and if you read this case, ask yourself why the defence wanted the ruling that Ontario courts did not have jurisdiction. The motion judge accepted the argument. The ONCA reversed.

Dundee Precious Metals Inc. v. Marsland, 2011 ONCA 594 is a conflicts case in which the motion judge’s underlying no jurisdiction conclusion caused the panel to write, laconically,

 [11] The motion judge’s assessment and application of real and substantial connection test

Looks like litbots and databases will soon be providing routine updates of structured information to human readers via newspapers and news websites in the form of machine written articles. Narrative Science is the company behind it.

Pretty soon, such litbots will be conversing with my own personal litbots, and negotiating the purchase of routine items I need and can afford, according to the budget I set and the priorities I identify. The prospect of the online grocery appears again: I need milk, eggs, and in-season fruit every Tuesday, for delivery Wed. afternoon. The grocery’s litbot can check my calendar . . . [more]