Hat tip to BLG’s Neil Guthrie for his digest titled “Submitting a fake judgment: not a good litigation strategy”. The case reference is D’Souza v Linton, 2013 ONSC 70.  The opening paragraph of this endorsement reads:

This matter came before me on July 31, 2012 as a motion to set aside an ex parte default judgment.  The judgment, dated June 19, 2012, purports to bear my signature.

It is interesting to me that the word “purports” and its variations appears in 425 decisions – so far in 2013.

On another note, this case comment came to me via Lexology…

One of my colleagues asked a great question that makes for an excellent tip:

The definitions of the Minor Injury Regulation say in (g)(ii):

any insurer made a third party to the claim by the Court under section 635(14) of the Act

But there is no s.635(14) in the current Insurance Act. There was a s.635(14) before the July 1, 2012 amendments, which was Rights of Creditors. That section is now 579, 579(15) to be exact.

The question was “What am I missing”.

The answer is “Nothing” since the correct section number that should be referenced can be identified.

Regulations …

Today’s Tip is a caution about searching for federal bill numbers.  Be careful that you understand what you are looking for.

I was asked to look for “Bill C-23”. I quickly used my bookmark for LEGISinfo, the Parialment of Canada’s research tool for finding information on legislation before Parliament, both current and historical (back to April 2006), to search by bill number for  C-23.

The FAQ page reviews how bills are numbered, but it does not tell you about bills like C-23A.

My “blink” told me that there was a 2010 Bill that dealt with …

Today’s Tip is about looking outside your borders for trends. You decide where your borders are – your department, your organization, your city, perhaps your country.

A tweet by Darin Thompson inspired this post:

@darin_thompson: It’s on! #ODR to become a part of the legal landscape in the European Union
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-192_en.htm?locale=en

I believe that Online Dispute Resolution and Alternative Dispute Resolution are trends to watch. What trends are you watching?…

I have mentioned in the past that calling a friend can be a fast path to a research answer.  It can also be a quick path to resolution of a technical problem. With email and web forms being the new normal for business communication, it may simply be that a phone call or well thought out voicemail message is different enough to be ‘noticed’.

As an example, we have been having technical problems with a website database recently.  The form to report technical difficulty used several times garnered zero response.  A voice mail message to the organization did set a …

We all have them – those days where it feels like your imagination shrugs its metaphorical shoulders, gives you an apologetic half-grin, and heads to Fiji. You’re stuck – you can’t engage with your work, or generate new ideas. Douglas Adams described it best: The Long, Dark Tea-time of the Soul. Here are a few tips to help you endure.

• Set the bar low – this isn’t going to last forever, so don’t be your worst enemy. Populate your to-do list with tasks that don’t require a lot of creativity, but still make you feel like you’ve accomplished something.

The fastest path is one that you have already traveled. The sign posts are familiar and likely the vehicle as well. You will know how to get where you are going and likely how long your trip will be. This is as true for legal research as it is for your daily commute.

Look to your prior work product. While each client has a unique situation, there are enough similarities in the issues that they bring you that you will be able to use your experience for the best research outcomes.

Keep and search your work product (research memos, opinion …

Today’s Tip is a follow-up from a theme that I see running through recent Research tips.

The theme is about WHO. Who can you go to for a quick answer, who do you trust to be your source for information, who is the person that inspires you or inspire your confidence.

I posted yesterday at Slaw about being inspired by Stephen Abram recently. Perhaps Stephen is one of the people that inspire you as well. If you are looking for a great place to be inspired, consider attending the Canadian Association of Law Libraries Annual Conference in Montreal May 5-8, …

I have a pretty easy time monitoring Canadian case law that is of interest to people in my organization. RSS feeds for CanLII searches or to monitor court output, good newsletters available from commercial legal publishers both in print and online, and the great sharing services offered by lawyers and firms, for example:

• Supreme Advocacy Letter created and distributed by Eugene Meehan and his team
• The Rules Newsletter offered by Alberta firm Jensen Shawa Solomon Duguid Hawkes LLP

For global case law that you should know about, look to the law blogs. A great example of how law blogs can …

A press release received in my email inbox inspired today’s tip. Because I subscribe to an email list used by Canadian law libraries (CALL-L – an open list, more info here), I received the following press release:

APLIC/ABPAC releases its Government and Legislative Libraries Online Publications Portal (GALLOPP/PPGPE): A key resource for locating Canadian and Provincial Government Publications.

The Association of Parliamentary Libraries in Canada (APLIC) is proud to announce the release of its unique pan-Canadian bilingual government and legislative publications portal known as GALLOPP (Government and Legislative Libraries Online Publications Portal) / PPGPE (Portail des publications gouvernementales et