Doing legal research increasingly means having multiple windows and applications open. You might be referring to CanLII in one window, the CRA website in another, and that email you’re working on in a third. Some of you might even have two or three screens set up beside each other on your desk!

This new normal became 100% more efficient for me when I learned how to use the below four keyboard shortcuts to quickly marshal all my open windows. These first two shortcuts instantly resize your window to take up half of the screen and then snap it to one …

♫ But the plan won’t accomplish anything
If it’s not implemented…♫

Lyrics, music and recorded by Built to Spill.

(image used pursuant to Creative Commons CC0 licence)

There are many questions to ask yourself and to think about before you reach your decision as to whether or not you would like to open a law practice. In talking to other lawyers, they will have some very helpful questions that will be very insightful and provide guidance as to whether you are making the right move or not. Owning a law  practice is a huge responsibility, so you want to …

You feel nervous about publishing something, right? You should be, a bit – but don’t let it put you off.

Some things to bear in mind:

• get a partner to vet your idea and your draft, for technical accuracy
• defer to the senior person on points of law (unless you can show you’re right), but not always on stylistic matters (as an articling student, I stood my ground when a partner insisted that theirself was a word)
• check whether your firm acts for any party you’re talking about – you don’t want to say anything a client might not like

In the course of your work as a legal professional, you may receive the occasional call from the media, seeking your comments or insights on a recent legal development or issue.

Handling these enquiries with expertise and grace will always be beneficial to you and your practice.

Here are a few tips on working with the media in this context:

1. Generally speaking, media enquiries will initially come by email, with the journalist specifying the topic to be covered and asking for your availability to participate in a telephone interview.
2. If you wish to participate, don’t delay. Journalists work on very

The Local Government Act, R.S.B.C. 2015, c.1, came into force on January 1, 2016. If you know that the last Revised Statutes of British Columbia were produced in 1996, this citation looks a little confusing. The explanation is that the new Local Government Act is what is known as a limited revision of an act.

British Columbia’s Statute Revision Act allows the government to produce a limited revision of a single act instead of revising all the statutes. Traditionally, British Columbia’s statutes have been revised every 15 years or so, with R.S.B.C. 1996 being the last general revision; it remains …

♫ So put me on a highway
And show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time…♫

Lyrics and music: Don Henley, Randy Meisner, Glenn Lewis Frey, Donald Hugh Henley, recorded by The Eagles.  Thanks Glenn for all the great music.

(image by Wade M – CC BY-SA 2.0 licence)

This is a new year’s resolution of a different sort.  All of us resolve to get healthier, to live better lives and to do better this year than last.  How many of us resolve to keep our minds sharp and agile?  Here are some …

People have trouble with the correct use of that and which.

Writing in 1926, the grammarian H.W. Fowler said the rules are ‘an odd jumble, and plainly show that the language has not been neatly constructed by a master builder’.

Fowler advocated a fairly simple rule (and people who think about these things have largely followed it) – ‘although it would be idle to pretend that it is the practice either of most or of the best writers’ (Fowler again; if you don’t have his Modern English Usage you must buy it now).

That

• use it where the information

Legal professionals properly place high priority on securing our computer infrastructures to protect client confidentiality.

Our desktop screens, however, are often overlooked, as a source of potential security breaches.

Is your computer screen visible to visitors to your office? Are wandering eyes able to catch a glimpse of confidential information on your desktop?

There’s an easy solution to avoid inadvertent lapses in confidentiality that can happen when screens are exposed.

Use a screensaver to protect the data on your screen.

Whether it’s a built-in screensaver that ships with your operating system, or one of the numerous installables that is available …

When we’re working with an Act that has had significant amendments passed, but not yet brought into force, I’ll often make a prospective consolidation to help our lawyers advise their clients on forward-looking strategies. Having a prospective consolidation on hand makes work more efficient and it can also reveal new implications for the amendments. I’m going to walk you through how I do this myself and share some lessons I learned along the way.

The method I use, which is described below, makes use of a blackline tool. A blackline tool is an app that compares two similar documents and …

♫  We made our resolution for our brand new year:
No more letting days go by…♫

Lyrics, music and recorded by The Limousines.

So many of us resolve to do things better in the New Year even if we don’t make formal New Year’s Resolutions.  Problem is that good intentions die hard.  How can you increase your chances for a positive change and outcome?  Here are a number of suggestions put forward to increase your chances for a real positive change:

• Start Small: Rome wasn’t built in a day and changes take time.