If you have to go to court, you want to make sure that you are being the most effective advocate possible. There are many ways to persuade the trier of fact – but you can shine by bringing a picture (or graphics) which, as they say, are worth a thousand words. So think about how you can make your next case sparkle (and hopefully win the battle) by bringing persuasive technology with you to court, to a mediation or to your next arbitration.

What can you use? Here is a selection of alternatives:

• Use (PC or Mac), Keynote (Mac) or

I was reminded to look at public consultations by Gilbert Van Nes, General Counsel and Settlement Officer for the Environmental Appeals Board in Alberta some time ago when we both had an opportunity to present at a Legal Education Society of Alberta seminar. Alberta has a public consultations portal on the government website, which is a handy, and probably under used, research space. The portal includes completed consultations as well – highly useful.

The Government of Canada also offers a Consulting with Canadians portal.

Is there a public consultations portal on your provincial government website?…

As we all know too well, the basic Windows clipboard holds only one item. This can be a pain when you have multiple items to copy and paste. Some people resort to installing third-party apps for greater clipboard functionality. However, if you have Office 2010 installed on your computer, remember to use the Office Clipboard. It can hold up to 24 items at a time – amazing!
Unfortunately, you need to dig a bit for the Office clipboard. Click on the Home tab. On the lower left edge of the Ribbon you will see a “Clipboard” in a light grey …

In manufacturing, there is a metric known as “Cost of Goods Sold”.  When it comes to legal services, the equivalent metric would be the “Cost of Services Rendered” (CoSR).

Do you know what it costs you to render an hour’s worth of legal services?

This metric looks at what you expect an hour’s worth of each lawyer’s legal time to cost your firm, on average.  For a solo lawyer, it is straightforward – the total forecast expenses for the firm (including the lawyer’s draws) divided by his or her billable time expectation.

For example, if a lawyer expects that his …

Today’s Tip is not about noting up cases and legislation found in the footnotes of a text, encyclopedia or journal article, though from the title, it could be. It is about using social tools to find and use the best sources and products that will help with legal work.

The Attorney At Work blog offers an excellent article today on the top iPhone and iPad Apps for Lawyers. This list is a great example of using references to assist in decision making. The post offers 10 apps and there is a longer downloadable list available with an email registration. …

We have spoken and consulted with a number of lawyers lately who have called about taking a law firm paperless.  Certainly many lawyers become anxious at the thought of giving up on paper and practising in a paper-less world (there will probably never be a situation where we fully abandon paper).  Often, that concern is rooted in a fear that somewhere the rules of professional responsibility or other regulations governing the firm require that paper files be kept. There are, of course, specific requirements in every jurisdiction regarding retention, maintenance and destruction of client files (check your specific practice …

Today’s Tip is less about legal research and more about the output of your research – often a research memo. There are some good general tips about writing and analysis at Catherine Best’s Legal Resarch site, and there are even sample memos like this one from UBC.

Some of the best advice I have heard comes from Wendy-Anne Berkenbosch, Research Partner at Davis LLP. When addressing articling students at the Edmonton Law Libraries Association Head Start Program, she says:

Provide your answer in a comprehensible and useable format:
– Introduction (what the memo is about);
– Brief

Forbes published a fantastic article on ten simple and essential things that everyone should doing to protect their privacy. The ten steps outlined in the article are really and truly very simple things that all of us can and should be doing to keep casual intruders from invading our privacy. You don’t need to be a techie to do these things. This article is a must read for everyone. Please read it – and follow the steps it recommends. You can find 10 Incredibly Simple Things You Should Be Doing To Protect Your Privacy here.…

A Virtual Law Office has been defined many different ways by many different people.  It can certainly be seen as one form of e-lawyering, or using the power of the  Internet to deliver legal services.  It is a secure method of delivering legal services online that is accessible to the client and the lawyer anywhere they can access the Internet.

Simply put, there are several different ways to create a virtual law office. One is to be entirely web based. Another is to establish a virtual practice as part of a “bricks and mortar” firm, meaning the virtual lawyer utilizes …

Search terms
Search words
Search phrases
Keyword search

All these mean essentially the same thing.

Today’s tip: If you are searching for a phrase, remember to use thesaurus words and alternative phrasing.

For example, you would want to search both of

relief from forfeiture
relief against forfeiture

Thanks to Scott Matheson for the tip.…