♬You’re my latest, tell you you’re my greatest
My latest, my greatest inspiration
You inspire me, inspire me…♬

Lyrics and music by: Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, recorded by: Teddy Pendergrass.

2010 Techshow logo

This column was written for the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia’s magazine “The Verdict” immediately after ABA TECHSHOW in March. That edition of The Verdict has just hit the streets (print publication lags being what they are…) so here is the column on ABA TECHSHOW 2010:

Well the three days of the 2010 edition of the American Bar Association’s TECHSHOW wrapped up on March 27. This leading legal technology conference had three major themes this year.

Theme One: The Cloud

Ethics, security and privacy concerns aside, the cloud has arrived. Whether it is using SaaS applications (software as a service) or law firms building virtual deal rooms using SharePoint, working on the cloud is now a reality for virtually all law firms. (more…)

♬ This boy has got it made
Media exposure
It will make him all the rage
But he’s not playing
He’s not playing
He’s just having
Adventures in modern recording…♬

Music and lyrics by: Simon Darlow, Trevor Horn, Bruce Woolley, recorded by The Buggles.

This column starts a new category theme in this blog: “Tips”. This tip comes from British Columbia lawyer Richard Fowler.

On Slaw.ca there have been posts on recording in the courts. Most recently, Mr. Justice Richard Granger posted on Technology and Court Reporting. Mr. Justice Granger stated:

Unfortunately, court reporting in Ontario has not kept pace with the emerging technology which is available in the market place today and which could greatly assist judges in having a command of the vive voce testimony during the trial and when preparing their reasons for judgment.

As Mr. Granger notes in his post, such real-time reporting is not inexpensive. For most trials, but particularly for criminal ones with legal aid and court budgets under so much pressure, the cost of such a system is simply prohibitive for counsel to bring into the court. Accordingly, there must be a better way! (more…)

♬ Everything is not what it seems
When you can get what you want by the simplest of means
Be careful not to mess with the balance of things
Because everything is not what it seems…♬

Lyrics and music by: John R. Adair, Ryan David Elder, Bradley Jay Hamilton, Stephen R. Hampton, recorded by: Selena Gomez.

CBC News on May 4, 2010 in an on-line article entitled: “Bank of Montreal alleges huge mortgage fraud” reported on a potential $30 million mortage/real estate fraud in Alberta.

The article is disturbing, as the size of the fraud and the number of people involved is not small: there are apparently 14 inter-connected groups involved:

Toronto forensic accountant Al Rosen said he has never seen anything like it.

“This is massive in the sense that it is so broad and so deep,” Rosen said Tuesday. “This is [allegedly] a huge fraud. I can’t think of any situation that has so many people involved and over a period of time like this one.”

The people involved ranged from ‘straw buyers’ who fronted the purchase of the properties for inflated prices based on fake, inflated wage and net income documents, to lawyers, to bank employees and ‘masterminds’.
(more…)