♬ We need a hint to know we’re on the right track…♬

Lyrics, music and recorded by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_González.

Since e-filing in the Land Title Office (LTO) has become mandatory in BC for many forms (from the BC Land Title & Survey Authority’s Web-site):

The Director of Land Titles has required certain land title documents to be filed electronically. Phase One of Required E-filing is now in effect.

These documents are included in some of the most common transactions submitted to the Land Title Office:

• Form A – Transfer, Form B – Mortgage, Form C – Charge and Form C – Release effective January 16, 2012.
• Posting plans and associated applications and certificates effective July 1, 2011.

Detailed practice information about Required E-filing and EFS training resources are available as follows:

• Consult the Required E-filing webpage.
• Read the Director’s Requirements to File Land Title Forms Electronically (DR 06-11).
• Review Frequently Asked Questions about EFS and Required E-filing.
• Consult a checklist to get started using EFS.

Upon completion of all phases, most documents and plans will be filed electronically with a very small number filed manually in hardcopy form.

This blog post is to remind those readers in BC that help is at hand in order to move into mandatory e-filing.

Due to overwhelming demand, Dye & Durham have added an additional date for their complimentary Hints and Tips on Supported Land Title E-Filing Webinar.  This additional date is February 2nd, 2012.

This webinar will include:

• Review all necessary land e-filing requirements;
• Hints and tips on how to prepare and submit e-forms to manage the e-filing process via ETRAY;
• Staying up to date with EFS bulletins and changes.

For registration details please click on the link below.

http://www.dyedurhambc.com/public/Hints_and_Tips_E-Filing_Webinar_Feb_2_2012.pdf.

It is comforting to know that help is at hand with hints and tips when you need them to keep you on track!

♬ Skeleton we have been friends for years
…
And you, you’ve got me standing in an awkward position
With unwanted attention and a need for explanation…♬

Lyrics and music by Katie Nash & Alejandro Tovar, recorded by Katie Nash.

This a guest post by Sharon Nelson, Esq and John Simek.  Along with the fact that Sharon and John are very good friends, Sharon is also a fellow past-Chair of ABA TECHSHOW.  Sharon and John are life-partners as well as business partners in the legal and forensic information technology worlds. So here is their excellent article on managing legacy data:

Lawyers and their clients are looking for expert advice on how to manage legacy data. Law firm leaders and managers have a responsibility to their firms, and to their clients, to be informed about how to properly store and steward electronic data. Traditionally, many law firms and their clients have simply “kept everything.” After all, storage is cheap – and many businesses have not wanted to spend adequate time, money and other resources to figure out what to do with all of the old data.

The concerns and responsibilities surrounding historic files and e-mails have expanded beyond e-discovery advice into proactive information governance policies and procedures. Law firms and business organizations alike tend to keep data storage devices such as backup tapes, old CDs, thumb drives, cell phones, and other media etc. well beyond what their compliance requirements or business needs dictate. These so-called “skeletons in the closet” pose a major problem when the organization gets sued or subpoenaed because all that dusty, forgotten data is suddenly potentially discoverable. If a company has thousands or millions of backup tapes, the problem is greatly magnified. By being advised about, and recommending proactive management of legacy data, law firms will be saving themselves and their clients distress and major expense down the road. (more…)

♬ I wouldn’t settle for nothing
I couldn’t settle for that
I’d rather settle for something I don’t believe in
than listen to anymore of your chit chat…♬

Lyrics music and recorded by the Headstones.

On January 17, Dr. Frank Fowlie, a Fellow with the Centre for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst and a Chartered Mediator,  Ms Kari D. Boyle, lawyer, mediator, consultant, administrator and Executive Director of Mediate BC and yours truly presented on “ODR Around the World” for the ADR section of the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch.  As that presentation, I mentioned that Darin Thompson, Legal Counsel with the Justice Services Branch, BC Ministry of Attorney General had written a wonderful post on the latest developments on ODR in the European Union and that he had graciously consented for it to be published here as a guest post. Accordingly, here is Darin’s wonderful overview of how ADR and ODR are being implemented in the European Union:

Darin Thompson looks at the European Commission’s proposals for expansion of ODR and places them in a wider context

On 29 November, the European Commission published a proposal on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Online Dispute Resolution (ODR). This has set the stage for a significant increase in the use of these out-of-court dispute resolution processes for consumer disputes within the EU.  Based on an initial reading of the proposal, the Commission envisages technology, and more specifically the Internet, as the key channel for delivering services to users.

ADR, ODR and e-commerce

ADR is a well established collection of processes and techniques for resolving disputes while avoiding litigation. Although the techniques vary across culture and region, modern ADR is generally understood to involve forms of negotiation, mediation, conciliation or arbitration.  ODR, on the other hand, is a much newer collection of processes that represents the convergence of ADR and information technology.  Like ADR, it incorporates any combination of negotiation, mediation, conciliation, arbitration and other decision-making processes. But it often relies on technology, most frequently the Internet, to facilitate its processes, and the emphasis is placed on simplicity, speed and low costs.

ODR has been used in recent years to resolve consumer disputes within the private sphere, but it has not yet become a mainstream practice endorsed by governments.  Major private institutions such as PayPal have become big users of ODR, with their systems handling 60 million disputes annually.  Yet, ODR has remained a relatively marginal practice that has failed to keep pace with the rapid growth in e-commerce. Even within Europe, where e-commerce growth has lagged behind some other regions, more than half of people in the UK, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands reportedly bought goods or services over the Internet in 2010.[1] Yet in the same year, only 5% of European consumers used any ADR process to resolve a dispute.[2]  Similarly, only 9% of businesses reported ever using ADR.  This phenomenon has continued despite the fact that ODR represents an affordable and simple way to resolve disputes that arise out of online transactions.  For consumers, ODR can provide redress for problems when court is not a viable option. For traders, it could increase trust, improve reputation and allow for rapid and fair handling of complaints, unpaid invoices and other unwelcome business distractions. (more…)

♬  Hey, look around it’s all so clear
Hey, wherever we were going, well we’re here
Hey, so many things I never thought I’d see
Happening right in front of me..♬

Lyrics and music by Chris DuBois and Brad Paisley, recorded by Brad Paisley, “Welcome to the Future”.

2012 Happy New Year

In this third and final collection of tips and predictions for 2012, we turn first to my good friend and colleague, Steve Gallagher. Steve has been one of those rare individuals who has kept a perspective on where the legal profession is and is going.  Accordingly, I though it was appropriate that we start with his views in this final post of 2011 on what will be happening in 2012:

Stephen P Gallagher: “Coping with Change”:

(a)  A Law Practice Management Perspective:

My primary business these days is coaching Lawyers in Transition, so from my vantage point,  I see large geographic areas throughout Canada and the United States that will have no practicing lawyers within hundreds of miles. At the same time, law school graduates will cluster around metropolitan areas looking for entry-level positions primarily to pay off law school debt. I would like to think that our talented young professionals will start looking for opportunities with baby boomers, particularly in more rural areas of the country to continue the tradition of serving the public.

(b)  Legal Technology:

I’ve follow the writing of Sherryl Turkle, a psychologist and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Initiative on Technology and Self.  Professor Turkel is concerned about how we may be losing things that Thoreau thought were essential to discovering an identity. Professor Turkle claims to be teaching the most brilliant students in the world (at MIT). She claims that they have done themselves a disservice by drinking the Kool-Aid and believing that a multitasking learning environment will serve their best purposes.

I too am concerned about this “multitasking learning environment” for lawyers.

For a Frontline interview, Digital Nation, Professor Turkle was quoted as saying, “She thinks that we’re living in a culture where we’re really not sure what kind of attention we owe each other. People put their cell phones on the table now. They don’t turn them off.” She goes on to say that, “One of my students talked about the first time he was walking with friends, and they received a cell phone call, and they took the call. And he said: “What was I, on pause?” I felt I was being put on pause.” Sheryl Turkle thinks that we’re socially negotiating what kind of attention we feel we owe each other.”

This flat out scares me. We owe each other more. (more…)

♬ See your heart will lead you where you want to be, but your head will lead you where you ought to be.
But which will lead you where you’re meant to be? ♬

Lyrics, music and recorded by K’LA.

2012 New Years

This is Part 2 in the 2012 Tips and Predictions series where I have asked my good friends and colleagues to contribute their best ideas for the New Year. Accordingly without further ado:

Dr. Frank Fowlie: “Future Shock” predictions:

1. Consumers will no longer be forced to call their credit card company  to deal with “unknown” charges.  No more phone tress, no more wait times…You’ll be able to go to your bank’s credit card website and fill in a form online, the bank will handle it from there.
2. When you buy something online and there’s something wrong with the purchase, you’ll be able to go to a single portal for goods sold in Canada, and start a redress process online, at your convenience.  This is less Future Shock, as the European Union has already created a regulation which makes this possible across Europe.  Like “chip” cards did in the past, the technology will migrate from Europe to Canada.
3. Small Claims Courts in Canada will move towards Online Dispute Resolution to more effectively and efficiently manage the court processes.  There will be a new wave of computer literate judges who hear and settle cases online.
4. Courts of equity will look to technology to handle small value claims.  Online Dispute Resolution will replace hearings in matters where the value is the same or lower than the Small Claims Court limit.
5. Law firms will publish hourly rates on their websites to allow for consumer choices.  Consumers will be able to search out legal services in  the same way they look for other commodities online.
6. Lawyers will begin to sell “Boutique services” allowing consumers to handle some part of their own legal matters.  Some lawyers will develop practices which simply “guide” lay litigants, as opposed to forcing the lay litigant into court with representation.
7. Legal Zoom, or some like entity, will set up shop in Canada.  Legal services outsourcing becomes a market drive out of India and Ireland.
8. The public can make complaints against lawyers using an online platform, perhaps to an independent body.

Dr. Frank Fowlie, www.internetombudsman.biz.

Judge Monty Ahalt ( Ret.): “Warp Speed”:

As the year closes out and some say the decade there is always a clamour for the folks to know what is in store for the next year. Some will look at last year and make resolutions. My Life now breaks down into three areas:

1. Court centered ADR and case management as a recalled Circuit Court Judge now counting 30 years.
2. A Mediator/Arbitrator now counting about 45 years – www.montyahalt.com.
3. Founder and CEO of VirtualCourthouse.com – leading ODR provider – now counting 10 years -   www.VirtualCourthouse.com

Each area has it’s unique challenges and will experience new horizons in 2012. While I do not pretend to be Carnac the Magnificent of Johnny Carson days  there are some new happenings that seem to be clearly presenting themselves for the coming year. (more…)

♬ There’s a few people spinning gold…♬

Lyrics, music and recorded by Blind Melon.

Time to finally post my 2011 ClawBie nominations! There have been so many great blogs springing up in Canada that this year that it is becoming even harder to choose only three!

Of course, the #1 legal blog in Canada, in my humble opinion, is and remains, slaw.ca. Simon Fodden and the rest of the group (which grows ever wider) is really defining the standard for legal blogs – not just in Canada but across the world. In the same way Jordan Furlong’s Law21 blog constantly reflects ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking regarding the legal marketplace, trends and undercurrents. Slaw has been nominated by many (which I totally endorse!) and as such I won’t follow on their nominations. I understand that Jordan’s blog is not in the running, since he is one of the judges.

So I am going to pick three that I think are more than deserving of a Clawbie award. For my nominations, I am staying in BC:

#1: Eric Magraken’s BC Injury Law blog. Eric is a great example of how a lawyer can lever social media to great effectiveness. All of us have seen buttons linking to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn ..but savvy Eric has a Media Requests link! Eric has previously won ClawBie awards, for good reason. He is setting the bar for a client-centric personal injury blog.

#2: Susanna Jani’s Distance Family Mediation Blog. BC is moving forward in the application of different mediation methods to resolve disputes in BC (including my interest, Online Dispute Resolution) and Susanna is a careful, thoughtful proponent of and researcher into how these different methods can be used to end conflicts. As she states: “A key goal of the service is to make family mediation affordable and available to all British Columbians, regardless of their income or location.” Susanna is shining a light into how technology can be used to increase access to justice by lowering costs, speeding up resolutions and allowing people to get on with their lives.

#3: The ClickLaw blog. ClickLaw is doing great things with regard to trying to help ordinary people solve legal problems. This nomination is not so much for the blog but rather all the great work they are doing at ClickLaw. Perhaps it is due to the fact that I used to teach for The People’s Law School, but I have a warm spot in my heart for organizations that are genuinely trying to help those who who don’t have the resources to hire a lawyer and who are looking for some information and education. ClickLaw is doing great things in helping people interact with the government, with courts and other tribunals, particularly teens, immigrants and aboriginal peoples. Good work always deserves recognition. Besides, I love the name “ClickLaw!”

These are three nominations from all of those who are out there spinning gold…

♫ You have stolen
You have stolen
You have stolen my heart…♫

Lyrics and music by: Chris Carrabba, recorded by: Dashboard Confessional.

There are many news stories about identities and personal information being compromised on the web, but in many cases there are not many ways to verify if your online identity has been breached. For example a friend of mine had several charges appear monthly on her iTunes account that were not hers – it seemed that someone has compromised the account and was charging small amounts every month…small enough that most times, it wouldn’t be noticed…

Fortunately there is Pwned List (pwnedlist.com), a free way to check if your user name or email address matches one that is on Pwned’s list of compromised accounts.

What is the story behind Pwned?

The site started out as small research project with a rather simple premise. To discover how many compromised accounts can be harvested programatically in just a couple of hours. Well, needless to say, the results were astonishing. In just under 2 hours we had close to 30,000 accounts, complete with logins and passwords. The truly scary part, however, was the quality of data we were able to collect in such a short amount of time. The accounts we were able to retrieve consisted of email services, social media sites, merchants and even financial institutions. It was clear that something had to be done. (more…)

♫ Together we’ll stand – Divided we’ll fall                                                                                                
 Come on now people – Let’s get on the ball – And work together…♫

Music and Lyrics by: Wilbert Harrison, recorded by Canned Heat

Tipping Point

Ask a lawyer who does divorces about the work that he or she does for clients and they will most probably answer we practise family law. As lawyers, we all understand that and it creates a commonality among colleagues – we are family law lawyers or corporate lawyers or criminal lawyers… etc.

But ask that question of a person going through a divorce about who they want and you will get a different answer – we want someone who can get me out of this relationship, help me with custody of my kids and help create an equitable split of the marital property. With respect, this isn’t just about seeing what we do differently from our clients. This goes to the heart of the relationship – clients focus on results. What should we focus on as a lawyer? On creating value.

Why is this important? Today there are two symptoms that I think indicate that the legal world is not as healthy as we may otherwise think it is. One is the huge growth in the self-represented litigant. The second is the growth of websites and online services that come very, very close to the practice of law (such as legalzoom.com) or other self-help-with-divorce (or similar) sites. The growth of the self-represented litigant represents the fact that legal services cannot be marketed to an increasing slice of society. In other words, this group cannot see the value they would receive for the money they would otherwise spend on lawyers. Those using those self-help websites see value in the documents and advice that they receive from these web services. (more…)

♬  Ain’t no pill for this pain
So please, please come to my rescue baby
Make it right away…♬

Lyrics and Music by: Diane Warren, recorded by Uncle Kracker.

If you are like me, you are facing the prospect of aging parents…or in my case, an aging parent (my dad having passed on 5 years ago). If you happen to live in a different geographical area from your parent, you are facing the additional prospect of trying to help them from a distance with the various challenges that life throws their way.  When it comes to helping them with their technology, the distance aspect can become a real barrier…trying to talk them through “click on this” and “do you see that..” while on a telephone call with them seated in front of their computer trying to solve the latest crises gives you a whole new respect for anyone who works in IT support.

How can you solve this problem?  For me, LogMeIn has come to the rescue (https://secure.logmein.com/).

This application allows me to log into my mom’s computer from thousands of miles away – and see her desktop.  I can install software, update the applications, create bookmarks, run utilities – do virtually anything from a distance that I could do sitting down in front of the computer.

Of course, lawyers and others have been using LogMeIn or GoToMyPC for years to connect to their office computer remotely in order to work from the road.  This is the same idea but with a twist – since I am logging into someone else’s computer.

In terms of security – you have to log into the LogMeIn site first. Once connected to LogMeIn, you connect to the remote computer and then log into that computer using a user name and password.  Double security.

You are looking at the desktop of the remote computer…you can move the mouse, click on applications etc.

One proviso – the remote computer has to be on and connected to the Internet to work. If you require a reboot of the remote computer (to install or update software, for example) then it is useful to have your parent at home to ensure that the computer restores its internet connection so you can log back in again and check if the updates etc. installed properly.

How much does all this cost, you say?  In the case of LogMeIn – I am using the free version.  So far it is able to do anything that I need of it to keep my mom’s computer (a Mac Mini) working just fine by using my MacBook.

Since there isn’t any pill for the pain of an incomprehensible computer, LogMeIn allows me to come to the rescue – right away!

♬ …I care for you… I’m there 
… I’m there for you…I care… ♬

Lyrics, music and recorded by Wolfsheim.

Jay Fleischman in a blog post entitled: “Is the Virtual Law Firm Model Coming up Short?” opines that lawyers practising in a virtual practice are ‘missing an ingredient’. Mr. Fleischman continues:

Those who offer the virtual law firm are selling something most people don’t want.  People want to be able to make a personal connection with other people, to build trust in a lawyer’s expertise.  They don’t want to be met with a password-encrypted firewall and triple-redundant backup systems.

Mr. Fleischman and I agree on at least one point thou:  it isn’t about the technology.  Most certainly!

But with respect, we differ on where to take it from there. In Mr. Fleischman’s view:

You need to figure out how to connect with people who are not necessarily in front of you.  In fact, you’ve got to determine when being face-to-face is best for the client.

Yes, but … that is only part of the picture.  In my view, Mr. Fleischman fails to take his argument to its logical conclusion. Why would face-to-face be best for (some) clients?  Not because “people want to make a personal connection” (per Mr. Fleischman) but because they have to know – trust – feel – that you care. (more…)