Vancouver Bar Association Sets Detailed Schedule for Summer and Articling Student Interviews

Following up on our earlier post on Articling Guidelines for downtown Vancouver firms, the VBA has now announced that firms participating in the uniform schedule for articling and summer student interviews have approved the following dates:

Articling Students:

• Wednesday, June 30, 2010: Applications due
• Thursday, July 15, 2010: Interview call date (8:00 a.m. PST)
• August 9 – 13, 2010: Interview Week
• August 12, 2010: Offer call date (8:00 am PST)

Summer Students:

• Friday, September 10, 2010: Applications due (which is the same as Toronto)
• Tuesday, October 5, 2010: Interview call date (8:00 a.m. PST)
• October 18 – 22, 2010: Interview Week
• October 21, 2010: Offer call date (8:00 a.m. PST)

For articling offers, the VBA are awaiting confirmation from the Law Society Credentials Committee to designate 8:00am (PST) Friday, August 13, 2010 as the time and date until which the offer must remain open. The effect would be that firms adhering to the Guidelines will not make offers before 8:00am (PST) on August 12, 2010 and need not leave those offers open beyond 8:00am (PST) the following day. This one day period was approved (and used) last year and seems to have been considered sufficient to give candidates time to weigh and decide on any offer(s), and also to enable firms to plan and conduct the process well.

Courthouse Libraries BC Releases 2009 Annual Report

Courthouse Libraries BC‘s 2009 annual report is now available for viewing on its website.  The report covers:

• the major initiatives of 2009, including the relaunched Courthouse Libraries website and the Clicklaw portal
• client services, including selected key statistics, such as service requests, new titles added, in-library visits, website usage
• community outreach activities, including Clicklaw and the LawMatters project (to place legal information titles in public libraries and train public librarians in enhanced legal reference skills), community forums, and legal research training and library orientation sessions for the legal community
• infrastructure and technology, including the Aqua Browser search interface for the library catalogue and completion of the circulation automation project for Vancouver and all regional libraries
• facilities and collections, including renovation of the Victoria Courthouse Library and updates to some bound volume sets
• financial highlights

Shelley Fitzpatrick Appointed to B.C. Supreme Court

The Honourable Shelley C. Fitzpatrick, formerly a lawyer with the Vancouver office of Davis LLP (Vancouver), is now a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, effective June 18. Madam Justice Fitzpatrick replaced Madam Justice A.W. MacKenzie, who was appointed Associate Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in April.

Before being admitted to the Bar of B.C. in 1985, Madam Justice Fitzpatrick was a member of the Manitoba Bar; more recently, she was called to the Bar of Ontario. She was a partner with Davis LLP since 2001 and also worked with Campney & Murphy in Vancouver and Fillmore & Riley and Winnipeg.

Madam Justice Fitzpatrick mainly practiced insolvency and commercial litigation. At Davis LLP she was co-chair of the Business Solutions and Restructuring Group. She has been a member of the Insolvency Institute of Canada, the Law Society of British Columbia, the CBA Insolvency and Civil Litigation Subsections, and the Lawyer Referral Service. Since 2005, she has been chair of the British Columbia Model Insolvency Order Committee. She also has lectured extensively in legal education in British Columbia and wrote numerous papers and articles on insolvency matters.

B.C.C.A. Rules Amendments Take Effect July 1

B.C. Reg. 127/2010 makes several amendments to the B.C. Court of Appeal Rules, effective July 1. The Court has published a summary of the highlights of the Rule changes. The full text of the Order in Council amending the Rules is also available on the B.C.C.A. website.

Some highlights of the Rule amendments include

• defining “business day” and using that term instead of “day” in the Rules
• increasing the time requirement in leave applications from 5 days to 10 business days and file and correspondingly increasing the time to serve a reply book from 1 to 5 business days before the hearing of the application
• adding a Rule to provide for a reply to a stay application and to set 2 business days for filing and serving the reply motion book.
• replacing the Rules relating to factums on cross appeal, providing for a reply factum on cross appeal, setting new names for the factums and setting  filing and service deadlines and page limits for the factums
• adding Rule 54.1 as the Electronic Filing Rule
• making changes to several Forms
• moving “Fees Payable to the Crown” from Supreme Court Schedule 1 Appendix C to Appendix C Schedule 1 of the Court of Appeal Rules
• changing the fees and making them subject to a cost of living adjustment every two years

Courthouse Libraries BC Offers Legal Research Training Sessions

Those who are looking to refresh their legal research skills should consider heading over to Courthouse Libraries BC this summer.

Both the Vancouver library and regional libraries offer tailored tours of the library and orientations to print and online products, both customized to suit individual interests. Visitors to the Vancouver Library can currently sign up for a one-hour, one-on-one training session on Carswell’s LawSource at a number of different dates and times scheduled in July and August.

LawSource contains all cases published in Carswell topical law reports, along with the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest,  Canadian Abridgment, KeyCite citator, and Words & Phrases.  The Library’s subscription to LawSource is free to use within all the Courthouse libraries. These sessions are accredited towards your Law Society CPD.

Other sessions may become available; interested persons should contact the library to be notified of updates.

UVic Law Spring Convocation Webcast

Families and friends of new UVic Law graduates were able to watch the faculty’s Spring Convocation ceremonies this year, even if they weren’t able to attend the ceremonies in person on June 16.

The Convocation ceremony was streamed live on the web this year, and the archive of the webcast, along with those of the ceremonies for other faculties, are available on the on the UVic website. The University also set up a survey page where viewers can offer feedback on the webcasts.

CSO Fees to be Eliminated for Criminal and Traffic Record Searches

BC’s Attorney General announced this week that Court Services Online will be eliminating fees for viewing results from criminal and traffic record searches as of August 31, 2010.

The announcement states that the fees were implemented for the purpose of discouraging frivolous searches of these records, but that they are being eliminated to address concerns that the fees impede access to these records by legal aid lawyers and the media. Although it is free to search the database for a results list, the current fee to view a record is $6.00; fees incurred prior to August 31 will not be reimbursed.  It will continue to be free to view records public access terminals at courthouses.

BC Law Watch Now on Twitter

Something we’ve been experimenting with in recent weeks, our posts (and the occasional local re-tweet) are now available on Twitter.

You can follow us at @bclawwatch!

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

Today, June 15th is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, and the BCLI’s Canadian Centre for Elder Law encourages everyone to wear the colour purple in support.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day started in Canada and is now observed around the world. The Day recognizes the mistreatment of older adults and highlights the need for appropriate action and prevention efforts.

“We are pleased that the prevention of elder abuse and neglect has received an increased focus in Canada in recent years,” said Executive Director, Jim Emmerton. “With increasing numbers of older adults in Canada, continued research and support activities will be needed to respond to expected increases in incidents of elder abuse and neglect.”

For more information, see the Centre’s media release.

David Bilinsky to Speak at CBABC/VBA Seminar on Lawyers and Social Media

The Victoria Bar Association and the CBABC will co-host a lunchtime seminar on June 22 in Victoria. The interactive seminar will feature David J. Bilinsky, Practice Management Advisor for the Law Society of British Columbia speaking on the topic, “How Can Lawyers Benefit From Social Media?“. Mr. Bilinsky will describe several examples of social media as well as on-line collaboration tools and how they compare to social media. Attendees will learn how using technology and social media can help lawyers to better manage time, provide better client service, and operate their practices in a more efficient and satisfying manner.

For more information or to register, visit the CBABC program registration page. RSVP is requested by Thursday June 17, 2010.

BC Legislation Roundup

Various bills received Royal Assent last week.

Bill 10, the Veterinarians Act, repeals the old one and creates the College of Veterinarians. This body will effectively replace the former British Columbia Veterinary Medical Association. The role of the College will be to regulate the veterinary profession with powers and procedures similar to those of colleges governing other modern self-regulated professions.

Bill 17, the Clean Energy Act, has stated objectives of long-term electricity self-sufficiency for B.C., clean or renewable energy generation, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The legislation brings certain energy sites such as the Mica Dam and the proposed Site C under government authority, empowering the government to exempt them from B.C. Utilities Commission oversight.

Bill 18, the Haida Gwaii Reconciliation Act, also received Royal Assent. Among other things, it renames the islands known as the Queen Charlotte Islands in English and Îles de la Reine-Charlotte French as Haida Gwaii in both languages.

BC Government Announces New Benchers

The provincial government has named three new Benchers for the Law Society of British Columbia:

• Satwinder Bains is the Director at the UFV’s Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies, an Instructor in their India Canada Studies Program;
• Ben Meisner is a long time journalist, writer and radio host in Prince George;
• and Claude Richmond is the well known former MLA for the Kamloops, and former Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.

The Law Society release also thanks outgoing Benchers: Patrick Kelly, Dr. Maelor Vallance and Barbara Levesque.

UBC Dean Bobinski Named CCLD President

UBC Law Dean, Mary Anne Bobinski has been selected as next President of the Council of Canadian Law Deans (CCLD) beginning July 2010

“The  Canadian Council of Law Deans (CCLD) is an independent and unincorporated not-for-profit association bringing together the heads of the various law schools and departments across Canada. Where appropriate, the CCLD educates the public and communicates with government and other organizations on issues relating to legal education.”

[via June 1st edition UBC law newsletter]

New BC Civil Rules FAQ – Part 2 Released

Following up on Dye & Durham’s initial set of Frequently Asked Questions regarding the NEW Supreme Court Civil Rules,  Part 2 of those FAQs have now been released.

The FAQs were developed in response to questions from participants in recent Dye & Durham Civil Rules webinars.

New Law School Opening in Kamloops

New TRU Dean of Law Chris Axworthy

Thompson Rivers University announced yesterday that it has partnered with the University of Calgary to start Canada’s first new law school in 30 years. From the release:

“Canadian legal history will be made May 31, 2010 when leaders of the University of Calgary’s law school and Thompson Rivers University (TRU) in Kamloops, B.C. meet in Calgary to sign a unique partnering agreement to create the country’s first new law school in more than three decades.”

The school will be looking to teach its first classes in the fall of 2011, with an initial intake of about 60 students. The new school will will adapt the Uof C’s curriculum, making changes to account for differences in provincial legislation. It is expected the new faculty will focus on natural resources, energy and environmental law, along with a goal to build bonds with First Nations communities and graduate more Aboriginal lawyers.

For more information, see the TRU news release.