Join us!

Excitement has reached a fever pitch around the conference hotel. Last night’s bag stuffing and registration preparation has really brought home the fact that the conference is under way!

 If you find yourself somewhat surprised at how quickly the event has come upon us, you’re not alone. If you’re SO surprised that you didn’t get a chance to register – don’t despair!  On-site registration for the entire conference, for single days or for social events is possible.

 The registration desk will be open at the Downtown Marriott Eaton Centre (ballroom level) this afternoon from 3 – 5:00.  Registrants automatically have admission to the opening reception tonight, but guests will need to purchase tickets ($15). And tickets for the Closing Banquet are available to everyone (not included in the conference registration).

It looks for now like the rain will hold off, and it’s headed for 20 degrees today (68 for our
American cousins, or those born before 1970).

See you soon!

Wendy Reynolds

NE2007 Organizing Committee

Isn’t it convenient when real life illustrates a topic?

I doubt that it’s news to the Canadians in the audience, but for our American cousins,  Canada Law Book announced that it intends to remove its content from LexisNexis Quicklaw with the expiry of its license agreement on March 31, 2008, with the aim of expanding its own suite of online offerings. The implications of this decision are unclear at this moment – by next spring, we’ll have a better sense of what this means for libraries.

The announcement serves to highlight the timeliness of the Friday morning plenary, Pipe Dream to Pipeline : The Future of Legal Information and Law Publishing.  For me, this session has gone from a “nice to have” to one of the most important items on the program. Does the Canada Law Book announcement presage a fundamental shift in the marketplace, or is it a one-off? The legal marketplace seems to segmenting into mega-firms and boutiques – are we seeing the same model emerge in publishing? 

 Join our panel of legal publishing insiders as we explore their opportunities and challenges. (I’ve been privately speculating about the future of the case law report, with the rise of the “LII” – Legal Information Institute).

 Wendy

Come dancing….

Can’t attend the conference, but in Toronto (and area) on October 20? Why not join us for the closing banquet?

Please come meet colleagues and new friends, enjoy a great meal and dance the night away – all are welcome!

Use the registration form, indicate that you’ll be registering only for the banquet, and make your cheque out to NE2007!

For those of us who are attending the conference, don’t forget that you can register your favourite dance partner as a guest at the opening reception and the closing banquet.

The clock is ticking!

From today, it’s exactly one month until we meet in Toronto. Have you registered yet?

Remember that we cannot accept electronic registrations, so in order to ensure that your information and fees are received in time, you should allow 7-10 days for the post.

See you soon!

Session summary: Cross-border White Collar Crime

Crime – even white collar crime – recognizes no borders and recent high profile cases like Martha Stewart, and Conrad Black make it appear to be an increasing problem in today’s international financial markets and industry. Brian H. Greenspan is Canada’s pre-eminent white collar criminal lawyer, who frequently deals with cross border issues, and he will be speaking at NE2007on October 20th courtesy of TALL. Mr. Greenspan has defended CEOs, hockey players, directors and politicians on such charges as money-laundering, fraud, and “tipping” among other things. He was recently profiled with his brother Eddie Greenspan, also a criminal lawyer, who most recently defended Conrad Black in Chicago, in a Toronto Life article entitled “Criminal Minds.”  The article quotes Justice John Sopinka of the Supreme Court of Canada: “Hire Brian Greenspan…He’s the best lawyer who ever appeared before me.”Mr. Greenspan was also recently profiled by the Financial Post as a top white collar criminal defence specialist. In the article “White-collar clients rely on specialists,” Mr. Greenspan commented on the differences and similarities of American vs. Canadian justice systems and speculated on “one high-profile American defendant would have been better off in the Canadian system. Martha Stewart would have been tried in Canada by a judge alone and she would almost certainly have testified in her own defence. Most Canadian lawyers believe she would have been acquitted. She certainly couldn’t have done any worse.”

The Toronto Association of Law Libraries is sponsoring session L-2 Cross-border White Collar Crime with Brian Greenspan.  Check the program for time and date.

Posted on behalf of Erica Anderson, Toronto Association of Law Libraries.

Folks are coming from all over everywhere!

The organising committee met this week, and we had a report on registration. Over 100 Canadians from across the country are already signed up, which is very encouraging. U.S-based registrants are 130 to date, with the largest contingent coming from ALLUNY followed very closely by ORALL.

I was very impressed to learn that we have *three* delegates coming from Brazil, and we’re expecting at least one delegate from the United Kingdom. There are rumours of an Australian also making the trek!

One of our Brazilian guests is hoping to get in touch with librarians working in the medical/health sphere as well. If you can suggest some names or groups, please post them to the delegates wiki, or drop a note to Connie Crosby.

Happy long weekend, everyone!

 Wendy

Programs for managers

The summer holidays are drawing to a close. With the return of students to school, and workers to offices comes the realization that budget season is just around the corner. We have several excellent programs lined up to help make that process easier (okay, less frustrating?).

Reveille! Roll Call! : Communicating our value to management. Panellists Stephen Lastres and Donna Purvis join moderator Gale Lynn-Nelson to discuss the growing demand to “run the library like a business”, and provide practical tips in quantifying and communicating the library’s value proposition.

Negotiating Contracts : Tips, Tricks & Tools.  Joanie Oliver takes us through the contract negotiation, identifying opportunities for cost reduction, and offering strategic advice.

Competitive Intelligence on a Shoestring. Increasingly, libraries are involved in gathering information on existing and potential clients, finding out about emerging issues/opportunities, and keeping an eye on the legal marketplace. Sabrina Pacifici helps you accomplish this highly valued service with a minimum of expense.  Talk about a value proposition!

Human resources represent a significant part of any library’s bottom line. The session Here Today, Gone Tomorrow : Hiring, Retaining & Dismissing Information Professionals will explore the “soft skills” required to keep your team a smoothly-functioning unit.

See the entire preliminary schedule.  Not yet registered? The forms are available here.

Can we throw away the books yet?

Genie Tyburski used the title above in a recent article on The Virtual Chase. I’m not going to restate the questions she raises and the excellent points she makes in the article. She’s right, though — we’re in an odd transition period, when primary source of information (books) is out of sync with the prevailing approach to research (online). While the information universe is shifting toward the virtual library, the need persists for print resources AND for those who know how to use them.

 The program at NE2007 has many sessions which can help you become more knowledgeable about both information “universes”.  There are sessions on researching U.S and Canadian law. Another session features free, web-based sources of international law.

The Friday morning plenary, Pipe dream to pipeline, will address directly many of the issues and observations offered by Ms. Tyburski. A distinguished panel of legal publishers will discuss the future of legal publishing – how will the delivery of information change in the short term? In the next fifteen years? Don’t miss this one!

Wendy

Ignatieff on Iraq

See Michael Ignatieff’s article on the war, published this past weekend in the New York Times magazine.

I think that one of the most interesting themes of the article is the discussion of the academic’s perception vs the politican’s view of the world.  A quote:

I’ve learned that good judgment in politics looks different from good judgment in intellectual life. Among intellectuals, judgment is about generalizing and interpreting particular facts as instances of some big idea. In politics, everything is what it is and not another thing. Specifics matter more than generalities. Theory gets in the way.

I know a few other academics who have moved into the “trenches” of their professions. Wouldn’t it be a great after-dinner conversation to have two or three people who have moved from academe into (what most would consider) “the real world”, and see how their perceptions changed?

 BTW – Michael Valpy of the Globe and Mail wrote an article on the Ignatieff piece, including an interview with Ignatieff.

 Wendy Reynolds

A clarification on registration

In response to some feedback from an interested reader – yes, registration IS only by mail. So, for those of you hoping to cash in on the early-bird, you might want to figure that into your calculations.

Wendy