Nominations for the Next Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) is accepting nominations for the next Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing.

The award honours a publisher (whether for-profit or not-for profit, corporate or non-corporate) that has demonstrated excellence by publishing a work, series, website, or electronic product that makes a significant contribution to legal research and scholarship. Legal content in all information formats is welcome.

Members and non-members of CALL are welcome to make nominations. 

Please send your nomination to the CALL National Office by January 31, 2025.

List of 2024 vLex Fastcase 50 Honorees

Legal information company vLex Fastcase has published its most recent list of the top 50 people who have made significant contributions to the field.

A number of law librarians are on the list.

From the e-mail announcement:

"Since 2011, the vLex Fastcase 50, has recognized excellence across the legal sector. As of this year, 700 honorees have been inducted into the vLex Fastcase 50 hall of fame. To make this possible, a special thank you is extended to our judges and committee who have invested considerable time into reviewing each nomination to ensure all achievements and contributions to the legal sector are acknowledged, however big or small."

" 'From lawyers and legal technologists to judges, law librarians, and bar association executives, this award shines a spotlight on those who have made a significant impact within the legal community.' - Ed Walters, vLex Fastcase 50 founder, and vLex's Chief Strategy Officer."

Nominations for the Next Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) is accepting nominations for the next Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing.

The award honours a publisher (whether for-profit or not-for profit, corporate or non-corporate) that has demonstrated excellence by publishing a work, series, website, or electronic product that makes a significant contribution to legal research and scholarship. Legal content in all information formats is welcome.

Members as well as non-members of CALL can make nominations. 

Nominations can be sent to the CALL National Office by January 31, 2024.

The award will be presented to the recipient during the 2024 CALL Annual Conference, which will be held in Montreal June 25 - 28, 2024.

The award honours Hugh Lawford (1933-2009), Professor of Law at Queens’ University and the founder of Quicklaw.

List of 2023 vLex Fastcase 50 Honorees

Legal information company vLex Fastcase recently published its most recent list of the top 50 people who have made significant contributions to the field.

"Created in 2011, each year the Fastcase 50 award honors a diverse group of lawyers, legal technologists, policymakers, judges, law librarians, bar association executives, and people from all walks of life. In many cases, honorees are well known, but in many others, the award recognizes people who have made important, but unheralded contributions."

" 'When we look back at the pandemic era, we will see it as a great reset in our attitudes and assumptions about legal services,' said Fastcase CEO Ed Walters. 'Even if they have had to spend more time on Zoom this year than they had planned, the 2022 class of honorees is making profound changes for the next generation of law. We celebrate these impactful advocates and inspiring innovators who are shaping the future under incredibly challenging circumstances'."

 

American Association of Law Libraries 2023 Legal Literature Award Recipients

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) has announced the names of the 2023 Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award recipients.

The winners of this annual award that recognizes a significant textual contribution to legal literature are:

• The Role of Citation in the Law: A Yale Law School Symposium (William S. Hein & Co.)
• Empirical Legal Research Services (University of North Texas)

According to the AALL press release:

“'This year’s winners of the Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award, Empirical Legal Research Services and The Role of Citation in the Law, provide a deep dive into empirical legal research and a thorough examination of the key issues of interest to law librarians and faculty surrounding analyzing, creating, and publishing works of scholarship', said AALL President Beth Adelman. 'These titles get to the very heart of what law librarians excel at—performing legal research and supporting the endeavors of law librarians and their work. Congratulations to the authors for creating these important literary works'.”

The Canadian equivalent, the Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing, is handed out annually by the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL). The 2023 winner will be announced at the upcoming CALL annual conference starting May 28 in Hamilton, Ontario.

Geek in Review Podcast on Tagging and Artificial Intelligence

The most recent episode of the Geek in Review Podcast by US law librarians Greg and Lambert Marlene Gebauer is available.

Lambert is a former president of the American Association of Law Libraries.

The podcast features a discussion with Damien Riehl, VP, Litigation Workflow and Analytics Content at FastCase, and one of the drivers behind SALI (Standards Advancement for   for the Legal Industry):

"SALI is a system of tagging legal information to allow for better filtering and analysis. It works like Amazon’s product tags, where a user can search for a specific area of law, such as patent law, and then choose between various services such as advice, registration, transactional, dispute, or bankruptcy services. The tags cover everything from the substance of law to the business of law, with over 13,000 tags in the latest version. SALI is being adopted by major legal information providers such as Thomson Reuters, Lexis, Bloomberg, NetDocuments, and iManage, with each provider using the same standardized identifiers for legal work. With this standardization, it will be possible to perform the same API query across different providers and receive consistent results. Imagine the potential of being able to ask one question that is understood by all your database and external systems?"

"In that same vein, we expand our discussion to include how Artificial Intelligence tools like Large Language Models (i.e., ChatGPT, Google BARD, Meta’s LLM) could assist legal professionals in their quest to find information, create documents, and help outline legal processes and practices."

Overview Article About Open Access & Legal Scholarship in the Last Decade

There is a new article at Slaw.ca on open access legal research by Hannah Steeves:

"In 2011, the TALL Quarterly published a brief article authored by John Bolan, Public Services Librarian at the Bora Laskin Law Library (University of Toronto). The article addressed the burgeoning open access movement for scholarly literature generally, with a focus on the lack and lag of open access literature within the discipline of law and potential areas of growth in the field. Bolan wrote, 'As befits the field of law, there are, however, exceptions to the exceptions that are worth noting.' With more than 10 years since Bolan’s article was published, this post reviews the exceptions highlighted as potential areas of growth and summarises developments of open access legal literature in the Canadian context over the past decade."

Those areas include:

• the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII)
• repositories of law-related articles such as SSRN and bepress
• the rise of interdisciplinary legal scholarship
• access to justice initiatives

Steeves is an Instruction & Reference Librarian at the Sir James Dunn Law Library, Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia).

List of Fastcase 50 Legal Innovators for 2022

Fastcase, an American-based provider of electronic versions of U.S. primary law (cases, statutes, regulations, court rules, and constitutions), has unveiled its list of Fastcase 50 winners for the year 2022:

Created in 2011, each year the Fastcase 50 award honors a diverse group of lawyers, legal technologists, policymakers, judges, law librarians, bar association executives, and people from all walks of life. In many cases, honorees are well known, but in many others, the award recognizes people who have made important, but unheralded contributions.

“ 'When we look back at the pandemic era, we will see it as a great reset in our attitudes and assumptions about legal services,” said Fastcase CEO Ed Walters. “Even if they have had to spend more time on Zoom this year than they had planned, the 2022 class of honorees is making profound changes for the next generation of law. We celebrate these impactful advocates and inspiring innovators who are shaping the future under incredibly challenging circumstances'.”

There are a number of law librarians in the list as well as Sarah Sutherland, President and CEO of the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII).

Here is what Fastcase published about her:

Michael Mills, one of the Fastcase 50 in 2012, wrote in 2015 on LinkedIn about how the winners of the previous 5 years had begun to form an ecosystem of innovation:

“They champion transparency—in lawyer/client relations, in government data, policy, and practice, in judicial proceedings, and in legal education. They advocate for access—to the law itself, and to justice. They build structures, systems, and tools for access, quality, economy, and efficiency.”

“They also collaborate. A tour of the five classes found time and again 50’s who are working together across organizations and projects, who influence and inspire one another.” [my emphasis]

Using his company as an example, Mills writes that “from any one person among the Fastcase 250, there are lines linking in many directions to many others.”

That statement is truer than ever.

Free Online Workshop on The Open Casebook Revolution

On July 6, 2022, the Canadian Association of Law Teachers is hosting a free, online workshop entitled The Open Casebook Revolution at noon Eastern time:

"The open access law book 'revolution' ... is gaining momentum. Open access law books are materials compiled and edited for law students, practitioners and/or the public that are freely hosted on websites and as downloadable, searchable, printable, mark-up-able PDFs. In the United States, dozens of open access law casebooks are popping up on platforms such as SSRN, Open Textbook Library, eLangdell and H2O."

"In Canada, CanLII hosts Professor Beswick’s casebook, Tort Law: Cases and Commentaries, and Messrs Fiddick and Wardell’s handbook, The CanLII Manual to British Columbia Civil Litigation. These materials are freely available alternatives to commercial casebooks and handbooks, which are typically expensive, heavy, and have a short shelf-life."

"Open access law books have clear practical, pedagogical and societal advantages. On the practical side, compared to commercial alternatives, open access books are simpler to edit, faster to publish, easier to update, and free. On the pedagogical side, they empower flexibility and innovation. They can be more readily structured to suit the editor’s teaching aims. They can link to podcasts 🎧, videos 📺, blogs, news, articles, books, and judgments. Readers can keyword search and highlight text. Students don’t break their backs carrying them. They can also be integrated with quizzes and exam exercises. On the social side, open access legal materials advance access to justice. Commercial materials are often beyond the reach of the public and, in some cases, students."

The session will feature the 3 Canadian authors mentioned above:

• Samuel Beswick, Assistant Professor, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia
• John Fiddick, Director, Whitelaw Twining.
• Cameron Wardell, Partner, Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark LLP

 It will be chaired by Sarah Sutherland, President and CEO, Canadian Legal Information Institute

Publications Nominated for the 2022 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing

Every year, the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) hands out the Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing.

It honours a publisher that has demonstrated excellence by publishing a work, series, website or e-product that makes a significant contribution to legal research and scholarship.

The short list of nominees this year:

• CanLII for Civil Procedure and Practice in Ontario edited by Noel Semple. A comprehensive and free guide sophisticated enough for specialist litigators, but also straightforward and understandable for law office staff, self-represented litigants, and the general public.
• Emond for Modern Criminal Evidence, Brian H. Greenspan and Vincenzo Rondinelli, General Editors. A truly practical and comprehensive guide to criminal evidence law in Canada that guides readers through evidentiary issues in all components of criminal law, providing insight from Crown, defence, and judicial perspectives.
• LexisNexis for The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Canadian Law by Kevin P. McGuinness. The definitions provided in this text are taken predominantly from both Canadian jurisprudence and statutes and also include important terms from pertinent related fields such as economics, sociology, political science, forensic medicine, science and engineering, business and accounting, and many others.

The winner will be announced at the 2022 CALL Virtual Conference, May 31, 2022 to June 4, 2022. The award honours Hugh Lawford (1933-2009), Professor of Law at Queens’ University and the founder of Quicklaw.

Nominations for the Next Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) is accepting nominations for the next Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing.

The award honours a publisher (whether for-profit or not-for profit, corporate or non-corporate) that has demonstrated excellence by publishing a work, series, website, or electronic product that makes a significant contribution to legal research and scholarship. Legal content in all information formats is welcome.

Members as well as non-members of CALL can make nominations. 

Nominations can be submitted to Past President of CALL Shaunna Mireau [e-mail = smireau at gmail.com], before January15, 2022.

This year's award will be presented to the recipient during the 2022 CALL Annual Conference, which will be held in Montreal May 28-June 2, 2022.

The award honours Hugh Lawford (1933-2009), Professor of Law at Queens’ University and the founder of Quicklaw.

Free Access to Oxford University Press International Law Materials Until End of October

Oxford University Press is offering free access to chapters and articles from its collection on the theme “Changes in International Lawmaking” until October 31, 2021:

"Explore our collection of free chapters and articles on the theme “Changes in International Lawmaking”, created to accompany the European Society of International Law conference held 9-11 September 2021."

"Read about how the sources, actors, and mechanisms involved in international lawmaking have developed over time, covering areas such as human rights, criminal law, environmental law, space law, investment law and more."

There is content from Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law, textbooks and Oxford journals.

 

List of Fastcase 50 Legal Innovators for 2021

Fastcase, an American-based provider of electronic versions of U.S. primary law (cases, statutes, regulations, court rules, and constitutions), has unveiled its list of Fastcase 50 winners for the year 2021:

"Created in 2011, each year the Fastcase 50 award honors a diverse group of lawyers, legal technologists, policymakers, judges, law librarians, bar association executives, and people from all walks of life. In many cases, honorees are well known, but in many others, the award recognizes people who have made important, but unheralded contributions."

" 'The past year has presented challenges that provided opportunities to advance the law, and even accelerated some innovations into the mainstream,' said Fastcase CEO Ed Walters. 'We celebrate the diligence, discipline, passion, and creativity of these Fastcase 50 honorees. We are as proud as ever to spotlight the eleventh class of the Fastcase 50, highlighting now 550 people who have inspired our profession, since our first class in 2011'."

There are a number of law librarians in the list. 

In 2020, Kim Nayyer, current President of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries, was named to the list.

Michael Mills, one of the Fastcase 50 in 2012, wrote in 2015 on LinkedIn about how the winners of the previous 5 years had begun to form an ecosystem of innovation:

“They champion transparency—in lawyer/client relations, in government data, policy, and practice, in judicial proceedings, and in legal education. They advocate for access—to the law itself, and to justice. They build structures, systems, and tools for access, quality, economy, and efficiency.”

“They also collaborate. A tour of the five classes found time and again 50’s who are working together across organizations and projects, who influence and inspire one another.” [my emphasis]

Using his company as an example, Mills writes that “from any one person among the Fastcase 250, there are lines linking in many directions to many others.”

That has only become truer with time.

Publications Nominated for the 2021 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing

Every year, the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) hands out the Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing.

It honours a publisher that has demonstrated excellence by publishing a work, series, website or e-product that makes a significant contribution to legal research and scholarship.

The nominees this year are:

• The CanLII Manual to British Columbia Civil Litigation, by Brent Anderson et al, John Fiddick and Cameron Wardell (eds.), a volunteer-written, open access publication that supports both legal professionals and self-represented litigants with their civil justice research.
• Sentencing, 10th edition, by Clayton C. Ruby (LexisNexis, Canada). This book outlines all of the significant facets of sentencing principles and procedure and provides the reader with a comprehensive range of sentencing for various offences.
• Laws of the Constitution: Consolidated, by Donald Bur (University of Alberta Press). This consolidation gathers all of the historical and contemporary constitutional documents currently in force at publication pertaining to Canada, its provinces, and its territories, and organizes them thematically and topically.
• vLex Justis, an advanced legal research platform that covers legal materials from over 100 countries.

The winner will be announced at the 2021 CALL Virtual Conference Awards Ceremony on Friday, May 28 at 1:30 pm EST.

The award honours Hugh Lawford (1933-2009), Professor of Law at Queens’ University and the founder of Quicklaw.

Nominations for the Next Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) is accepting nominations for the next Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing.

It honours a publisher (whether for-profit or not-for profit, corporate or non-corporate) that has demonstrated excellence by publishing a work, series, website or e-product that makes a significant contribution to legal research and scholarship.

Members as well as non-members of CALL can make nominations. Nominations from the author or publisher of a work are welcomed. 

Nominations can be submitted to Ann Marie Melvie [amelvie AT sasklawcourts.ca], Past President of CALL/ACBD, before February 15, 2021.

This year's will be presented to the recipient during the 2021 CALL Virtual Annual Conference, which will be held May 26 – June 4, 2021.

The award honours Hugh Lawford (1933-2009), Professor of Law at Queens’ University and the founder of Quicklaw.

Oxford University Press Makes Part of its Collection Free for 75th Anniversary of the United Nations

 Later this month, the United Nations will officially celebrate its 75th birthday.

Oxford Public International Law, part of Oxford University Press, is marking the occasion by making UN-related materials available for free until November 30, 2020:

"This United Nations Day (24 October 2020) marks the 75th anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Charter. In recognition of this milestone we have created a collection of articles and chapters that provide commentary on the role of the UN in international law over the past 75 years, and its significance to the development of global human rights and international peace and security."

"All content featured below from Oxford Scholarly Authorities on International Law, the Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law, and Oxford Scholarship Online, is free to access until 30 November 2020."

 Another interesting collection comes from the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at UN headquarters in New York which has created an online exhibit called 75 Years, 75 Documents to celebrate the occasion. The exhibit is meant as "an exploration of 75 key documents that have shaped the United Nations and our world. The documents selected honour the historic breadth of the Organization’s work in the areas of peace and security, humanitarian assistance, development and human rights."

Reminder That No One Database Offers All the Canadian Law Journals You Need

The law library at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) in Montreal has published a useful reminder that no single online source or database provides access to all the major Canadian law journals.

This is an important issue when training new employees in legal research. 

My experience is that many researchers become used to searching in one or maybe two online tools when looking for commentary, forgetting that no platform provides anything close to comprehensive coverage. 

Discovery tools are useful but the content of some major databases with collections of Canadian law journals is not indexed in discovery.

UQAM librarians created a table of Canadian law journals indicating which ones are covered in CanLII, Lexis Advance Quicklaw, Westlaw Canada and HeinOnline along with the years of coverage for each journal.

Canadian Association of Law Libraries VP Kim Nayyer Named to Fastcase 50

Kim Nayyer, Vice-President of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries, has been named to the 2020 list of Fastcase 50 legal innovators. 

Kim is currently the Edward Cornell Law Librarian and Associate Dean for Library Services, Cornell Law in the state of New York.

“Created in 2011, each year the Fastcase 50 award honors a diverse group of lawyers, legal technologists, policymakers, judges, law librarians, bar association executives, and people from all walks of life. In many cases, honorees are well known, but in many others, the award recognizes people who have made important, but unheralded contributions.”

“ 'Every part of the legal market is changing right now – from law school through every part of the practice,' said Fastcase CEO Ed Walters. 'That change can be daunting or discouraging to many people. And that’s one reason that our team enjoys celebrating the accomplishments of the Fastcase 50. These are people who inspire us by their intelligence, creativity, and leadership. We hope they will inspire others as well, especially during a time of great change for the profession'. ”

Here is what Fastcase published about her:

Fastcase is an American-based provider of electronic versions of U.S. primary law (cases, statutes, regulations, court rules, and constitutions).

Simon Fodden, the founder of Slaw.ca, Canada's preeminent online legal magazine, was recognized as one of the Fastcase 50 in 2014.

Michael Mills, one of the Fastcase 50 in 2012, wrote in 2015 on LinkedIn about how the winners of the previous 5 years had begun to form an ecosystem of innovation:

“They champion transparency—in lawyer/client relations, in government data, policy, and practice, in judicial proceedings, and in legal education. They advocate for access—to the law itself, and to justice. They build structures, systems, and tools for access, quality, economy, and efficiency.”

“They also collaborate. A tour of the five classes found time and again 50’s who are working together across organizations and projects, who influence and inspire one another.” [my emphasis]

Using his company as an example, Mills writes that “from any one person among the Fastcase 250, there are lines linking in many directions to many others.”

That has only become truer with time.

Book on LGBTQ2+ Law Wins 2020 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) has announced that the book LGBTQ2+ Law: Practice Issues and Analysis from Emond Publishing has won the 2020 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing.

The award is for a publisher that has demonstrated excellence by publishing a work, series, website or e-product that makes a significant contribution to legal research and scholarship.

In her comments published today on the Slaw.ca website, CALL President Shaunna Mireau writes:

"Members of the LGBTQ2+ community face unique hurdles, especially in areas of family, immigration, estates, and criminal law. LGBTQ2+ Law: Practice Issues and Analysis takes a practical approach to identifying and analyzing key LGBTQ2+ issues that arise in these various legal contexts. The first text of its kind, it draws on the expertise and experience of a diverse author team to provide practitioners with a deep understanding of how their clients’ identities affect their interactions with the Canadian legal landscape. The book also contains more than 20 personal stories describing the challenges faced and successes celebrated by the LGBTQ2+ community. It is available in print and electronic format."

The award honours the memory Hugh Lawford (1933-2009), Professor of Law at Queens’ University and the founder of Quicklaw.

Publications Nominated for the 2020 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing

Every year, the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) hands out the Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing.

It honours a publisher that has demonstrated excellence by publishing a work, series, website or e-product that makes a significant contribution to legal research and scholarship.

The nominees this year are:

• Blue J Legal for Employment Foresight, a “legal research platform that uses Artificial Intelligence to predict how a court would decide various labour and employment matters.”
• Emond Publishing for LGBTQ2+ Law: Practice Issues and Analysis, Joanna Radbord, General Editor. “A practical book that identifies and analyzes the key LGBTQ2+ issues that arise in various legal contexts. It explores how lawyers can effectively navigate those waters to ensure equitable results for their LGBTQ2+ clients.”
• Irwin Law for Researching Legislative Intent: A Practical Guide, Susan Barker and Erica Anderson, Authors. The “first comprehensive resource that guides researchers through the complex task of researching legislative intent.”
• Lancaster House and CanLII for eText on Wrongful Dismissal and Employment Law, Peter M Neumann and Jeffrey Sack, Authors. An e-text that is updated regularly and freely available. It is “one of the most accessed documents on CanLII.”
• University of Alberta Press for Government Information in Canada, Amanda Wakaruk & Sam-Chin Li, Editors. “Written by academic and government librarians, this title describes the production, dissemination, and stewardship of government publications in Canada.”

The award honours Hugh Lawford (1933-2009), Professor of Law at Queens’ University and the founder of Quicklaw.