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The Law Society Special Lectures are Back!

The Law Society of Ontario’s upcoming Special Lectures will be held on November 21 -22, 2019. This year’s program’s title is Innovation, Technology, and the Practice of Law. To view the agenda and registration details, see the LSO’s website.

If you’re looking for papers from previous year’s programs, the Great Library’s collection includes all of Special Lectures in print beginning in 1943 with the Special Course of Lectures on Wartime Emergency Orders and Administrative Tribunals. Papers from Special Lectures held from 2006 to 2012 also available online at no charge through AccessCLE, the Law Society’s full-text CPD article database.

And if you are interested in learning about the history of the Special Lectures series, see:


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“If Jarvis had not shot him, he might have shot Jarvis”: The Duel at Yonge & College

When you systematically go through a large collection such as our rare book collection, occasionally book titles will catch our eye and leave us wanting to know more. One such title that caught our attention was the Jarvis-Ridout Duel. Upon further inspection, it turns out this “book” is actually a collection of pamphlets, three of which deal with the aftermath of a fatal duel.

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Legal Research Survival Guide, Part 5 – CPD/CLE materials: Field notes at your finger tips

Every year, lawyers and paralegals who are practising law or providing legal services in Ontario must complete at least twelve continuing professional development (CPD) hours. Formerly called Continuing Legal Education (CLE) in Ontario, it is known by either name in other jurisdictions. The Great Library collects CPD/CLE print materials made available from select providers such as the Law Society of Ontario, the Ontario Bar Association, the Canadian Bar Association, and LawPro.

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Paralegals, articling, LPP and law students can continue to act in summary conviction matters despite Bill C-75 changes in force today

Numerous amendments to the Criminal Code contained in Bill C-75 (SC 2019, c 25) come into force today – September 19, 2019, including a provision that will increase the default maximum penalty for summary conviction offences from six months imprisonment to two years less a day.

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