This is probably one of the neatest Twitter tools to emerge recently.

It gives you tons of information, but it’s also just a little bit scary.

And yes, you will have to read the article to see what it’s all about.

The whole world’s attention was focused on the inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama.

The Volokh Conspiracy provided an interesting and amusing piece on how Condoleeza Rice was actually the first black president for 1 min. between 12:00 and 12:01, from George W. Bush to Joe Biden.

Obama’s inaugural speech, the speculation of many prior to today, was highly praised.  But there was ample room for criticism as well, considering the global community has probably never paid such close attention to an American president.

Jordan Furlong picked this sentence as his favorite,

[To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that] we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

Furlong rightly noted that an important first step would be not propping “various dictators up.”

Canadians generally might have taken issue with these words:

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have travelled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

Let it be told to the future world … that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive … that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it).”

Those patriots were known as traitors in what is now Canada.  And that enemy, and the common danger…  well, that’s us.  These positions, which are probably to be expected of any American leader, are much more difficult to reconcile with his statements in the same speech calling for leadership and unity.  It does make it easy to relate to blanket characterizations of contemporary threats, because at one time we too were the threat..

Other Canadians have referred to the speech as a “cliched dud.”

But in a refreshing opening move, Obama announced as one of his first acts in office that prosecutions at Guantanamo Bay would be suspended for 120 days.  The world will be watching when the rest of his promises come through.

Change IS Here

Ainsley Brown, a contributor at Law is Cool, recently launched a site on international commercial law.

A Canadian with an LLM from the U.K., Ainsley is sure to have some interesting insights.

In his first post he provides a much appreciated thank you,

A special thank you to Omar Ha-Redeye of Law is Cool, Slaw and UWO law: thank you for all your help, advice but most of all your friendship.

The medical and law students at UofT collaborated recently to hold the First Annual Interprofessional Health Law Conference.

Speakers included Dr. Sarita Verma, Elyse Sunshine, Bob Parke, Trudo Lemmens, Hugh Sher,  Dianne Williams, Carolyn Bennett, Shaun Hopkins, Richard Elliot, Eugene Oscapella, Bernard Dickens, Sherry Dale, Kimberly Liu and Shawn Winsor.

Notes can be found at Slaw and Law is Cool.

Meghan Harrison of U-News.ca discusses the strike at York University.  U-News.ca is a publication of the senior journalism students at the University of King’s College School of Journalism in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Harrison selects key new stories and websites in her coverage,

Class-action lawsuit by students could have a shot

Slaw – Canadian law weblog
Slaw is a three-year-old collaborative weblog about Canadian law. In this post, Omar Ha-Redeye, a law student at the University of Western Ontario, considers whether or not York students could file a successful class-action lawsuit against York over the strike. The students wouldn’t be without in-house experts, as the strike also affects York’s Osgoode Hall law school. Ha-Redeye points out that a 2001 suit against the school over lost instructional time was unsuccessful because the judge wouldn’t connect lost instructional time to financial losses. “If law students (and others) can indicate that the tight deadlines around legal jobs and licensing requirements do have a direct financial impact, is it possible that the court could rule different in the future?” wonders Ha-Redeye.

The Western Environmental Law Association (WELA) conducted a firm tour on January 16, 2009.  The tour took place in Toronto included Willms & Shier LLP and Gowlings LaFleur Henderson LLP (Gowlings).

Willms & Shier LLP is an environmental boutique firm in Toronto while Gowlings is an international multi-disciplinary firm.

The consensus at both these firms was that good environmental law lawyers need a broad background in other areas for a successful practice.

Mark Bennett of Defending People picks up on a tweet about contract attorneys,

National Law Journal (H/T Omar Ha-Redeye)notes the decline of business for contract attorneys:

As law firms downsize, laid-off attorneys and new law school graduates unable to find jobs have been turning to an option they may never have imagined at law school: becoming contract attorneys — hired guns [or, more aptly, cannon fodder] for $35 an hour.Yet in the past couple of months, even that field appears to be showing signs of a slowdown.

I am truly honoured to be awarded the The World’s Greatest Business Mind.

The airbus was really unnecessary, but I am looking forward to addressing the U.N. General Assembly.

Thank you to all who have supported me along the way.

Classes resume today for the January term.

Omar is working on the Corporate/Securities Moot, which is based off the recent BCE decision.

The competition is sponsored by Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP.