Omar Ha-Redeye was interviewed on CBC television and radio about the Alan Muliyil case, a Brampton teacher who was accused of sexual relations with an underage prostitute. The charges were dropped against Muliyil but he continues to struggle to clear his name, especially online.

See more on defamation by innuendo on Slaw in the context of a recent Australian decision against Google, Trkulja v Google Inc LLC & Anor.

Omar Ha-Redeye is teaching a course this term on Reputation Management Law at Solo Practice University.

Law school teaches lawyers about substantive law.  It doesn’t necessarily prepare them for practice.  Lawyers need to be aware of online reputation, both for their own practice, and the impact on their services for clients.  Solo Practice University provides small and solo lawyers the skills they need to enhance their practice.

Reputation management law is the intersection of public relations and the legal practice.  Omar Ha-Redeye will share what he’s learned from his communications career prior to law and help demonstrate why this matters. He’ll also cover some of the emerging inter-jurisdictional issues, and facilitate discussions over what lawyers can do pre-emptively and how they should respond to crises.

Omar Ha-Redeye spoke on two panels at the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) entitled Ethical Considerations in An Age of Technology, held on October 7, 2011 and November 21, 2011.

E-mail and social networking sites are rapidly becoming the preferred method of communication. If you are a lawyer or paralegal, it is critical for you to understand how the use of these tools can trigger the duty of client confidentiality and other professional obligations. Attend this program and learn best practices for ethical use of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn for the purposes of communicating with clients, marketing your legal services, and networking with your colleagues.

Other panelists included Mitch Kowalski, Bob Tarantino, and Garry Wise.

Omar Ha-Redeye at the Law Society of Upper Canada on October 7, 2011 (Photo Credit: Phil Brown)

See media coverage at the Legal Post, Wise Law Blog, and Precedent Magazine:

Omar Ha-Redeye’s opinion column in October 28, 2011 issue of The Lawyers Weekly argues for retaining a role for human rights tribunals in fighting online hatred.

The Fight Against Online Hatred

Related material:
Warman v. Lemire, 2006 CHRT 58

Investigation into student who dressed as Mengele ends

McGill law student files complaint over blackface

Omar Ha-Redeye presented on “Online Reputation Management” at LegalIT 5.0 in Montreal on April 4, 2011.

“Reputation Management Law” is the application of old legal principles to new public relations challenges due to the proliferation of social media.  It draws upon the intersection of defamation, privacy, copyright and trade-mark, and employment laws, but applies them in conjunction with contemporary best practices in the public relations field.
Reputation matters like never before, and the impact of social media on the bottom line means businesses and professionals are paying attention.  Between sites that review businesses and services, and blogs optimized to rank higher on Google searches, clients are now asking lawyers what they can do for them.

Complete program is now available in pdf here.
LegalIT5.0 Programme

Bios on the other speakers available here:

Have you heard of the beef with Taco Bell?

The fast food franchise is being sued over the beef content of their tacos. Here’s the claim:

Taco Bell Lawsuit

Taco Bell has responded:

Read more on Slaw.

Bob Tarantino of Heenan Blaikie picked up on a post on Slaw by Omar Ha-Redeye on internet defamation damages, citing an article by Matthew Nied, and commented on it on the firm’s Entertainment and Medial Law Signal:

This talk was given to marketing professionals at the Schulich School of Business.

Presentation included questions and answers, as well as interactive exercises using the brands and companies of participants, but this content has been removed to respect the privacy of the companies involved and their representatives.

Legal cases discussed include:

• Hill v. Church of Scientology of Toronto, [1995] 2 S.C.R. 1130
• R. v. Cuttell, 2009 ONCJ 471
• York University v. Bell Canada Enterprises, 2009 CanLII 46447 (ON S.C.)
• Cohen v. Google, Inc., Index No. 100012/09 (N.Y. Cty. Aug. 17, 2009).
• Foda et al v. RateMDs, Inc., California Northern District Court

A little Search Engine Optimization doesn’t hurt. In fact, it should probably be a prerequisite for any counsel you do receive for this purpose.

A little experiment:

If this is the next “big thing” in law, doesn’t seem like a lot of lawyers have noticed yet.

See the posts on Slaw, LawIsCool and JDSupra for more.