Organizations

Bar-eX
Canadian Bar Association
City of London
City of London Bylaws
Law Society of Upper Canada
LibraryCo. Inc.
Ontario Bar Association
RECO - The Real Estate Association of Ontario

Bar-eX
The County and District Law Presidents' Association concluded an agreement with Bar-eX in mid-2002 to provide on-line services to all member associations and members.  Bar-eX provides many useful services, many of them at no cost.  There is a synopsis of current developments in the law which is accompanied by direct access to the source web sites, the most up-to-date court decisions, legislative amendments and proposals for reform.

There are also great discussion boards so that you can network with your colleagues across the province on any issue.  Bar-eX offers a web builder service to assist lawyers and law firms in developing their own web sites.  Overall, the site provides a very useful single entry point to the legal community for research, continuing legal education and also commercial sites of particular interest to lawyers.  Check it out at http://www.bar-ex.com
 
Canadian Bar Association
The web site of the CBA is packed with useful information including online access to the latest issue of the organization's magazine, The National.   The site also allows you to register on a number of online mailing lists and discussion groups according to your area of interest, as well as providing an events calendar, a publications list, podcast link, and a good selection of links to other legal sites.  http://www.cba.org

City of London
Many of you may be familiar with the site’s city map feature that allows you to customize a map to meet your needs. However, you can also access all kinds of city-related information from what the tax rates are for different classes of property, to how much a dog licence is, along with information on possible land use changes and who is responsible for what at City Hall.  View the City of London web site at http://www.london.ca

City of London Bylaws
Although the MLA Library has never held a comprehensive collection of city by-laws, we still get asked for them. The official version of all by-laws can be obtained from the City Clerk's Department on the 3rd Floor of City Hall, but an easily accessible source for these documents is the City of London web site.  It provides a selection of regulatory by-laws that have wide application within the City of London. The Official Plan and Zoning by-law Z-1 are not yet on the web site, but possibly will be by end of the year. The documents provided are consolidated versions that incorporate all amendments passed by City Council. On the opening page of each by-law document you'll find information on when the last amendment or consolidation occurred.  All by-law documents are in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format.  Use the URL below or at the top of the city's homepage, select "City Services". Then under the tab "Property matters", click on "Zoning By-laws". http://www.london.ca/d.aspx?s=/By-laws/default.htm

LibraryCo. Inc.
This is the overseeing body for the county courthouse library system.  Everything you wanted to know about LibraryCo. is here in one quick stop.  This site provides a wealth of information about the history, the purpose, the personnel, the philosophy and anything else you would want to know about LibraryCo.  It comes complete with biographies and photos of the directors and staff members, links to supporting documentation, details about and links to each county courthouse library, and more.  They also give our web site a nice plug in the document "Wendy's Winning Web sites" on the Resource Tools page.  You can access the new virtual reference service, advoCHAT, through a link from this website.  There is also a link to the LibraryCo. Tool Kit of Legal Resources with links for immediate free on-line access to several commercial legal research systems, including CCH, Canada Law Book, Quicklaw and WestlaweCarswell.  Although desktop delivery of these items is only available to lawyers in remote areas of the province, all these services are available for searching free on our library computers. http://www.libraryco.ca

Law Society of Upper Canada
In a renewed effort to keep its members up-to-date, the LSUC has recently incorporated a new design in its web site, exemplified on the opening screen by more intuitive and descriptive tab buttons. The site provides good, current information on topics like the new Money Laundering legislation, LLP’s, and the spot auditing program. The design reflects an emphasis on the LSUC’s mandate to ensure lawyers’ professional competence, and lawyers can check under Advisory Services Department for advice on practice and ethical issues. There is now also some information aimed at members of the public, such as what the complaint process is, and what do if a lawyer’s bill seems too high.  

For information on the Interactive Learning Network (ILN), choose the tab Professional Development and Competence, then click ILN under "Learning Opportunities" on the table on the right side of the page.  Once the ILN page is displayed, the FAQs link is a particularly detailed source of information on this CLE opportunity.   http://www.lsuc.on.ca

Ontario Bar Association
The OBA has a proactive site full of useful information for lawyers.  You can read about all the organization's initiatives, join a discussion forum, find out about upcoming CLE events and search their publications catalogue.  Members can also tailor the opening page to display information pertinent to their areas of practice.  http://www.oba.org

RECO - The Real Estate Association of Ontario
This organization assumed responsibility from the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations (MCRR) for the administration of the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act on May 5, 1997. Its mandate focuses on consumer protection and administration of regulatory requirements for Ontario’s real estate profession's complaint, compliance and discipline procedures.  It has created a detailed, informative web site that would be an asset to every real estate lawyer's bookmark file.  http://www.reco.on.ca.