Have Rob Ford, Donald Sterling set a new bar for the court of public opinion?

Trevor Farrow, a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, says the challenge now becomes how to balance private space with public knowledge, reported CBC News May 6. “To the extent that people’s private lives are inappropriately drawn into the open – for example with unfair teenage cyber-bullying – serious privacy and fairness issues arise,” he said in an e-mail. “On the other hand, when matters of public interest are raised, typically involving public figures (politicians, public business and sports figures and the like), an informed and engaged population is typically a good thing.” Read full story.

Bad law
It was just last autumn that a team of lawyers led by Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Alan Young persuaded the Supreme Court of Canada to strike down the country’s prostitution law. But the seeds of the litigation were sown 25 years earlier, in the chill, pre-dawn hours of a Toronto morning, reported Canadian Lawyer May 5. Read full story.

Keep your eye on the prize
Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Ed Waitzer observes the legal profession is indeed undergoing change, reported Canadian Lawyer May 5. “The market for major law firms is shrinking, certainly in Canada,” he says. More firms are employing in-house lawyers, global firms are competing with national ones, and there is a repurposing of functions. Read full story.

Is the American MBA losing its allure?
A recent survey in The Economist reveals that America, dubbed the “spiritual home of the MBA,” still leads in the business of business schools. Eight of the Economist’s Top Ten business schools are in the United States, and it is not until the 15th place that an out-of-country entity (Canada’s York University) makes an entry, reported The Times of India May 6. Read full story.