Canadian Lawyer

October 2010

The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers

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regional wrap-up Ottawa fi rm in clients' pockets N eed your lawyer? There's an app for that. Ottawa's Bryan Delaney is turning to Apple Inc.'s iPhone to gain more exposure to clients and fellow lawyers by designing a mobile application that will connect clients to him with a simple tap on their smartphone screen. Delaney is a University of Windsor law gradu- ate called to the bar in 2004 who opened his own general practice, called Delaney's Law Firm, 2005. It now houses four lawyers, two law students, and four full-time staff. They operate a "nearly paperless," office, he says, run entirely on Macintosh computers. in The app is one of Delaney's many marketing efforts. He has embraced search engine optimization DEVELOP EFFECTIVE TAX STRATEGIES FOR FOREIGN BUSINESSES CARRYING ON BUSINESS IN CANADA LIMITED-TIME OFFER – SAVE 20%* TAXATION OF FINANCING ARRANGEMENTS ELINORE J. RICHARDSON, STEPHANIE WONG, AND LARISSA V. TKACHENKO Whether your foreign organization funds business operations in Canada or owns a Canadian subsidiary or affiliate that invests in foreign countries, this text is your practical guide to the Canadian tax rules that may affect your finances. This text outlines the main Canadian tax issues and the applicable statutory rules, case law, and administrative practice of the Canadian taxing authorities, and suggests strategies for planning and structuring arrangements which take these rules into account. ORDER # 982279-63242 $200 $160 1 volume looseleaf supplemented book 1-2 supplements per year Supplements invoiced separately 978-0-7798-2279-9 Shipping and handling are extra. Price subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes. * Offer expires November 30, 2010. Offer is not valid in conjunction with any other Carswell offer. AVAILABLE RISK-FREE FOR 30 DAYS Order online at www.carswell.com Call Toll-Free: 1-800-387-5164 In Toronto: 416-609-3800 — ROBERT TODD rtodd@clbmedia.ca ntitled-6 1 Alberta Legal Telephone Directory 2010–2011 INCLUDES E-MAIL ADDRESSES 9/13/10 10:01:18 AM A complete, accurate and current listing of information. Also includes Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon. Order your copy today at www.canadalawbook.ca • 1-800-565-6967 8 OC T OBER 2010 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com 7" x 1" Cdn. Lawyer banner.indd 1 5/19/10 9:45:22 AM to push his firm up into Google's top results for "Ottawa law firm." He has also posted a set of promotional videos on YouTube. "That's driven a lot of busi- ness our way," he says. But Delaney wanted to take the next step and develop an app — hun- dreds of thousands of which are now available — that would be "simple and fun," and useful leagues. He looked to his own experience to fill a need for fellow lawyers. Family law practitioners, he noticed, often scramble in court to work out appro- priate child-support payments. So he created a calculator that lets them punch in the relevant income level and number of children to receive an estimated monthly payment. A similar calculator for land transfer tax reckoning is also part of the iPhone app. He also made it easier for clients to get in touch with him in a pinch, by including a big red button that reads, "Call my lawyer," and automatically dials Delaney's Law Firm when tapped. That idea stemmed from a conversation with an old university buddy. "He was pretty sure that he was going to have to hit that big red button at some point, and he wanted it to be as easy as possible so he wouldn't have to remember our phone number," Delaney recalls. He also threw in a set of frequently asked legal questions. The whole thing cost about $3,000 to create, mostly for the software engineer who brought it all together. Delaney also had to pay Apple $100 and register with its development program, which reviews apps before they go live. "They're kind of picky, but that's good," says Delaney, who will get 70 per cent of the profits from the $1.99 price for the app. Torys LLP seems to be the only other Canadian firm to jump on the app bandwagon. "It's something that we thought differentiates our firm from some of the other law firms out there," remarks Delaney. In the end, he adds, it's all about generating buzz. "If we even get one or two clients out of this app, then it will have paid for itself." for clients and col-

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