Hi all,
We're working on a new site design and some initial user testing has shown that our local navigation is just as effective on the right side of the page as it is on the left. Generally, my experience has been that if it looks like navigation, people usually figure out that that's what it is, so, while I'm feeling like the right-side will work, I'm still hesitant to flout conventions.
I reviewed this thread from a couple of years ago:
http://www.ixda.org/node/17909