CanLII Seeks Volunteer Editor and Writers for a BC Litigation Practice Manual

At CanLII, we are working to create a new model for legal publishing, and we want to work with people who see the potential for open legal commentary. We have successfully built a collection of over 63,000 books, articles, reports, case summaries, and commentaries, and are always developing new tools to meet the needs of Canadians.

This year, we are grateful to have received a grant from the Law Foundation of British Columbia to create a publicly accessible litigation manual for British Columbians, and we are searching for an editor and a team of writers to contribute to the project. 

Project and Vision:

With this project, we envision the development of a BC litigation practice manual to be made publicly available in digital format on CanLII.org.

The goal of this project is to make professional quality information on the litigation process in British Columbia available to everyone with access to the internet. This project will also be used as a model to develop an open and collaborative process for creating new legal texts from scratch.

Why Participate?

By contributing to this project, you are lending your name to an invaluable resource that will be used by the BC legal community for generations to come. You will also be part of an innovative project at the forefront of legal tech and the reinvention of legal publishing.

In addition to this, you will be supporting free access to legal information for British Columbians, including the public, practicing lawyers, legal professionals, the courts, law schools, libraries, and legal non-profits.

The editor and writers of the new BC practice manual are eligible for CPD writing credit.

Role:

The editor will:

• Make decisions on the content, structure and accompanying elements of the manual.
• Develop a detailed description of each chapter and what contributions will be needed for each.
• Communicate with the team of collaborators and resolve questions and issues.
• Organize content created by contributing writers and provide revisions. 
• Provide expert insight on the rules of civil procedure in British Columbia.
• Identify areas of improvement.

Writers will:

• Volunteer to write content for particular topics, such as case notes and commentary on Supreme Court Civil Rules and Supreme Court Family Rules.
• Create original written content on particular topics related to litigation in BC.
• Volunteer to draft preamble paragraphs and section introductions as required. 
• Provide feedback and insight to the project team when asked.

Time Commitment:

Both the editor and writer roles are location-independent and volunteers will set their own schedules. Most of the coordination will take place online/by email, with monthly team phone call meetings to keep the project moving forward and address any questions or concerns. Support by email and phone will be available at any time.

The role of editor will require a maximum of 5 hours a week starting October 1, 2019, until May 31, 2020.

The roles of writer will require different amounts of time depending on how much content contributors sign up for. A base commitment should be anticipated to be writing 10 pages of original material to be delivered by February 29, 2020.

If you are interested in taking on the role of editor or writer, please submit applications and questions to Alisa Lazear at alazear@canlii.org. We look forward to hearing from you!

(If you read this and don’t think this project is for you, but you want to contribute something else, we’d be happy to hear from you through our feedback form.)