How many times have you asked someone , “ how are you?”

Similarly, how many times have you been asked the same question?

If we think about this, the question becomes very mundane and actually quite meaningless.

“How are you?” has become a customary greeting, wherein we don’t expect to receive or give a response that is more than “I am okay.

Recently, after being asked by a friend “how are you?” I realized in mid answer, that this person was not even listening to what I was saying.

I am certain that many of you have found yourselves in . . . [more]

The troika of artificial intelligence, pricing, and talent transience has been with us for some time now. As a result, traditional pyramid-structured law firms grappling with these bet-the-business juggernauts are at an inflection point. I propose a flatter way forward.

I have been writing and talking about this issue for many years, most recently as part of my ‘The Law Firm’ series: Pyramid Rollover, Private Equity Puzzle, Disappearing Act, Foundational Rebuild, and now this one, Inflection Point.

My argument throughout this series is that traditional law firm pyramid structures will not hold against AI, pricing, and . . . [more]

Earlier this year, a motion at the Ontario Superior Court paused while everyone in the room went looking for a quotation. The factum on one side quoted a decision of the Court of Appeal, and opposing counsel could not find the quoted words anywhere in that decision. He suspected the factum had been drafted with AI. The judge called a short recess, so the party who filed it could go and find the passage.[1]

The citation was correct, and anyone who looked it up would have found exactly the case named. In this instance, AI produced a fake quotation . . . [more]

In a previous article, I wrote about the benefits of simulations in jump-starting learning. In this article, I want to focus on one specific aspect of simulation: the use of simulated clients.

Medicine has long used simulated patients to help students develop practical skills and bedside manner. The use of simulated clients to support law student learning is a more recent development. Through the pioneering work of Paul Maharg and others, simulated clients have become an important educational tool in legal education in Canada and around the world.

Rather than discussing the history of simulated clients or the training they . . . [more]

Research libraries are integral to scholarship, scientific discovery and economic innovation. A foundational element of this support is providing access to extensive collections of scholarly content — peer-reviewed journals and monographs, databases, archives and primary source materials — that enable current research methodologies. Of increasing concern is how libraries can fulfill these obligations when access to much of the essential research corpus is through digital access and governed by contracts that often explicitly or implicitly prohibit certain uses, including AI-driven research methodologies.

AI, cloud computing and increased processing power have accelerated the growth of computational research methodologies and scholars from . . . [more]

I watch a lot of hockey – but mostly on television. This year I attended a playoff game of the PWHL’s Ottawa Charge at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. It was an exciting game, but for me there was one concerning moment, when I heard thousands of people chanting, “Refs, you suck!”, after a call on the ice against the home team. As a hockey fan, I too did not like some of their calls, or non-calls, but there is a critical difference between attacking a decision and attacking the person who made the decision.

Before the game started, . . . [more]

Not all mystery cases are caused by a mistyped citation or AI hallucination. Sometimes people remember only the vague details of a case (“it was an employment case involving someone who insisted on dressing up as a clown at work”) but not the names of the parties. While they may have a vague idea of when it happened, people tend to remember events as being more recent than they actually were.

If you’re missing crucial information about a case and can’t seem to track it down with the information that you have been given, it can be helpful to check . . . [more]

Forum shopping, that taboo practice in which a litigant chooses the most favourable jurisdiction to try a case, is generally looked down upon. Indeed, courts frown upon the practice even if the sole reason is to stem delay; that is, that a case can be tried faster in one jurisdiction than another. From a system-wide lens, this challenges common-sense. We need only look in the medical field, where patients can shop for medical services like MRIs, specialists, family physicians, anywhere they like. Yet the courts prefer to treat themselves as islands.

What do we look for in a justice system? . . . [more]

Artificial intelligence is making its way into courtrooms around the world, and not always for the better. Judges have been caught embedding AI-generated fictitious case references in judicial decisions, in Canada and internationally; and there are no doubt other, more subtle, machine delusions slipping into case law undetected. Judicial misuse of AI tools has profound consequences for the administration of justice and for public confidence in the courts. But a less obvious threat also deserves our attention: a growing body of research indicates that large language models (LLMs) have a homogenizing effect on writing and analysis, meaning that judges’ . . . [more]

Artificial intelligence has become, in one way or another, a part of many dispute resolution practices. Counsel use AI to prepare mediation briefs, assess litigation risk, test settlement ranges, or draft suggested terms. Parties use it to understand the process or evaluate options. Some mediators may use it to organize information, draft correspondence, test language, or reflect on process choices.

The discussion about AI in mediation has also become more urgent and comprehensive. Much of it properly focuses on confidentiality, neutrality, party autonomy, disclosure, competence, and human judgment. For working mediators, however, the next step is practical: distinguishing between lower-risk . . . [more]

In previous articles, I introduced the RECLAIM model as a cultural operating system for law firms and explored the first four elements: Respect, Equity, Clarity, and Learning. This month, I turn to A: Autonomy.

Let me introduce you to Priya.

Priya is a fifth-year associate with a busy corporate practice at a mid-sized firm. She is capable, hardworking, and well-liked by clients. She has recently found her work coming from one partner, and the working relationship follows a pattern. He hands her a file and tells her it is hers to run. Then he rewrites her drafts, . . . [more]

The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia was released on May 15^th to much press and discussion. For many, it was a relief that a significant and precedent-setting case sought to tackle a pervasive and insidious social problem: intimate partner violence. There will no doubt be much commentary on the substantive content of the case, the scope of the tort of intimate partner violence, the manner of its proof in family law cases, and the implications for individual litigants going forward.

However, there is another thread weaving through the fabric of this case in its journey . . . [more]