Civility and its importance are contested in the Canadian legal profession and the Canadian legal academy. [1] Moreover, civility and the broader concept of professionalism have a shameful history as exclusionary concepts with significant negative impact on the ability of members of equity-seeking groups to join the legal profession and succeed in the practice of law. [2] The contemporary complexities of civility and professionalism remain problematic.[3] And even at its pinnacle, the civility movement had its critics as well as its supporters.[4] In the aftermath of Law Society of Upper Canada v Groia, the movement may not . . . [more]

An email from a faculty member at the University of Toronto on the topic of AI made the rounds at law schools across Canada recently. It’s about using AI on final exams.

It points out that if a student has an app already open when they launch Examplify – the software most schools use to administer exams – they will have access to that app while writing the exam. This could be a browser with Lexis+AI or the app version of ChatGPT, which would still be online during the exam.

To avoid this, the company that makes Examplify advises running . . . [more]

The Federation of Law Societies of Canada (the “Federation”) is a national association of 14 Canadian law societies. One of the Federations roles is to approve Canadian law schools. To be approved a law school must require that each of its graduates meet the Federation’s National Requirement. But what is the National Requirement and what does it require?

The National Requirement, which came into force in 2015, sets out the specific knowledge and skills Canadian common law program graduates must demonstrate to be ready to enter a bar admission program. The National Requirement is also the standard against which internationally . . . [more]

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming nearly every sector of society, and the legal field is no exception. While AI is rapidly reshaping legal practice, legal education risks falling behind.

Surveys of university graduates indicate that they feel unprepared for the workforce due to a lack of AI integration into their education. Legal regulators like the Law Society of Ontario, emphasize that lawyers must understand AI’s risks and benefits to meet professional responsibility standards. The gap between what is taught in the classroom and what is required in practice is widening by the day.

Fortunately, there are practical and innovative strategies . . . [more]

The bar examination landscape in the United States seems to be in a state of upheaval. The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) is in the midst of developing a new bar exam, called the Next Gen Bar. Meanwhile, California’s State Bar considered scrapping NCBE entirely and hiring Kaplan to write an exam for California.^[1] Though California has now paused this plan, it’s clear that they were looking for other options and thought it might be possible to write a new exam.

I once heard a teaching expert joke that she could teach anything. She would take a bet . . . [more]

As a faculty member of Simon Fraser University, I recently participated in a SFU Faculty Association vote on a motion “calling upon SFU to divest from Israeli commercial interests, suspend partnerships with Israeli universities, and offer concrete support for Palestinian faculty and students.” Such motions have been common across universities around the world during the “situation in Gaza,” as the motion calls it. The inordinate loss of life and suffering of the Israel-Hamas War has led to campus disruptions that have not been seen since the Vietnam War roiled campuses more than half-a century ago (during my student days at . . . [more]

Last week’s journey to Toronto with the University of Calgary’s Black law students for the 33rd National Conference of the Black Law Students Association of Canada (BLSAC) was more than a trip; it was a profound emotional journey for both me and my students. This event was not just a conference; it was a historic gathering of some 600 Black law students (and aspiring Black law students), the largest of its kind in the annals of BLSAC, marking the biggest assembly of Black law students in the entire history of Canada. In a profession where Black individuals and people of . . . [more]

It has been challenging times for law students these last several years. The current 3L cohort began their studies in the midst of an unprecedented global pandemic and has been attending law school in times of economic uncertainty, technological change and heated world conflicts. Recently, students have been struggling with processing the crisis in the Middle East including the deadly and horrific terror attacks of Hamas on Israeli civilians, its hostage taking, the ensuing devastating Israeli military action and the death of too many Palestinians. Our student communities are suffering. So many of them have friends, relatives and loved ones . . . [more]

Picture a lawyer. Was he a male or was she a female lawyer? Was the lawyer wearing a suit? Was the suit black or blue? Even if you’re a huge fan of the film Legally Blonde, I doubt you pictured Elle Woods in her pink suit. In the movie, Elle stuck out like a sore thumb among her more conservatively dressed classmates. This fall, as students begin their legal education, some of them will face deep insecurities and will not see themselves as lawyers. Schools can give students the space to talk about their perception of professional identity and encourage . . . [more]

Generative AI will disrupt legal research. Its negative impact has been highlighted in mainstream media in the UK and the US. Many legal information professionals have valid concerns about how generative AI’s application in legal research may impact the integrity of the profession. Meanwhile, social media (e.g., LinkedIn and Twitter) is flooded with legal tech companies’ commentary on how it can be harnessed to streamline legal research, improving efficiency and productivity. I reached out to several colleagues to hear their thoughts and ideas on how to address this contentious topic in their legal research classrooms.

Determining whether the impact . . . [more]

This book list was curated to offer those on the cusp of law school a summer reading list packed with important insights, presented in a manner that would not put them to sleep. It turned out to have something for everyone. Whether you prefer e-books or the old fashion flipping of pages, here are five must-reads for the summer months…

Bob Joseph, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality (Canada: Raincoast Books, 2018) ISBN: 9780995266520

Why read it this summer?

Because, as Misha Munim puts it, “this book . . . [more]

One of the most difficult parts of statutory research for beginners is learning that statutes are published in two formats: chronological laws and codified laws. In the US, federal legislation is first published as a slip opinion and then bound into a volume of the Statutes at Large. These documents are useful for a researcher who wants to answer questions about intent or statutory language, as you want to see the entire law as it appeared when it was passed. However, most of the time a legal researcher merely needs to know what the law is at this moment on . . . [more]