I wish some law firms could come with a warning label; associate beware.

John worked at a firm with two partners who controlled every moment of his day. A six day in the office work week was enforced. On a daily basis he had to listen to demeaning comments made about his performance heard through the paper-thin office walls. On the outside the partners were respected, acknowledged as exemplary mentors, and admired. Inside the firm they were cruel, demanding, and controlling.

This is not an isolated incident. The worst offenders often take great pains to manage their professional reputations. They . . . [more]

From Friday July 17 through Friday July 23 I participated in the second virtual American Association of Law Libraries annual conference. I watched a number of excellent programs on a variety of subjects. What was missing however were the chances to catch up with friends and colleagues in the exhibit halls, the corridors, and the meeting rooms. Also missing were the receptions and happy hours and the chance to see a slice of the convention city. Last year we missed meeting in New Orleans and this year in Cleveland. Right now the plan is to meet in person in Denver . . . [more]

When I was a junior family lawyer, I was representing a client at a mediation. Opposing counsel was a senior male lawyer who brought his junior, who had actually been a former classmate of mine. She was the lawyer I had been communicating with throughout the file, but at the mediation, he was the one who took point. The mediator was also male. We sat in the boardroom, at a long rectangular table. Typically, in a private dispute resolution process, neutral professionals will sit at the ends of the table – i.e.: a jointly retained mediator, family professional, or financial . . . [more]

I just returned from a glorious 3-week summer break and am now trying to catch up on my accumulated emails. A few things caught my eye that I thought may be of interest to other SLAW devotees:

1. IAALS events – I have followed the Institute for the Advancement of the America Legal System for some time. It is a U.S. leader in the analysis and reform of the U.S. justice system, including through unbundled legal services. Two events to note:
   1. Redesigning Legal Speaker Series: The next session is on August 24, 2021 and is entitled “Legal Tech –

The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright) is a copyright collective meaning that it manages certain rights on behalf of copyright holders. Importantly Access Copyright does not itself hold any of the copyrights that it manages.

York University (York) is Canada’s third-largest university with over 50,000 students and approximately 1,500 full-time faculty members.^[1] York had a license to use some of the works licensed by Access Copyright from 1994 to 2010. Access Copyright applied to the Copyright Board for an interim tariff during a period when renewal negotiations were languishing. York initially complied with the interim tariff but then . . . [more]

We have become accustomed for some time to hearing about new start-ups and initiatives on the technology side of legal information provision. Indeed, some might say that we hear of too many of them and that a percentage of them might disappear into obscurity before long. We read less of fresh ideas and innovation in relation to the provision of actual added-value legal content from law publishers. Perhaps this is not surprising, for obvious reasons.

It is all the more pleasing to observe an exciting fresh start from my friend and law publishing comrade, Jason Wilson, together . . . [more]

Regulators of legal services often say that their most important job is to “protect the public.” If this statement is true, then we need to consider its implications for the future regulation of the legal profession. And that starts by posing a deceptively simple question:

What exactly do we mean by, “the public”?

When you hear that term, does it summon for you the image of a Fortune 500 GC? An assistant deputy minister in the government? An experienced construction company owner? Is that who you think of as “the public”? Probably not.

Instead, you think of ordinary people. Dads, . . . [more]

The term artificial intelligence (AI) has been justly criticized for its lack of specificity. Essentially it means anything that we are still impressed that a computer can do, which is, of course, a moving target. The most talked about AI technology is currently machine learning, and this is what is driving the majority of black box systems that are raising concerns in the legal sector.

In this context, black boxes refer to systems that accept inputs and present outputs of various kinds without making it explicit how the decision was reached. Black boxes can occur for many reasons, some technical, . . . [more]

One of my favorite jokes involves a visitor lost in rural Scotland. The tourist comes upon a farmer and asks the farmer for directions to Edinburgh. The farmer pauses, appears deep in thought, and then says[1] “I don’t think that I would start from here”.

Challenges to reform

I’ve been listening to an interesting podcast series called Revolutions that discusses the English, American, French, Haitian, 1848 European, Spanish American, Mexican, and Russian revolutions[2]. The series is interesting in its consideration of the transition from feudal to industrial economies and the parallel development of liberal and socialist thought. . . . [more]

Our justice system isn’t all bad, and in some ways it’s getting better. Some things in the system might have to be difficult and complicated, because life is complicated and so is the law. But there are also plenty of things that seem unnecessarily difficult and complicated. I’m talking about things that could be fixed without a lot of controversy or money, just by thinking carefully about how they affect the system’s users.

One that has always irritated me is Rule 4 (“Court Documents”) in Ontario’s Rules of Civil Procedure. It lays out all of the technical requirements for . . . [more]

In mediation, it is always a delicate question how much the mediator should try to shape an agreement, or leave it entirely to the parties.

This is especially true when the parties the parties are very close to agreement and reach an impasse. I think most mediators would agree that the impasse can often be broken by challenging the parties’ assumptions – and their assessments of positions and interests – that lead them to say: “This far and no further.”

Maybe one side feels that it has been making more concessions than the other. And, usually, each side believes its . . . [more]

After several years in development, the Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) has published its updated Ethical Principles for Judges (EPJ). The updated EPJ can be found here.

The Canadian Association for Legal Ethics/Association Canadienne pour L’ethique Juridique (CALE/ACEJ), of which we are President and Vice-President, has followed the revision of the EPJ with considerable interest and has offered comments and suggestions to the CJC along the way (see here, here, here, and here for CALE/ACEJ’s submissions to the CJC). Now that the updated EPJ have been released, it is time to take stock. Below we . . . [more]