With today’s release of The Future of Legal Services in Canada: Trends and Issues, the consultation phase of the CBA’s Legal Futures Initiative begins.

Trends and Issues puts data and insight from original research commissioned by the CBA into a single document meant to provide an overview of major challenges facing the profession. The report – and the questions it raises – form a starting point for discussions and further consultations with stakeholders in the legal services industry.

We’ve been showing you bits of those papers here, and on the interim Futures website, for the last seven weeks. If . . . [more]

The Online Dispute Resolution Working Group will hold its 12th annual meeting in Montreal next week on June 16-18. This conference brings together ODR scholars and practitioners from around the world. As you might imagine, among the stellar cast of speakers (Fabien Gélinas, Colin Rule, Ethan Katsh . . .) you’ll find Slaw columnists Karim Benyekhlef and Nicolas Vermeys, who have been informing our readers about ODR for some time now. And among the discussants are Slawyers John Gregory and David Bilinsky.

The full program can be downloaded here. From that document:

There is a lot of interesting talk these days about tapping in to the wisdom of the crowd. Among the most surprising examples is Crowdmed.com which was designed to find diagnoses for illnesses that have eluded physicians. It reports “astonishing” results.

There are no liability risks on the individual “medical detectives” (not required to be physicians) who submit diagnostic suggestions: they are anonymous and submissions are pooled and combined into diagnostic suggestions to be discussed with the patient’s physician.

A quick internet search did not reveal anything similar for law. Let me try drawing on the collective wisdom of SLAW . . . [more]

Garry Wise is fond of saying that “the internet and technology are the great equalizers,” in the legal world. They allow smaller players, and newer players, to gain ground swifter than 20, or even 10 years ago, making them a growing threat to larger firms.

Larger firms however, don’t see it that way. They still view themselves as kings of the hill with competition only coming from equal-sized outfits – much like American car companies in the early 1970’s.

When Japanese car makers started to export product to North America, the cars were inexpensive and of not the highest quality. . . . [more]

If you’re keen on law blogging, the way we are here at Slaw, you’ll be pleased to note that the recent changes to the Law Society of Upper Canada’s requirements for continuing professional development make it clear that bloggers can get CPD credit. This might give a little boost to those who might otherwise hesitate on the threshold.

The relevant change to the rules states:

. . . [more]

Someone is conspicuously absent from the current debate about the future of legal practice. I have not yet noted anyone seriously asking clients the very relevant questions about what the profession should look like 10, 20 or 30 years from now.

This is not surprising given there is a great disconnect between legal professionals and most clients. That divide is evident whether looking at sophisticated corporate clients or the clients of any small or mid-sized law office.

I first became aware of the disconnect early in my career when I began work in the area of public legal education. At . . . [more]

Save the cheerleader, save the world. That was the tagline for the popular first season of the TV show Heroes several years ago – the cheerleader was the key to the mystery.

In terms of the legal industry, expert Richard Susskind suggests that kind of causal relationship might be stated as “change the incentives, change the behaviour” – incentives are the key to creating a profession that can flourish into the next decade and beyond.

In a paper prepared for the CBA’s Legal Futures Initiative, Susskind notes six key issues facing the legal industry, many of them also noted by . . . [more]

If you are a civil litigator and a matter you have handled through pleadings, discoveries and unsuccessful mediation must now go to trial, would you consider recommending that your client hire a lawyer who has substantially more trial experience to run the trial, with your continued involvement? Assume the cost to the client would be the same as if you took the trial.

If the answer is No, is it because:

A) a new lawyer could never get the feel for the evidence you have built up through your involvement;

B) it is not worth it merely for more trial . . . [more]

The British Columbia Court of Appeal recently (May 30) released a practice directive dealing with the citation of authorities. Based on the McGill Guide, as you’d imagine, it sets out in detail what the court (the directive would have “Court”) requires, down to the level of periods and point size. Importantly, it recognizes the supremacy and sufficiency of the neutral citation, noting that “[a]dditional (parallel) citations are optional.” The directive also encourages the use of hyperlinked citations and requires citation to paragraph number rather than page number, inferentially acknowledging the death of print versions.

The comparable directive from the . . . [more]

I received from a friend, Banack Bencher News #114. This newsletter is sent out by Ontario Bencher, Larry Banack. What caught my eye was the following provision:

The Treasurer has cancelled the Law Society’s traditional end of term dinner which had recognized the hard work of Benchers and the sacrifice of our families. This will save about $75,000.00 [emphasis added]. This small step will hopefully be a prelude to more significant savings to reduce the high cost of self-regulation. It is in conjunction with the CEO quest for improvements to achieve operational and cost efficiencies to ensure that the Law . . . [more]

Clients sue their lawyers for a variety of reasons, not limited to cases where the lawyer has made an actual error. In a family litigation-based practice, there are a few common scenarios that increase the odds that a client will be dissatisfied with the results and seek to place the blame on legal counsel. While the list that follows is drawn from common claims against family law practitioners, it contains a number of useful lessons for litigators in general.

1. Emotionally invested clients

Clients who are emotionally invested in the issues under litigation are more likely to be dissatisfied . . . [more]

Is it the future if it’s already here?

The Canadian Bar Association launched its Futures initiative with a view to helping legal practitioners best position themselves to face the challenges ahead, but it also took a look at the legal service providers who have already taken the plunge.

The Futures research has shown that there is no lack of ideas about how to face the future of the legal system, but none of them present a clear, obvious option. Any of them, or any combination of them, could work. Or maybe there’s another silver bullet out there, one creative solution . . . [more]