In law firms, lawyers are everything. They do everything: They are the owners of the firm, and they’re also its officers and directors, but they’re also its managers and supervisors, and wait, they’re its workers too, and they set all the rules and make the policies and create the culture.

The only thing lawyers don’t do in law firms is the stuff they consider beneath them, the clerical and support work. I’ve said before that these entities should really be called “lawyer firms,” because that’s what they consist of and what they’re organized around. The molecular building block of a . . . [more]

Canadian courts are concerned about AI. They are concerned that litigants may misuse AI and attempt to introduce fake cases or deepfake evidence into court proceedings. They are also concerned about AI potentially usurping judges’ decision-making role and thereby undermining the proper administration of justice.

These concerns don’t merely exist in the ether – they have become embedded in roughly a dozen AI practice directions or notices from individual Canadian courts addressing the use of AI by litigants (see, e.g. here and here), as well as in recent AI guidance from the Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) and the Action . . . [more]

Every week we present the summary of a decision handed down by a Québec court provided to us by SOQUIJ and considered to be of interest to our readers throughout Canada. SOQUIJ is attached to the Québec Department of Justice and collects, analyzes, enriches, and disseminates legal information in Québec.

PÉNAL (DROIT) : L’accusé, qui a été impliqué dans un accident et a omis de fournir les renseignements prévus à l’article 170 du Code de la sécurité routière, a commis l’infraction prévue à cette disposition; le fait qu’il ait quitté les lieux de l’accident n’y change rien.

Intitulé :  . . . [more]

In the super-competitive professional services landscape, the ability to deliver an exceptional client experience continues to be a critical differentiator. While firms have traditionally focused on technical expertise and functional capabilities, clients now demand a more holistic, client-centric approach. Clients are hiring you for your legal knowledge and experience, but they also want to know, “What’s in it for me?”

For professionals, the priority should be a deep understanding of the client’s business, challenges, and objectives. The goal is to deliver tailored solutions that meet the client’s needs.

Client Interviews

Conducting client interviews allows firms to leverage client insights effectively. . . . [more]

In January 2022, headlines across Canadian media ignited a controversy involving Kaycee Madu, Canada’s first Black provincial justice minister. The reports centered on Madu receiving a traffic ticket from a police officer after a traffic stop and subsequently calling the police chief to discuss his concerns over the traffic stop. Almost immediately, a media narrative emerged suggesting that Madu had attempted to use his political influence to avoid the ticket – a narrative that spread quickly, despite the police chief’s clear statement that no such request had been made.

Minister Madu explained that his call was not an attempt to . . . [more]

This submission is part of a column swap with the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) bimonthly member magazine, AALL Spectrum. Published six times a year, AALL Spectrum is designed to further professional development and education within the legal information industry. Slaw and the AALL Spectrum board have agreed to hand-select several columns each year as part of this exchange. 

Tips for drafting effective AI prompts.

On November 30, 2022, ChatGPT’s release marked a pivotal shift in the information world. Despite early explorations by legal research companies like Casetext, generative AI (GenAI) was unfamiliar to most. Fast forward to . . . [more]

PREFACE

This is the first of two posts placing LEAF’s recent report, What It Takes: Establishing a Gender-Based Violence Accountability Mechanism in Canada (“What It Takes” or “LEAF report)” on gender-based violence (GBV) in the context of historical efforts to address GBV (albeit fragmentary references) and more recent developments: the 2021 Joint Declaration by the ministers for the status of women for Canada, the provinces and the territories, leading to the 2022 National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence (“National Action Plan” or “NAP”), the 2019 Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girl . . . [more]

If you’re trying to find government information that is generally not made available, it may be helpful to look in databases of information released as part of an FOI request. Note that availability of this information varies by jurisdiction.

The Government of Canada provides a database of completed Access to Information (ATI) requests made to the Government of Canada after January 2020. “If you find a summary of interest, you can request a copy of the records at no cost using the form below each summary. Requests made through this form are considered informal requests and are not subject to . . . [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]