: Every now and again, a mainstream occurrence helps inform the general public about the world of dispute resolution. Often through the world of sports. Mediation has resolved a hockey lockout . Arbitration has resolved salary disputes between player and team. This summer, we encountered another one. A trade that would return Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors has been delayed pending the outcome of an investigation surrounding an alleged salary cap circumvention. Fans frustrated by the delay have wondered why the ongoing investigation cannot be sped up. Some media have speculated that this was possible, though at the time of . . . [more] The post You Can’t Hurry Judge appeared first on Slaw
: Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from more than 80 recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible. This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. ABlawg.ca 2. Crossroad Family Law Blog 3. The Court 4. Hull & Hull Blog 5. Risk Management & Crisis Response ABlawg.ca Intimate Image Abuse in the Age of Deepfakes: Reforming Alberta’s Civil Legislation: Part 1 One in ten American teenagers personally knows someone who has had deepfake . . . [more] The post Monday’s Mix appeared first on Slaw
: A consensus is emerging in law schools across Canada and the US that AI has no place in teaching the core curriculum, because it impedes student learning, especially in first year. Schools are beginning to follow the University of Chicago’s lead in banning AI in first-year core courses. Some profs are also banning laptops in classrooms — taking every precaution to shield students’ developing minds from the corrosive effects of AI. Michael Plaxton, one of the leading voices in Canada thinking through the many challenges AI poses to legal education, crystallizes the argument: “The case for law schools must be . . . [more] The post The Argument for Encouraging Student Use of AI in First-Year Law appeared first on Slaw
: Mediators are often asked by parties or their counsel to send them a copy of their “standard Agreement to Mediate” for review. But is there such a document? If by “standard” we mean some prescribed form followed by all mediators, the answer is no. Virtually every mediator has his or her own Agreement. Some are based on agreements provided in mediation training, while others are quite customized. This article has its origin in a recent mediation. One of the three lawyers attending had clearly not read the Agreement to Mediate, although it had been sent to him weeks earlier. When . . . [more] The post The “Standard” Agreement to Mediate appeared first on Slaw
: Is this a rabbit, or is it a duck? It’s both. (You’ll see the two animals after a few seconds if you haven’t already). Known as Jastrow’s rabbit/duck, this image has been amusing people ever since it first appeared in a German newspaper in 1892). How much time and money should be spent trying to prove that Jastrow’s drawing is really a duck, or really a rabbit, or moreone than the other? No time and no money at all. Our civil justice system tries to search for truth , in order to bring each lawsuit to a just resolution . . . [more] The post A Futile Search for “Truth”? Epistemically Unproductive Expenditures in Civil Lawsuits appeared first on Slaw
: 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] The post Beyond Role Playing: How Simulated Clients Enhance Learning appeared first on Slaw
: The growth of self-representation in all adjudicative settings may ultimately require a new approach to adjudication that is even more fundamental than a root and branch overhaul of procedure and practice. What legislators and courts may need to consider is the development of forums that are focused on and limited to adjudicating cases involving SRLs. Such courts would channel cases involving SRLs into a specific forum where court participants, including the adjudicator and court staff and any required wrap-around services, would exclusively plan for and engage with litigants who do not have legal representation. One such experiment has been underway . . . [more] The post Imagining a Possible Future: Self-Represented Litigant Courts appeared first on Slaw
: For Professor Seánna Howard , Director of the International Human Rights Advocacy Workshop, international legal research begins with a simple but important recognition: the most valuable sources are not always the most familiar ones. Her research has taken her to Tucson, where she joined the renowned Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy (IPLP) Program at the University of Arizona College of Law. Along the way, she has worked as an advocate, lawyer, researcher, independent expert, and educator on issues involving Indigenous Peoples, international human rights law, and social justice. Her work also reflects the importance of developing research strategies for areas . . . [more] The post Researching Beyond the Familiar: An Interview With Professor Seánna Howard appeared first on Slaw
: Once a patent is granted, it can be asserted in litigation against an alleged infringer. One of the remedies that can be obtained is “reasonable compensation” for pre-grant infringement pursuant to section 55(2) of the Patent Act . While relief is often sought and granted for pre-grant infringement, the remedy has some subtleties, including those arising from changing practices at the Canadian Patent Office. Section 55(2) of the Patent Act states the following: 55(2) A person is liable to pay reasonable compensation to a patentee and to all persons claiming under the patentee for any damage sustained by the patentee . . . [more] The post Patent Publication Dates appeared first on Slaw
: 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] The post The Law Firm Inflection Point appeared first on Slaw
: This summer our law library intern (shout out to Bailey Kaye!) is reviewing our archival casebook collection for a digitization project. Among them was a casebook for exchange students arriving at Dalhousie Law School in 1978. It outlined an introduction to the common law, as provided by the Sir James Dunn Law Library. In this casebook, the Sir James Dunn Law Library included a helpful list of general information about library etiquette. Let’s review how you were to conduct yourself in the law library of 1978, shall we? The one rule that has survived nearly word-for-word, across nearly fifty years . . . [more] The post Briefcases & Cigarettes: The Law Library of 1978 appeared first on Slaw
: One of the recurring themes of this column has been the extent to which the governance of artificial intelligence in Canada is increasingly being shaped by institutions outside the country while regulatory action within the country is largely stalled. Anthropic’s recent announcement that future versions of Claude will place an invisible watermark in generated text offers the most recent example of this phenomenon. A transparency requirement enacted in the European Union will alter the operation of Claude globally and may therefore leave a detectable signal in legal work prepared in Canada, including work produced through specialized legal-focused AI platforms that . . . [more] The post Invisible Ink: Claude Watermarking and the Canadian Legal Profession appeared first on Slaw
: The globe-trotting Law via the Internet Conference returned to Canada on October 13 and 14 in Montreal. It was just in time for CanLII’s 25th anniversary , convened under the theme of Trusted Past, Open Future to share developments and trends in the delivery of legal information across the world. On day one, University of Ottawa law professor Amy Salyzyn updated us on her research inventorying direct-to-public digital legal tools in Canada. The inventory is not new (it started in 2016, with updates in 2019, 2021, and 2023)—but it has certainly grown. In 2023, 118 tools were cataloged (you can . . . [more] The post “Who Dunnit?” Part 2: Persons & Machines Under UPL Laws appeared first on Slaw