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“Split the Pie”– a Tasty Take on Negotiation
Negotiation is the most common form of dispute resolution. I recently heard that about 50,000 actions are started in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice each year. About 2,000 cases go to trial. The...
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A Decision Is Not a Mystery Novel: The Importance of Providing a Conclusion...
Cause you’re working/Building a mystery/Holding on/And holding it in/Yeah you’re working/Building a mystery/And choosing so carefully Sarah McLachlin, “Building a Mystery” Even lawyers will quickly...
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In-Person Mediation: Is It Worth the Effort?
Having recently done my first in-person mediations in more than two years, I’ve been thinking again about how much benefit there really is over mediating online. This was prompted by a recent mediation...
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How to Move Unbundling Forward
I wish to respond to the NSRLP’s August 9th post entitled The Failure of Unbundled Legal Services to Meet the Crisis in Access to Justice. While I loved the article, the title gave me pause. The title...
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The Open Court Principle and Evidence of Harm: The Dust Created by Sherman...
I wrote about the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent restatement of the open court principle in a column last year. In that column I suggested that the court had opened the door for more requests for...
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ODR Is No Overnight Sensation
Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) has gained credibility lately, due largely to a combination of pandemic limitations on in-person dispute resolution and rapid strides in online technology. But it is the...
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Staying in Your Lane: The Distribution of Work Between Tribunals and the...
When someone starts a conversation with “it is useful to return to first principles”, you know that things have been drifting a bit. The Ontario Court of Appeal recently used that expression when...
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Controversy About How Mediations Begin
What is the best way to begin a first mediation session? Some mediators start with a joint session (where the parties and their lawyers, if any) are present. Others prefer to begin with caucusing...
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Appeal Courts Say “Hands Off” Arbitration
One of the main reasons to choose arbitration is that parties want a decision that’s final and binding. Until they lose. Then they want a court to give them a do-over to fix the arbitrator’s terrible...
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“Justice Is the Instrument, but Love Is the Motive”
Many of us work in support of Access to Justice. A2J is an important response to injustice. But why do we do it? What compels us to strive to work in this field? What sustains us in this work? For most...
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Under the Influence: Ministers (And Others) Communicating With Tribunals
Members of Parliament are expected to advocate for their constituents. However, when that MP is a Minister of the Crown (or a Parliamentary Secretary) there are limits on how far that advocacy can go....
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Can’t Fight This Feeling: The Role of Emotion in Mediation Advocacy
I’ve observed a trend. It involves the feelings of legal advocates coming into play during mediation. This is often presented as an emotional tie to the client, passion about the collaborative...
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The Unique Value of Lawyers in the Legal Process: Why AI Will Never Replace...
This post was co-created by Kari Boyle and Matt Sims, with help from ChatGPT. “How do we create value that is distinct from what machines can do faster and cheaper? The answers will shape our future.”...
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Words Matter: The Role of Language in Dispute Resolution
“Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not due simply to the bad influence of this or that individual writer. But an effect can...
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Baby, Don’t Forget My Number (My Mediation Count)
Back in the day, signs posted outside McDonald’s would list the number of customers they had served. While the fast food chain stopped this practice years ago, some mediators are still doing it. My...
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Youth Voices – Raising Awareness Through Art
For the past four years, Youth Voices [Note 1] worked with Deer Crossing the Art Farm (Gibsons BC) on an initiative to raise awareness of the need to provide meaningful participation and voice to kids...
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Stop Assessing Credibility Outside of the Box: Why Adjudicators Should Only...
Assessing credibility is a critical role for adjudicators, in many cases. How to assess credibility requires its own book, but in this column, I will focus on the inappropriateness of relying on the...
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Stay in Your Lane
Dear Reader: The following column contains references to popular music of the mid-1990s. To heighten your reading experience, we recommend you familiarize yourself with the lead single from Alanis...
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Administrative Law After Vavilov: What’s Changed for Decision-Makers?
Is that all there is? If that’s all there is my friends Then let’s keep dancing… “Is that all there is”, song by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Administrative law can be complicated. The Supreme Court...
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Get Up to Date News About Unbundled Legal Services and Legal Coaching in BC...
The BC Family Unbundling Roster currently has over 200 Roster members across the province. The BC Family Justice Innovation Lab administers the Roster and publishes a newsletter to Roster members and...
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CAT’s Got Your A2J
As an original member of Ontario’s Condominium Authority Tribunal (CAT), I am convinced there is not a cat pun I have yet to encounter. I could be wrong but feel as though I have heard them all. From...
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The Arbitrator to the Judge: Keep My Name Out Your Mouth
(a vent about the integrity of arbitration confidentiality) In the world of private arbitration, the courts serve an important role. They represent a check and balance, intended to keep what occurs in...
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What Protects the Mental Health and Well-Being of Kids Experiencing the...
The BC Family Justice Innovation Lab and its Youth Voices Initiative [Note 1] continue to support the ground-breaking work of the Transform the Family Justice System Collaborative. Last month, I...
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Addressing Backlogs and Delays in Administrative Justice: Principles Before...
Reports of backlogs and delays in administrative justice processes are increasingly common. While the pandemic lockdown was a contributing factor to those backlogs, our administrative justice system...
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Could Mediators Be Replaced? Examining Fears About the Role of AI in...
My mother instilled within me the mentality of not going along with what everyone else is doing. It is a fairly common parental lesson, really. Typically presented in the context of all of one’s...
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The Role of Parties and Representatives in Addressing Backlogs and Delays:...
In my last column I focused on the legal framework for addressing backlogs and delays in administrative tribunals. Before I start to explore the adjudicator’s toolkit for reducing backlogs and delays,...
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Listen, You Might Learn Something: Listening Is Not a Spectator Sport
My Dad, who passed away in 2006, had a collection of favorite sayings. At one point we packaged them up and listed the top 10 ala David Letterman. At the top of the list was the phrase “listen you...
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Show Me the Money: Explaining Why Contingency Fees Don’t Work in Mediation &...
“Cash rules everything around me, C.R.E.A.M. Get the money. Dollar, dollar bill, y’all” – Wu-Tang Clan While it gets skewed on tv, mediation involves the mediator having no interest in any particular...
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A2J for the Middle Class – an Invitation
Access to justice applies to everyone. However, most formal access to justice initiatives focus (rightly) on people who are especially vulnerable due to poverty or very low income. IAALS (the Institute...
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Pronunciation of Names at Hearings: Best Practices for Tribunals
“There are few things more important than one’s name. It reflects one’s identity, individuality and human dignity.” Adam Dodek, “Mispronouncing names isn’t okay, and it has nothing to do with being...
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