By Julius Melnitzer | October 31, 2025
PROFILING THE JUDICIARY
DMS developer NetDocuments has joined the wave of judicial analytics app creators, growing the number of profile creator software offerings to eighteen. According to Artificial Lawyer, the Judge Analytics App “transforms curated collections of judicial order into a structured dataset”. The developer claims that users can generate profiles that reflect judges’ “procedural patterns, reasoning methods, and tendencies” across various motion types.
Related Article: Meeting the AI Challenge
APPEAL CHALLENGES LEGAL REGULATORS’ POWER TO IMPOSE “IDEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS”
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has filed an appeal on behalf of Roger Song, an Alberta lawyer whose challenge to the Law Society of Alberta’s authority to compel lawyers to complete mandatory “ideological” training and to prohibit “harassment” and “discrimination” was dismissed in September by the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta. Song maintains that the Law Society’s exercise of authority in this way amounts to “political coercion”, and frames the key issue as: “Can the regulator adopt any political objective, much less one that is hostile to the Constitution?”
Related Article: Alberta lawyer challenges “woke” Law Society rules
SCREAMING WITH OTHERS IS GOOD FOR YOU
Mona Sharif, formerly a corporate lawyer, recently led a crowd of some 200 shrieking as loudly as possible on Parliament Hill in London, apparently in a collective endeavour to relieve stress. Sharif told the Daily Mail that it’s part of a new wellness trends that brings people together to blow off steam. It was “cheaper than therapy”, she said, and emanates from the idea that “healing” can be “kind of ugly” and not as “glamourous” as presented on social media.
RELATED ARTICLE: For all the brouhaha, law firms – and especially Canadian firms – are still “missing the boat” on wellness – and profit
LAWYERING FOR HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS
Reed Smith is the latest global law firm to launch a solicitor apprenticeship program for school dropouts in the UK. During the six-year programme, the firm’s three recruits will study part-time study for an LL.B., complete the Solicitors Qualifying Exam, and garner practical experience at Reed’s. The programme allows potential lawyers to “earn while they learn” and enter the profession debt free. First-year apprentices’ salaries will be the equivalent of about C$50,000.
Related Article: Canada’s legal tuition fees among highest in the world
Julius Melnitzer is a Toronto-based legal affairs writer, ghostwriter, writing coach and media trainer. Readers can reach him at julius@legalwriter.net or on his website.