Will COVID turn lawyers from Luddites to leaders?
Lawyers are known for their resistance to change. But COVID-19 has forced a great deal of change, technological and otherwise, on the profession. The key question is whether the evolution will continue. And that’s where reluctance to change becomes an asset: after all, reluctance to change and reluctance to change back are, if you ask […]
Bucking the trends: BCF’s model for sustainability breeds profitability
This is the second in LegalWriter.net’s continuing series Bucking the Trends: Lawyers who make a difference – – – their own way Growth – – – organic, sustained and profitable – – – has hardly been the order of the day for Canadian law firms in the last decade or so. So forgive me for […]
Bucking the trends: the gentle way to fierce advocacy
August 19, 2020 This is the first in legalwriter.net’s continuing series called Bucking the Trends: Lawyers who make a difference – – – their own way “Gentleman”, “lady”, or “stand-up comic” is rarely found in the lexicon describing the virtues of great counsel. That’s especially true in an era when regulators keep reminding lawyers that […]
Justice and the pandemic: what needs to change
July 30, 2020 This article is the last of a five-part series examining our courts’ response to the pandemic and what it means for the future of the civil justice system. There’s no doubt that COVID-19 gave us “an excuse to do things differently,” in the words of Chantelle Cseh, a partner in the dispute […]
Justice and the pandemic: stakeholders in the system
July 16, 2020 This article is the fourth of a five-part series examining our courts’ response to the pandemic and what it means for the future of the civil justice system. Endemic problems of delay aside, a significant new challenge faces our civil justice system as the country’s courts tiptoe their way to reopening. In […]
Justice and the pandemic: pushing for modernization
June 24, 2020 As Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz sees it, Canada’s poor ranking in the Enforcing Contracts indicator found in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 study is but one measure by which the effectiveness of our courts should be gauged. The study, which tracks the time and cost for resolving a commercial dispute through […]
Justice and the pandemic: How Canada ranks
Friday, June 19, 2020 This article is the second of a three-part series examining our courts’ response to the pandemic and what it means for the future of the civil justice system. What’s we’ve learned from the pandemic, in the justice system and elsewhere, is that we’re going to have to make do with less […]
Justice and the pandemic: The new gold standard
Tuesday, June 02, 2020 This article is the first of a three-part series examining our courts’ response to the pandemic and what it means for the future of the civil justice system. When COVID-19 set the world askew, Canada’s justice system seemed ill equipped to confront the warnings and restrictions that emanated from public health […]
Canadian law firms hold their own when it comes to making money, U.S. legal publication says
Canada’s homegrown law firms are holding their own in Legal Week’s international law firm rankings October 17, 2016 Canada’s homegrown law firms, the ones who have not been absorbed by the global behemoths and who still have most of their lawyers in Canada, are holding their own in international law firm rankings. Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt […]
Generation Lex: Law schools seek balance between theory and practice
The battle for the modern law school: academic study in one corner of the ring, practical knowledge in the other April 25, 2017 Traditional bastions of legal learning are moving with the times by incorporating a more practical approach to legal education, yet critics say that they have not moved far enough or quickly enough […]