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Adjudicator’s Toolkit

@adjudicatethis.bsky.social

Former adjudicator, now a trainer and writer about administrative law and a jazz DJ at CKCU FM in Ottawa

130 Posts52 Follower112 Folgt
Slaw@slawdotca.bsky.social · 4w ago

The “Standard” Agreement to Mediate

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.

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Slaw@slawdotca.bsky.social · last mo.

The Court of Appeal’s Consideration of Sault Dock: A New Test, Refinement or More of the Same?

INTRODUCTION The Ontario Court of Appeal’s (“CA”) recent decision in Knauff v. Ontario (Human Rights Tribunal) (“Knauff”) sought to resolve two CA panels’ disagreement about the continuing relevance of the test for leave to appeal in Sault Dock Co. Ltd. and City of Sault Ste. Marie (Ont. CA) (“Sault Dock”). (I considered the two CA decisions, West Whitby Landowners Group Inc. v. Elexicon Inc. [“West Whitby”] and Davis v. Aviva General Insurance Company [“Davis”] in my January 7, 2025 Slaw post, “Tension on the Ontario CA: Thwarting a Judicial Coup?”.) My focus . . . [more] The post The Court of Appeal’s Consideration of Sault Dock: A New Test, Refinement or More of the Same? appeared first on Slaw.

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Slaw@slawdotca.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Push Button Access to Justice: Too Much of a Good Thing?

Ease of access to justice is a good thing but can there be too much access? The Employment Tribunals in the United Kingdom have discovered the downsides of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) with an inundation of interim applications for relief. The tsunami of recent applications prompted the issuing of new guidance. Before we get to the tools the employment tribunals have devised to attempt to address the issue, it is worth talking about friction in dispute system design. “Friction” is the effort, steps or complexity involved in completing an action: “Every extra step between intention and action . . . [more] The post Push Button Access to Justice: Too Much of a Good Thing? appeared first on Slaw.

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Slaw@slawdotca.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Shadow AI: A Growing Problem for Canadian Courts

Many generative AI tools are relatively easy to access and use. For example, no technical expertise is required to pull up and type a prompt into ChatGPT, and the most basic version is free. This reality has led to a significant amount of “shadow AI” use within organizations; that is, uses of AI that are not formally approved or are even contrary to formal policies. Concerns about shadow AI commonly arise in the context of private companies, with some studies indicating that over 80% of workers report using unapproved tools at work. Much less discussed – and worthy of far . . . [more] The post Shadow AI: A Growing Problem for Canadian Courts appeared first on Slaw.

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Slaw@slawdotca.bsky.social · 5mo ago

The Legal Profession’s Weakening Grip on Law Society Governance

In late April, two groundbreaking decisions concerning legal regulators in Canada were announced — one by a court, and one by a law society. The first decision came from the British Columbia Supreme Court, which ruled that the provincial government’s proposed overhaul of legal regulation in BC was constitutional and could proceed. I thought this was the obvious outcome from the outset, as I wrote here at Slaw two years ago, and I’m very glad to see the issue resolved — for the moment, anyway. At the heart of BC’s legislative overhaul (and the lawsuit that challenged its . . . [more] The post The Legal Profession’s Weakening Grip on Law Society Governance appeared first on Slaw.

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Slaw@slawdotca.bsky.social · 6mo ago

New Panic Over Old Mistakes: Judicial Sanctions and Hallucinated Citations

In the midst of the ongoing concerns about hallucinations, particularly related to citations in documents filed with courts, I wonder if the particular focus on AI generated errors, and the penalties that have been imposed in response, are at least partly due to perceptions of these tools as cheating or aesthetic ideas about how “real” legal writing should happen. And I query the rationales for recent instances of judges issuing sanctions against people who have inadvertently included them. It seems that mistakes in AI generated documents are treated differently from mistakes that can and do appear in any piece of . . . [more] The post New Panic Over Old Mistakes: Judicial Sanctions and Hallucinated Citations appeared first on Slaw.

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Slaw@slawdotca.bsky.social · 7mo ago

The Time’s Not Right: Advocacy When a Tribunal Is Delayed or Imposes Short Timelines

A professional legal advocate occupies a unique position, interposed as they are between the justice system on one hand, and their client on the other. Each advocate has a duty of commitment to the client’s cause, and must resolutely pursue the client’s legitimate goals using all legal means. At the same time, the advocate is an officer of the court and must help the legal system accomplish its own objectives. The need to reconcile duties to client with duties to the law comes up frequently in the practice of law, and pervades the study of legal ethics. The balancing act . . . [more] The post The Time’s Not Right: Advocacy When a Tribunal Is Delayed or Imposes Short Timelines appeared first on Slaw.

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