Advocacy at the Crossroads
Perhaps every generation of Canadian advocates has wondered whether and how great advocacy will survive the ascendancy of a new generation of advocates. Or maybe it's the oft-described collective narcissism of my generation, the baby boomers, that makes us convinced we are always at some sort of crossroads. But I think that whether you choose advocacy in the courtroom or in the boardroom, the challenges will be daunting. And I worry that those of us who practise civil litigation have already lost our way - that we must respond to the dramatic ways in which law and advocacy have changed in the last 20 years if advocacy is to continue to be the fuel of a fair and robust justice system.
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Alan Borovoy: The Social Reformer
Alan Borovoy prefers to keep his daily routines simple and, well, routine. For years, he has eaten lunch most weekdays at the By the Way Cafe on Bloor Street in Toronto's Annex. Today is a little different. We are lunching at the Superior Restaurant at Yonge and Dundas, which is Borovoy's backup when meetings bring him downtown. He wordlessly orders his usual lunch with nothing more than a nod to the server. A plate of trout and grilled vegetables soon arrives.
Borovoy's lean frame is evident in all the old family photos, but it likely has been nourished by his insistence on health conscious meals that vary little from day to day. Ensconced in the large leather banquette at the back of the Superior, Borovoy is diminutive: he would surely fit into the suit he wore when he graduated from law school almost 60 years ago. But, as he begins his story, his eyes widen, he speaks in near-perfect paragraphs and his presence enlarges to fill the ample space around him.
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As I make my way around our Society, the chorus of concern appears to be rapidly growing larger and louder. How do we save the civil justice system from collapsing under its own weight, with endless discovery, trial dates years into the future, and ever-spiralling costs?
The problem is not new; nor is it the bar's dirty little secret. According to the Ministry of the Attorney General public consultations on the costs of civil litigation, "The public perception is that ... once litigants become enmeshed in the [civil justice] system, their destiny is out of control. Too late to get out, they discover that they simply cannot afford the game. They are not only paying to win or lose, they are also paying to wait."
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On March 9, 2006, a diverse selection of participants from across the province
attended the Society's day-long policy forum, Streamlining the Ontario Civil
Justice System. The audience of 175 included Chief Justices Roy McMurtry,
Heather Smith and Brian Lennox, Associate Chief Justice Douglas Cunningham,
members of the judiciary from across the province, Attorney General Michael
Bryant and members of his ministry, representatives from the Department of
Justice, professors of law, and many of the province's most accomplished and
experienced advocates.
The Final Report from the forum -- in both print and CD formats -- has just been
mailed to our members and to all who participated. I hope you will read it and
give us your comments.
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For most of my more than 20 years in law, I would not have seen it coming: a
room of 250 women litigators and jurists -- talented, accomplished and, for the
most part, smiling -- hoping to press forward what one American writer has
described as the "unfinished agenda: women in the legal profession." The
occasion was "Skirting the Issues," The Advocates' Society's Networking
Conference for Women in Litigation, the first of its kind in Canada.
The enthusiastic response to the conference, which was the brainchild of our
Director of Education, Jessica Grant, appears to reflect a widespread appetite
to talk about the challenges that women face in establishing a successful career
in advocacy, a desire to seek out mentors and fellow travellers and, call me a
sentimentalist, a hankering for something resembling a community of female
litigators, a community rarely in evidence except perhaps at the annual LEAF
Breakfast.
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My partner in law and life is forever telling me that lawyers do not like to
talk about their feelings. I think he means male lawyers mostly, but surely
times have changed. Surely we advocates can ask ourselves how we feel about what
we spend so much time doing.
I am flipping through my copy of Learned Friends, The Advocates' Society's
tribute to 50 remarkable advocates, trying to decide whether to stuff it in the
book bag bound for the cottage. I am struck by author Jack Batten's narrative
thread: the unspoken but powerful truth that ties these advocates' stories
together -- they all loved advocacy.