Publications
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."3
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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.
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