Heuristica Proposes Better Disclosure Rules for Construction Arbitration

Heuristica Proposes Better Disclosure Rules for Construction Arbitration

Despite some initial trepidation, lawyers arbitrating construction cases by teleconference have found the “new normal” to be efficient and cost effective.  But the inconveniences associated with face-to-face arbitrations are minuscule compared to the costs and risks associated with the document disclosure process.  We need a “new normal” way to request and produce relevant documents in a virtual process.

 

It’s time to consider a standard, simplified disclosure rule that takes advantage of available technology to improve the outcomes of construction arbitration.

 

In our experience, many of the pain points associated with the exchange of documents could have been avoided had the parties adopted a mutually agreeable framework at the outset of a matter, and prior to the review and exchange of productions.… Read More

Virtual Hearings – Here to Stay?

Virtual Hearings – Here to Stay?

Candice Chan-Glasgow, Director, Review Services and Counsel

 

July 24, 2020

 

On July 6, 2020, courtrooms in certain locations across Ontario resumed in-person proceedings, and each week, additional courtrooms across the province are continuing to re-open. 

 

However, Chief Justice Morawetz’s July 21, 2020 Notice to the Profession recognizes that not all participants may be comfortable attending a courthouse during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that virtual hearings should be explored when requested.

 

Counsel and parties facing a request for a virtual hearing should consider Justice Myers’ recent order that an examination for discovery proceed by video conference.  Justice Myers wrote in Arconti v.Read More

This is not the time to cut corners on information security

This is not the time to cut corners on information security

Martin Felsky, Senior Counsel

April 18, 2020

 

About a month before China notified the World Health Organization about a new coronavirus, I published an article for the Ontario Bar Association encouraging lawyers to migrate their practices to the cloud entitled “If Judges Can Move to the Cloud, Why Can’t Lawyers?” 

 

Lawyers are not exactly known for their quick uptake on technology – for many reasons, among them, valid concerns about security and confidentiality.  I pointed out that some courts across Canada were moving to the cloud.  They have been doing so in a methodical and careful way, following the Blueprint for the Security of Judicial information and the Guidelines for Migration of Judicial Information to a Cloud Service Provider.… Read More

Leveraging Concept Clustering in eDiscovery

Leveraging Concept Clustering in eDiscovery

Candice Chan-Glasgow, Director, Review Services and Counsel, and Catia Amorim, Associate

 

March 4, 2019

 

Even after de-duplication and some initial culling, it’s not unusual to still be faced with a significant number of electronic records in a given litigation matter. 

 

Tools that help lawyers to “make sense” of a plethora of data and that assist in identifying key records are thus increasingly crucial to efficient and effective eDiscovery.  Fortunately, it’s possible to organize your electronic data into smaller buckets of conceptually similar documents.  One of the analytic tools that makes this possible is called “concept clustering”.… Read More

The Limitations of Keywords

The Limitations of Keywords

Candice Chan-Glasgow

Director, Review Services and Counsel

February 5, 2019

 

A high-profile case making headlines again this week illustrates the frailties of relying on keyword searching alone when searching for relevant documents in any document review project.

 

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman was charged last year with breach of trust for allegedly leaking government secrets, and his legal team sought a court direction to obtain thousands of previously undisclosed government documents needed to defend him.

 

According to an article published by the Globe and Mail, Norman’s lawyers presented the court with evidence that his case was referred to by officials within the Department of National Defence using various codenames.  … Read More