Introduction :
( former) Governor General tells lawyers:‘Heal
thyself’
"In a stinging rebuke, Johnston says it’s time legal
profession regains sight of justice, public good"
Lawyers and judges are losing sight of their
commitments to justice and the public good, and the profession must reform
itself and rebuild the trust of ordinary citizens, says Gov. Gen. David
Johnston.
In a rare, forceful speech at the opening of the Canadian Bar
Association’s annual meeting in Halifax on Sunday, Johnston issued a
stinging assessment of the legal profession and pleaded with it to
change.
“We need a new model for professionalism in law,” he
said. “To borrow a saying from a sister profession: physician, heal
thyself.”
A former dean of law at the University of Western Ontario, Johnston said lawyers such as himself enjoy a “social contract” with society: In return for self-regulation and a monopoly over the practice of law, he said, “We are duty bound” to improve justice and serve the public good. Instead, he said the profession is failing to uphold its end of the deal. Read more » (Source: PostMedia News on 15 aug 2011 by Richard Foot)
The End of Lawyers?
Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services by Richard Susskind OBE and Are Lawyers doomed ?
A few quotes from readers :
"Challenging book about how legal services will be produced and delivered in the future."
"Brilliant ideas, new ways for legal professionals (my clients) to do and sell their work. Gives a good overview what technology has to offer in the future, also affecting the legal translators market."
"Makes a good case that lawyers must either innovate or face increasing risk of becoming obsolete."
"For me, this is a reference book. It helps me deliver high value to my clients."
"Richard sets a new challenge for all lawyers. He urges them to ask themselves what elements of their current workload could be undertaken more quickly, more cheaply, more efficiently, or to a higher quality using different and new methods of working. He argues that the market is unlikely to tolerate expensive lawyers for tasks that can be better discharged with support of modern systems and techniques. He claims that the legal profession will be driven by two forces in the coming decade: by a market pull towards the commoditisation of legal services, and by the pervasive development and uptake of new and disruptive legal technologies. The threat here for lawyers is clear - their jobs may well be eroded or even displaced. At the same time, for entrepreneurial lawyers, Susskind foresees quite different law jobs emerging which may be highly rewarding, even if very different from those of today". Read more »
The End of Lawyers? by Richard Susskind (London: Oxford University Press, 2008)
The e-Court Story
We live in a constantly changing world - even arch-conservative lawyers need to adapt "e-Court will re-shape the future of Global litigation - Forces transforming the legal industry promise the emergence of new models that will allow clients to reap huge efficiencies, but at the expense of law firms that fail to adapt"
Experiences, in common with most western democracies, an increasingly complicated society. It is, therefore, no surprise that the legal system across the country gets clogged up, especially where it regards civil and common law areas. The waiting time for trial can be anywhere from six months to three years or longer. Suggested reading: The Litigation Process
Even Small Claims Courts around the world provide a resolution for simple cases will take you the better part of a year to go through the entire Small Claims Court process i.e. have your trial and get judgement. Collecting adds further delay and is an entirely different story, it is by no means the easiest undertaking both in terms of additional expense and duration.
Apart from the unacceptable time it takes to find judgement in regular government courts, the actual litigation process also adds a mystique for many people and makes the entire process through the traditional courts a very frustrating and intimidating experience to the layperson.Click for video - The need for e-Court.
In recognition to above, e-Court has been introduced to provide competent, affordable, simple, speedy and transparent justice for everyone. e-Court also provides a uniform litigation system throughout the world without the need to understand the peculiarities existing in each provincial legislative system. We encourage you to read about e-Court in the following pages. You shall not be disappointed. Join e-Court with the knowledge that legal justice is rendered with prior knowledge of expense and duration. It is expected that e-Court during its first six months of operations is capable of handling a minimum of #2,000 cases at any one time, with at least #20,000 cases at full maturity.