ADR
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October 16, 2023
B.C. court rejects judicial review of tenants’ $21K rent entitlement award
The British Columbia Supreme Court has dismissed an application for judicial review of an arbitrator’s decision under the Residential Tenancy Act which found that the tenants were entitled to one year’s rent.
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October 16, 2023
Human mediators vs. artificial intelligence | Avril Hasselfield
Can my job be replaced with artificial intelligence (AI)? Can AI do my job better than me? Can AI do my job faster than me? As more and more AI programing is producing impressive and lightning-fast results, the world is starting to wonder if there will be limits to its abilities and if it is always appropriate.
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September 29, 2023
Law schools disclose common concerns, diverse takes on regulating GenAI use by students, faculty
Law schools have stepped up efforts in the 2023/2024 academic year to help the next generation of lawyers understand and capitalize on ChatGPT’s emergence, while also teaching law students to critically evaluate – and competently and ethically use – generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in the classroom and in their future law career.
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September 28, 2023
French-language law faculties grappling with new breed of generative AI tools
Nearly a year after the emergence of a new breed of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools were thrust into public consciousness, with the program ChatGPT leading the charge, French-language law faculties in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick are still grappling over their far-reaching potential impacts on teaching and learning in higher education.
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September 13, 2023
Legal regulators challenge new tax law compelling bar to report clients’ confidential information
Canada’s more than 155,000 legal professionals — with a global reputation for successfully challenging multiple unconstitutional state incursions on the bar’s independence and ethical duties to clients — went to court again Sept. 11, this time battling what they contend is yet another bid by Ottawa over the past 25 years to turn them into state agents, in this instance by mandating that legal professionals report to federal tax authorities confidential client information about certain client tax transactions that might constitute tax avoidance.
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September 11, 2023
Canada apologizes for illegal land grab after B.C. First Nation’s three-decade quest for justice
A British Columbia First Nation’s 30-year quest for justice to the Supreme Court of Canada and beyond — that sought reparations for an 1860 illegal land grab that expelled its members from their traditional village lands, pushing many to the brink of starvation — has garnered a formal public apology from Canada, following a $135-million specific claim settlement last year.
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September 07, 2023
Ottawa names Quebec Court of Appeal judge to lead public inquiry into ‘foreign interference’
The Liberal government has established a “Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions,” following all-party agreement to the new commission of inquiry’s terms of reference and its commissioner.
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September 05, 2023
Ottawa extends tenure, assessments of judicial advisory committees to three years from two
Faced with loud complaints that Ottawa chronically takes too long to fill vacancies on the superior courts, the Liberal government has announced that new members of its 17 judicial advisory committees (JACs) which vet applications for the bench across Canada will serve for three years, rather than two, while the JACs’ evaluations of individual applicants as “highly recommended,” “recommended” and “unable to recommend” for the federal benches are similarly extended to three years from two, as of Aug. 1.
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September 05, 2023
Canadian legal market AI survey shows high awareness of tech, ‘significant’ ethical concerns
Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools, such as ChatGPT, have been a hot topic for the legal profession over the past year, with courts, associations and law schools grappling with the implications of the technology. A new report, issued by LexisNexis Canada, noted that a vast majority of the Canadian legal market had “significant” concerns about the ethical implications of generative AI and over half of the profession, as well as students, believe it will “change law schools and the way law is taught and studied.”
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September 01, 2023
Manitoba lawyer takes over helm of CBA
The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) on Sept. 1 announced that John Stefaniuk of Winnipeg has begun his year-long tenure as the 95th president of the 127-year-old association of more than 38,000 lawyers, notaries, law professors and law students across Canada.