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www.canadianlawyermag.com 5 For family lawyer Russell Alexander, the trend back to in-person hearings threatens to roll back the significant access-to-justice gains family-law clients achieved when the courts relocated to Zoom. Zoom turned a divorce from a five-to-six- hour day into 45 minutes, and saved clients thousands of dollars per court attendance, says Alexander. Clients in rural and northern areas who had legal-aid certificates, and would otherwise be self-represented, were able to hire a lawyer from anywhere in Ontario, he says. He predicts costs will rise, delays will increase, and self-represented liti- gants will proliferate. Alexander started a change.org petition calling on the attorney general and regional senior judges to make all court attendances presumptively virtual unless parties and counsel agree otherwise or the court has good reason to order in-person or hybrid. At the time of writing, the petition has 600 signatures. When determining the appropriate method of hearing, the justice system must approach the question from the perspective of the public, those seeking justice in the courts, says Palter. "Our job is to be persuasive advocates, and whether that's happening virtually or in person, I don't really think that has fundamentally changed" Andrea Wheeler, Lenczner Slaght "Public confidence in our system is essen- tial to the survival of the system itself, and public confidence must be earned every day in every case." In the consultation process associated with its Modern Advocacy Task Force, she says, the Advocates' Society learned that the "appropriate platform for deciding a case is one that increases access to our courts, enhances transparency of the deci- sion-making process, and ensures that those who are affected by the decision are not just heard, but feel heard." "And that's going to vary from case to case." Palter adds that not everyone has access to the requisite technology, and some liti- gants need to be physically present to feel part of the process. ADVOCATES' SOCIETY TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS The Right to be Heard: The Future of Advocacy in Canada. Final Report of the Modern Advocacy Task Force Routine administrative and unopposed hearings should proceed by video, where parties consent and absent a public interest in an in-person hearing. The court should order an in-person hearing when the matter represents a significant step in the proceedings and at least one party is seeking one. Matters on consent should be dealt with in writing. If a party objects, a court should not order a written hearing except for matters typically addressed in writing, such as costs, motions to settle the form of an order, and leave to appeal.