Canadian Lawyer

UPFRONT 4 www.canadianlawyermag.com ONTARIO UPDATE NEWS BRIEFS New LSO rules at tribunal When lawyers face complaints, the discipline process will now offer more protections for vulnerable witnesses and more privacy around mental health. For the first time in a decade, the Law Society of Ontario is completely overhauling the Law Society Tribunal's Rules of Practice and Procedure. The new rules permit the panel in a conduct application to deal with matters that would otherwise be a capacity application. A sexual harassment or assault complainant has the option, under new rules, to sit near the support person and be cross-examined by an outside counsel without seeing the accused. $1M anonymous donation for uOttawa's Indigenous learners Indigenous learners in the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law Common Law Section have received $1 million from an anonymous donor. The donation will be used to fund three-year entrance scholarships, as well as bursaries for upper-year learners, and the school said the funds could be used to complement the school's other initiatives geared toward supporting this community, such as the All My Relations Emergency Fund, which aims to financially assist learners in crisis. :feÕ`Zk`e^ views on peremptory Z_Xcc\e^\j An Ontario Superior Court justice has allowed lawyers to challenge potential jurors without cause in a Hamilton second-degree murder case, a ruling that diverges from that of another judge in the same court. The decision, R. v. King, 2019 ONSC 6386, which found that disallowing peremptory challenges would violate Charter rights, stoked a heated debate about how to avoid discrimination by jurors. The case has drawn attention from the criminal bar, many of whom opposed the elimination of peremptory challenges with the passage of federal Bill C-75 earlier this year. Legal translation tool cXleZ_`e^]fi =i\eZ_ Toronto-based company Alexa Translations AI is releasing a technology tool — designed specifically for law and finance — to rapidly translate between English and French. The technology uses artificial intelligence for "real time" translation. Documents can be submitted for translation via email or through a subscription software that ties into other common legal tools. It can be used for litigation documents, court decisions and pleadings, as well as business documents, such as financial statements and securities disclosures. In addition to being designed particularly for the French markets of Canada, the tool will offer customization, review by human translators and cybersecurity. U of T `ekif[lZ\j 9cXZb=lkli\ Lawyers Program By 2021, aspiring Black law students can seek admission into a University of Toronto Faculty of Law program, in an application process that promises that these "applications will be read by at least three staff, students, and alumni who identify with the Black community." The program would give Black undergraduate students tools to prepare them for law school: workshops, lectures, financial aid information sessions, free access to the school's LSAT prep course and mentoring by and job shadowing, including a lunch series and annual conference. :XkXjkifg_- `ZXccp`eali\[ ]XZ\[ 'absurd' rule Hard limitation periods put seriously injured people in 'impossible,' 'Kafkaesque' positions with insurance claims ONTARIO TRIAL lawyers are applauding a recent decision that allows a more liberal interpretation of accident benefits for their most gravely injured clients. Putting a hard time limit for claiming acci- dent benefits put appellant Sotira Tomec in a situation that was "absurd" and "impos- sible," said the November decision, Tomec v. Economical Mutual Insurance Company, 2019 ONCA 882, which overturned the decision of

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