Canadian Lawyer

September 2020

The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers

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www.canadianlawyermag.com 17 helped create virtual boardrooms, a virtual "witnessing" service for wills and powers of attorney and a remote arbitration and medi- ation space for the private bar. The OBA, under Hall's leadership, quickly provided hundreds of Zoom conference facil- ities to the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice, and it trained more than 200 judges on the use of technology. While Hall was rushing to get these facili- ties and training available in record time, her collaborative approach involved extensive engagement with stakeholders in the prov- ince and beyond. This included virtual meetings with exec- utive legal officers and bar executives from five provinces to share best practices and daily calls with 10 "sector stakeholders" to ensure, as Hall puts it, "effective marshal- Proud member of the PIA Toronto | 1-866-685-3311 | www.mcleishorlando.com Consultation Offices in: Barrie | Hamilton | Kitchener | St. Catharines | Sault Ste. Marie ling of resources and efficient information flow for instant problem identification and quick solutions." Three days before the courts re-opened, Hall says, the OBA built a one-stop infor- mation centre centralizing updates from the Ministry of the Attorney General and the courts, which provided contact information to gather what issues were being experienced in real time. With the justice system in crisis mode, Hall's collaborative approach was put to the test. "One of the things that the last 10 years of my career has been made up of is getting the right people in the room to talk through solutions." Indeed, a lawyer acting as an advisor and collaborator, and not just the star of the show, was just what the justice system needed in a time of crisis. "I think . . . the OBA can play a role . . . in shaping what technology in the sector looks [like by] not just capitulating to what it might look like."

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