Canadian Lawyer

10 J u n e 2 0 1 4 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m implementing technological changes reside much more in human manage- ment than technology management, according to law professor Vincent Gautrais, a researcher at the Laboratoire de cyberjustice, a research body created and headed by University of Montreal's law professor Karim Benyekhlef, a leader in the field of law and technology. "Judges fear a loss of control over their affairs," Gautrais told Canadian Lawyer. "Law is the science of reaction . . . we look at the past, to precedents," he added, saying this accentuates reluctance to change. "This does not mean that inertia rules; there is a minority of judges who are keen and will- ing to try new things. The step-by-step approach is best and we must accept that changes of that magnitude will take years and transition costs will be very high," he sums up. Quebec is hardly the only jurisdic- tion to experience difficulties, he said. Ontario's Integrated Justice Project was an even bigger failure, cost-wise, than the SIIJ was. The Laboratoire de cyberjustice is deemed a gem by former minister St- Arnaud, who said it was a partner of the Justice Department in the Small Claims Court technological integration project. According to its web site, it "develops a software structure for implementing com- puter modules to facilitate online process- ing of disputes; digitize files and share them electronically; improve the efficiency of case management; establish systems to assist in rendering decisions . . . . All of the modules are developed in open source code, which facilitates sharing and allows stakeholders to make the changes they consider necessary given their spe- cific situations." Meanwhile, Wery is optimistic. He says things are moving much faster than when he started overseeing the tech file as an associate chief justice nine years ago. "It's spreading: now the Court of Appeal and the Court of Quebec want an intranet." — PAsCAL ELIE pascalelie636@gmail.com RegionAl wRAp-up e arly last summer, Calgary and region were hit by devastating floods. Homes, businesses, schools, and much of Calgary's downtown were inundated. But nowhere in the region was hit as hard or as destructively as the small town of High River about a half- hour south of Calgary. Whole neighbour- hoods were ruined and are now being demolished, the heart of the town had to be evacuated and cordoned off, and hundreds of people were forced to find temporary accommodation. The town has three small law firms. Last year, just after the flood, we talked to those lawyers (see Canadian Lawyer, September 2013). They had all temporarily shuttered their offices and were struggling to get back into business and resume the vital work of serving clients in a community already short of legal resources. Canadian Lawyer decided to check back with those practitioners and see how things were, a year after the deluge. David Arnold not only got chased out of his downtown office by the flood, his home was also hit. He had to temporarily relocate to a motel 60 kilometres out of town. Like the other lawyers in High River the mainstay of Arnold's practice is real estate. It is a highly time-sensitive business involving the precise transfer of monies and title. Computers and phones and banks have to be working to make it happen. The flood aFtEr thE dElugE: HigH RiveR Revisited West George Dearing work- ing out of the makeshift office he set up in nearby Okotoks during the flood. rEsistancE is FutilE Continued from page 9 A DAILY BLOG OF CANADIAN LEGAL NEWS CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/LEGALFEEDS FEEDS LEGAL POWERED BY Untitled-1 1 14-05-14 11:01 AM

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