Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m J u n e 2 0 1 4 9 It is well known the technology infra- structure is inadequate and out-dated. Former Court of Appeal chief justice Michel Robert once joked if a lawyer from Samuel de Champlain's days were to walk into one of our courtrooms today, he would feel right at home. At the turn of the millennium, the government of Quebec created the SIIJ (Système intégré d'information de justice), a huge project aimed at completely overhauling technology in the justice system, which would, for example, link all players in the system and virtually eliminate paper. "I participated in the preliminary stud- ies at the time," said Ouimet, "'It is a beautiful project, but it will never work,' I thought at the time. . . . Unfortunately, I was right: It was much too big," he said. "One of the difficulties we have in the field of tech integration, beyond the technical aspects, which I absolutely don't understand, is to define a project that is realistic and within our means," he concluded. Indeed, $75 million and 14 years later, it has nothing much to show for it. Both politicians favoured a much more modest one-step-at-a-time approach. St-Arnaud promised to set up Wi-Fi at both Montreal and Quebec City courthouses within the next two months, followed by a fully integrated system at the Small Claims Court. It remains to be seen if the new Liberal government and newly minted Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée will take this step-by-step approach, which is being adopted by other stakeholders in the legal system eager to move ahead. One is Superior Court Justice André Wery, who was the court's associate chief justice from 2005-13 and responsible for an intranet, called Sesame, created for the benefit of the court's 200 judg- es. "With this system, judges are never more than two or three clicks away from everything they need. . . . Within Canada, we are at the cutting edge," he told Canadian Lawyer. Wery convinced the government to fund it by emphasizing savings from cancelling print subscriptions. He hired the tech firm Nurun to set it up. "Problems started when they asked me what I wanted." He realized it wasn't easy to define needs when one doesn't have a comprehensive knowledge of the technology. It took nine months, at a rate of two to three meetings a week with Nurun reps, to set up Sesame. He met some predictable resistance from some judges (not necessarily the older ones, he said) but they eventually ral- lied after he presented the system at the court's annual meeting, wearing a Steve Jobs turtleneck while loudspeakers blasted Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin'. Resistance to change remains a constant factor. The difficulties of Continued on page 10 MATTER CREDENTIALS TORONTO I BARRIE I HAMILTON I KITCHENER 1-866-685-3311 I www.mcleishorlando.com A Noticeable Difference ™ Proud Member Choosing a personal injury lawyer is one of the most important decisions an injured person will make. Help your client ask the right questions: Is the lawyer? jÒSELECTEDÒBYÒPEERSÒFORÒINCLUSIONÒINÒ"ESTÒ,AWYERSÒINÒ#ANADA jÒRATEDÒÒOUTÒOFÒÒ!6Ò0REEMINENTÒÒ-ARTINDALEÒ(UBBELL jÒSELECTEDÒBYÒPEERSÒFORÒINCLUSIONÒINÒ,EXPERTÒ#ANADAgSÒ,EGALÒ,EXPERTÒ$IRECTORY jÒAÒ$IRECTORÒORÒ0ASTÒ0RESIDENTÒOFÒTHEÒ/NTARIOÒ4RIALÒ,AWYERSÒ!SSOCIATION jÒAÒ#ERTIFIEDÒ3PECIALISTÒINÒ#IVILÒ,ITIGATION ntitled-3 1 14-05-07 4:36 PM

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