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REGIONAL WRAP-UP GOING WHERE NO JUSTICE HAS GONE BEFORE hearing scheduling software, have been piecemeal, and information about their use has not been shared. As well, says Benyekhlef, introducing new technol- ogy that can manage procedures online is costly and not necessarily compatible with existing computer platforms. "That is why we want to develop an open-source software system because it will be free and can be adapted to par- ticular needs and be operable with com- puter systems in place," says Benyekhlef. IT students from both UdeM and McGill will be part of a multidisciplinary team working with the cyber justice lab. The lab is located in a former amphi- theatre at the UdeM Faculty of Law that has been transformed into a mock 100- seat courtroom. The bulk of the $3.2 mil- lion obtained from the Quebec ministry of economic development, innovation and export trade and Industry Canada, has been spent equipping the room with the latest technology and an enclosed observation room outfitted with com- puterized filming and recording equip- ment. McCarthy Tétrault LLP donated an additional $500,000 to help keep the lab functioning over the next five years. In addition to developing open-source software, an important component is test- ing how the technology works in simula- tions — and eventually real court sessions — in the lab courtroom. E-filing will be developed and employed along with test- ing virtual reality and holographic tech- nology so a witness at another location can be present in 3-D form in a court- room or the re-creation of a crime scene. A separate portable lab is being assembled at McGill's law school so there can be distance simulations with the UdeM courtroom. That will help deter- mine ways of serving justice for far-flung regions or when people cannot be physi- cally present at a hearing. "Bit by bit we will assemble modules like Lego blocks for the platform," says Benyekhlef. Separately, Benyekhlef has drawn together a group of philosophers, histo- rians, sociologists, and anthropologists in research centres at 15 universities in Canada, the United States, and Europe. They will study and analyze the "socio- judicial" aspect of technology, or the social, cultural, and psychological limita- tions to embracing technology in general and in different jurisdictions. "There are many challenges," says Gélinas, who has collaborated with Benyekhlef since the 1990s, when they developed software programs together to help resolve e-commerce disputes that were used in Europe. "One of the things we have noticed over the past years is the psychology, a certain natural human reluctance to change. The procedural traditions in both the civil and common law are anchored in centuries of practice," he says. "Information technology and the clear potential that people are seeing give us an opportunity to take a very serious look at the process and reassess in a fairly fundamental way and we are ambitious enough to think we can do that." — KATHRYN LEGER kathryn.leger@videotron.ca PRESERVING QUEBEC'S Q uebec Court of Appeal Chief Justice J.J. Michel Robert is spearheading a campaign to protect and preserve Quebec's judicial heritage. The result of Robert's fascination is the establishment of Fondation Lafontaine-Cormier, a foundation whose newly formed board of directors has just begun to identify preservation or restoration projects of historical importance. "Quebec's judicial and juridical heritage is very rich, but neglected and little known," Robert told mem- bers of the Quebec legal community gathered at an annual gala held in the fall by the Barreau du Québec. The professional order turned over $13,000 raised through the event as seed money for the foundation. Robert said the name Lafontaine-Cormier evokes both the history of judicial reform in Quebec and architectural artistry. Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, a jurist and liberal reformer appointed joint prime minis- ter with Robert Baldwin, oversaw the adoption of 13 laws in 1849, including legislation that created the Quebec Court of Appeal, Quebec Superior Court, the Barreau du Québec, and the abolition of the seigneur- ial system and the imprisonment of people with high debt. Ernest Cormier was the Canadian engineer and architect of Acadian origin known for his art deco works. From his base in Montreal, he designed the build- ings housing the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa, the Quebec Court of Appeal in Old Montreal, and the doors for the United Nations headquarters in New York. Robert asked Michel Yergeau, a veteran environmental law specialist at Lavery de Billy LLP in Montreal with a long history of involvement in architectural heritage preservation in Montreal, to serve as chairman of board of foundation. Other board members include lawyer and author Richard Pound from Stikeman Elliott LLP, retired Quebec Court of Appeal justice Pierrette Rayle, and former Canadian senator Serge Joyal, a lawyer by profession who is also an art collector and appraiser. "We want to look throughout the province and identify what can be protected — be it books, objects, buildings or archives," said Yergeau. One possible project could be the classification and translation into English of early Quebec Court of Appeal rulings. They are protected and stored at the courthouse, but cannot be consulted. — KL 10 JAN UARY 2011 www. CANADIAN Lawye rmag.com KPI_CL_Jan_11.indd 1 12/17/10 9:04:34 AM C ontinued fr om pa g e 9 JUD I C IAL HER IT A G E