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"We don't have more power, but we do have more powers to manage a case. That will help the parties get to trial as quickly as possible and at a lower cost." Quebec Superior Court Chief Justice François Rolland example, during 2008-09, four out of five cases were settled without going to trial in 1,100 settlement conferences presided over by Quebec Superior Court judges. Even faster results could have been achieved had the parties opted for settlement conferences before a trial date was set, suggests Rolland. Élizabeth Corte, chief justice of the Court of Quebec, points to the results of a pilot project in the Longueuil juris- diction just outside Montreal two years ago that saw judges perform early management, including issuing judgments on some issues by telephone, in a third of the 376 cases before the court. The average time for resolution was 77 days and the average court costs (not including lawyer fees) per person seeking justice was $2,133 instead of the $6,000 that would have resulted through the regular channel. "Judges, attorneys, and people seeking justice were happy about the outcome because it was faster and did not cost as much," says Corte, adding that plans are already in the works to extend early case management to several other jurisdictions even before the proposed code takes effect and would require it. Fournier has also promised to soon table a bill that would see the maximum number of provincially appointed judges at the Court of Quebec increased to 290 from 270. That will help the court administer another proposed change in the code that would raise the ceiling on small-claims cases heard by the court to $15,000 from $7,000 over three years with the objec- tive of lessening the flow of cases to Quebec Superior Court. The small-claims division has further simplified procedures to encourage access for people, who must appear before the court without a lawyer. — KATHRYN LEGER kathryn.leger@videotron.ca PRAIRIES CONFLICTS DECISION NARROWS BRIGHT-LINE RULE A major conflicts case in Sas- katchewan appears to have nar- rowed the scope of the "bright- line" rule on conflicts outlined in the landmark Supreme Court of Canada ruling in R. v. Neil. In Wallace v. Canadian Pacific Railway, the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan allowed law firm McKercher LLP to continue acting for the plaintiffs in a class action against for- mer clients Canadian National Railway and a number of other defendants, despite expressing reservations over the way the firm handled the matter. The decision overturned a ruling by a lower court that disqualified McKercher. McKercher had been acting CN on matters for since 1999 and had four open matters in December 2008, when it commenced the multibillion- dollar class action on behalf of Gordon Wallace, the representative plaintiff for western farmers who claimed the rail- ways had overcharged them for grain transportation during the previous 25 years. The appeal court found McKercher breached its duty of loyalty to CN for the way it dumped its client to take on the class action. But without a transfer of material confidential information dur- ing their retainer that could prejudice News Feed Lerners' TOP 5 Lerners picks the Court of Appeal's Top 5 civil decisions from this summer, and, for diversion, our Top 5 most interesting facts about prohibition. www.lerners.ca/appeals/appeal_newsletters.cfm Litigators to Watch US/Canada Jason Squire and Shauna Powell have been recog- nized as Litigators to Watch in the 2011 Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Litigation Lawyers in Canada. www.lerners.ca rd Darryl Ferguson has joined Lerners' Toronto of ce where he will continue his practice as a partner in the Commercial Litigation and Health Law practice groups. www.lerners.ca/ ndalawyer/cv/darryl_ferguson.pdf ryl ferguson pdf www.lerners.ca www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com N O VEMBER / D ECEMBER 2011 9 erners_Newsfeed_CL_Nov_11.indd 1 11-10-26 3:53 PM nada Cross BorderLitigation C ontinued on pa g e 10