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 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 11 P atricia Hughes would like legal service providers looking for speedy ways to implement technology to slow down and consider those who might be left behind by such advances. The founding executive director of the Law Commission of Ontario is working to develop a set of guidelines to make sure the "digital divide" is considered in the adoption of new technology in the legal industry. "Perpetuating the digital divide is a problem," she says. For Hughes, innovation must be balanced with inclusion, as legal service providers may actually be opening new gaps for those who are not computer literate when they rush to implement systems. She presented a draft set of the guidelines at an event in October in Toronto discussing technology at Access to Justice Week — an initiative set up by The Action Group on Access to Justice, which is supported by the Law Foundation of Ontario and the Law Society of Upper Canada. The event tackled how technology can be harnessed in order to provide more access to justice for the province's dis- advantaged. In a recent TAG survey of 1,500 Ontarians, 54 per cent said the justice system is out of reach and 78 per cent said it was old-fashioned. The same survey found that only 26 per cent of respondents consulted the Internet when seeking legal advice. The draft guidelines include a number of principles to help achieve greater access for disadvantaged groups without dimin- ishing services for others. The guidelines include the idea of thinking about technology broadly — not just as software or hardware but also the design and process of using it. While an increasing number of people cannot hire a lawyer to help them navigate the system, Hughes says the reaction of the legal industry has been to give them the tools to do it themselves. "The idea that people can just enter the system once or twice to deal with particular problems and understand it enough to get a fair result I just don't think is realistic," she says. "The fact is it's a complex system, and no matter how you try to make the system less complex, it will always be complex, because it has to account for so many variables." Hughes says the provincial government has not taken the time to properly consider such things when implementing new systems. But Attorney General Yasir Naqvi says that services will con- tinue to be available in person as the court system is modernized to accommodate those who are not able to access digital systems. Naqvi says technology is not going to completely replace tradi- tional court services any time soon. "Speed is important, but devising the right solution that actually works is even more important," he said in remarks at the TAG event. The Ministry of the Attorney Gen- eral expanded an e-filing pilot proj- ect in the Small Claims Court in the spring and is working to expand e-filing to other courts. The provincial gov- ernment has taken an incremen- tal approach to digitizing the courts and has been tepid about rolling out large, comprehensive systems since it scrapped an online system called the Court information Manage- ment System in 2013. The system, which would have been a por- tal for court functions, cost the province more than $10 million to develop before it was abandoned. — ALEX ROBINSON \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ P R A I R I E S \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP Ontario guidelines tackle 'digital divide' Patricia Hughes HOW DO YOU MAKE A VALUATION PRACTICE MORE VALUABLE? Campbell Valuation Partners Limited and affiliated corporate finance firm, Veracap M&A International, are now part of Duff & Phelps. Together, we are the leading business valuation firm in Canada with the largest team of independent financial experts in litigation. We have extensive international corporate finance and M&A capabilities. We have a decades-long history in the Canada market, with capabilities spanning complex valuation, disputes and investigations, fairness opinions, corporate finance and restructuring, eDiscovery and transfer pricing. Learn more about our unique approach at www.duffandphelps.ca. © 2016 Duff & Phelps Corp. All rights reserved. Untitled-5 1 2016-10-25 3:40 PM

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