Canadian Lawyer

44 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 7 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m for is not matching up with the service and kind of defence" that counsel are able to provide through the CRT. Application, costs and potential At present, the CRT does not hear fam- ily law cases. "Online dispute resolution and a focus on early consensual dispute resolution are both tools that would have a lot of benefit for family litigants," says Salter, "but there are no active plans to add that to the CRT." That said, in time, he says, "the lessons we can learn from the CRT can tell us about other areas of the law" that may benefit from the CRT. There is a fee for using the CRT, as there is for small claims court, but there is also a fee-waiver program for those who qualify. And although (not surpris- ingly) the CRT has not saved taxpayers any money during its implementation phase, Salter says that eventually it is expected to free up $2.5 million per year for the province. These savings can then be put toward the costs of criminal and family cases in the court system. Maclaren believes that courts across Canada can learn a number of lessons from the use of technology by the CRT and can eventually integrate them into trial and appeal processes. One of the more positive and helpful aspects of this technology, he says, is the "solution explorer" that is used at the beginning of the CRT process, which "can help to organize litigants' thoughts and think- ing about alternative dispute resolution possibilities. "There's a great value to that," he says. "When litigants get too far down the litigation road, [they] get fairly entrenched in their position." The CRT tries to steer people toward more prac- tical, non-adversarial ways to resolve disputes, Maclaren notes, and the solu- tion explorer phase also directs liti- gants toward low-cost legal help. "That's something that could definitely be imported into the eventual court pro- cesses." Chang advises litigants in strata cases, at least, to seek independent legal advice sooner rather than later, even if that lawyer will not be able to rep- resent them before the CRT. A lawyer can nonetheless help a client determine what evidence they should be submit- ting and ensure their claim is being properly articulated, Chang says. This is especially important as it can be dif- ficult to change the nature or scope of a claim at a later stage in the process. Maclaren also sees a benefit in the CRT using simplified, plain language to explain the law and recourse to poten- tial litigants. "That use of plain language can definitely be adopted by the courts." While it's early days yet, the poten- tial of this new CRT — and its possible adaption by other jurisdictions — is still being tested. Salter says the overall reaction to it has been very positive and it has enjoyed broad support from all quarters. "We've done a lot of outreach and consultation with the legal community," she says. "Lawyers are concerned with access to justice, and they recognize the tribunal is a step forward." © 2017 Thomson Reuters Canada Limited 00246UU-89008-NP NEW Enhanced Texts and Annotations Library for Authored Commentary The enhanced Texts and Annotations Library on WestlawNext Canada allows you to intuitively browse and search texts and annotations, as well as the Thomson Reuters Canada collection of eLooseleafs on ProView. All this content is integrated and displayed on one page. You can narrow your search using multiple filters to search by eLooseleaf titles only, texts and annotations on WestlawNext Canada only, or both. The enhanced page also allows you to access your favourite publications from a Favourite Publications carousel at the top of the page. For more information, visit westlawnextcanada.com/text-and-annotations Find relevant analytical sources faster by using the filters to quickly narrow the list of publications Browse through a comprehensive list of all publications Easily access your favourite Secondary Sources and add new ones

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