Model framework provided to assist courts in determining mode of hearing
The Advocates’ Society’s Modern Advocacy Task Force has released “The Right to be Heard: The Future of Advocacy in Canada,” its final report making recommendations to expand and build upon adaptations made by courts amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The society established the task force in spring 2020 in the context of the public health crisis, which
required Canadian courts to swiftly adopt significant changes to their operations, the Society’s news release noted.
The report will benefit lawyers who want to help maintain and improve upon the justice system and judges who are seeking ways to protect the justice system while increasing its efficiency, said Guy Pratte, past president of The Advocates’ Society, in the news release.
“It contains important recommendations, and cautions, for politicians and those within government who are responsible for supporting the justice system,” he added.
The final report explains the history, role and scope of oral advocacy in Canada and beyond; analyzes the different perspectives about the right to be heard; and identifies four core principles on the role of oral advocacy: the open court principle, the imperative of access to justice, the integrity of the court process, and the principle of proportionality.
The report then summarizes the key principles, reviews the requirements of the justice system such as funding and resource allocation, offers recommendations about how to expand court-adopted technology and provides a model framework that may be adapted into court rules or practice directions to assist in determining the mode of hearing for different kinds of legal matters.
These recommendations aim to advance the work toward attaining a sustainable, accessible and open justice system that the public can trust, while still preserving the elements of advocacy which are necessary for meaningful and substantive access to justice.
The task force, in developing the report, engaged in extensive research and analysis, consultation with stakeholders across Canada such as judges and lawyers and carefully deliberated over the period of one year. It is composed of a nation-wide group of members of The Advocates’ Society’s board of directors and over ten members of the Standing Committee and of the Young Advocates’ Standing Committee experienced in diverse legal areas.
The Modern Advocacy Advisory Group, which supported the task force, comprised Beverley McLachlin, former chief justice of Canada; Ian Binnie, Thomas Cromwell, Marie Deschamps, Clément Gascon, John C. Major and Marshall Rothstein, former Supreme Court of Canada justices; Eleanore Cronk, Constance Hunt, John Hunter, John I. Laskin, Yves-Marie Morissette, Kathryn Neilson, Dennis O’Connor, Jamie Saunders, Robert Sharpe and Benjamin Zarnett, current and former senior provincial appellate court justices; and Sheila Block and Gérald Tremblay, eminent Canadian counsel.
The report will offer “a timely examination of the fundamental role of court advocacy in securing justice and how it can be preserved in a digital world,” Beverley McLachlin said in a press release from The Advocates’ Society. “The communications revolution we are living through touches all facets of our lives, and the legal system is no exception.”
The report’s completion is “an important milestone in the much bigger project to modernize the justice system,” said Deborah Palter, current president of The Advocates’ Society, in the same release.
“The Advocates’ Society is committed to continuing to work on making justice accessible,” Palter added. “The Task Force’s calls to action provide an excellent foundation for that work.”
