Month March 2018

Law Reviews are now available on CanLII

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The Canadian Legal Information Institutes’s (CanLII’s) secondary sources section now includes law reviews. As it is explained in the CanLII announcement, “Law reviews are often the only place a particular topic is discussed, and they often provide insight into the law for a particular jurisdiction where no one else does that make them invaluable for research.” Information on how to search law reviews, the law reviews that are currently available and how to recommend other law reviews to be included on CanLII is available here: https://blog.canlii.org/2018/03/23/%e2%98%80%ef%b8%8f-we-now-have-law-reviews-on-canlii-%e2%98%80%ef%b8%8f/.

(Photo credit: CanLII)

Plain Language in Modern Times – Call for Papers for the Clarity 2018 Symposium

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The 2018 international Clarity Conference will take place from October 25 to 27 in Montreal. This year’s conference will focus on the usage of plain language in law to improve access to justice. Conference organizers have issued a call for papers and will be accepting paper proposals for this year’s event until March 31, 2018. The announcement about papers accepted for this year’s event will be made on May 1st. During the 3-day event there will be a total of 30 1-hour presentation blocks, consisting of 60 30-minute presentations. Information on the call for papers, recommended presentation formats, registration and more is available on their website here: www.clarity2018.org/call-for-papers.

For more information on the biennial Clarity Conference, visit their website here: clarity2018.org.

Child, Family and Community Service Act (CFCSA), Aboriginal Communities and Parents Plain Language Guidebook

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The involvement of Aboriginal communities in child welfare decisions increases the likelihood that Aboriginal children who are being impacted by these decisions will be placed with Aboriginal caregivers who can help to maintain cultural and community ties. In British Columbia, the importance and value of this is reflected in the Child, Family and Community Service Act (“CFCSA”) which, among other things, states that Aboriginal communities have the right to be involved in decisions affecting Aboriginal children in care.

The ShchEma-mee.tkt Project has published an Aboriginal Communities and Parents Plain Language Guidebook to educate and promote compliance with these and other requirements relating to Aboriginal children, and to help to improve outcomes for Aboriginal children in care. Wrapping our Ways Around Them: The Child, Family and Community Service Act (CFCSA), Aboriginal Communities and Parents Plain Language Guidebook is available online at: www.wrappingourways.ca/.

Judicial College (UK) Publishes Updated Equal Treatment Bench Book

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The Judicial College of England and Wales has updated the Equal Treatment Bench Book. The Judicial College, which is responsible for training the courts’ judiciary, recently published a revised, 422-page Equal Treatment Bench Book that includes new sections on anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, modern slavery and multicultural communication, expanded sections on litigants-in-person (self-represented litigants) as well as glossaries, useful suggestions and more. All information provided in the revised Equal Treatment Bench Book adheres to the existing legal framework. The newly updated Equal Treatment Bench Book is available online here: www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/equal-treatment-bench-book-february2018-v5-02mar18.pdf.

New Report on the Costs, Benefits and Limitations of Different Dispute Resolution Processes in Family Law

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The Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family (CRILF), in partnership with the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice (CFCJ) have published an exciting new report that examines the use of collaborative settlement processes, mediation, arbitration and litigation to resolve family law disputes.

The study provides valuable insights into the costs of the different dispute resolution processes, how long cases take to resolve, and lawyers’ perceptions of their efficacy and suitability for resolving different types of family law problems.

Read “An Evaluation of the Cost of Family Law Disputes: Measuring the Cost Implication of Various Dispute Resolution Methods” on the CFCJ website here and on the CRILF website here.