Category: Other Publications

Long Live the Law Practice Program

Noel Semple

I am struggling to understand the justification for the recent committee recommendation to end the Law Practice Program. The LPP is the Law Society’s alternative licensing program predominantly used by candidates unable to find articling positions.

The committee‘s central rationale seems to be that the LPP is “perceived as second tier.” They acknowledge that (i) “there is no evidence to suggest that the LPP is in fact second-tier” and (ii) the LPP is “of very high quality and may, in fact, excel over articling in a number of areas” in terms of preparing candidates for practice (para 59).

A regulator ending the LPP because it’s perceived as second tier to articling is like a regulator banning Chevrolets because they are perceived as second tier to Cadillacs. A regulator which does so must, at very least, have a realistic plan to ensure that everyone will be able to drive a Cadillac/get an articling position.  I can’t find any such plan in this Report. Continue reading “Long Live the Law Practice Program” →

Access to Justice: After the Machines Take Over

Noel Semple

Slaw.ca (January 27, 2016)

Full text: http://www.slaw.ca/2016/01/27/access-to-justice-after-the-machines-take-over-2/. Reprinted in Obiter Dicta (Osgoode Hall Law School), February 24 2016. Online: http://obiter-dicta.ca/2016/02/24/access-to-justice-after-the-machines-take-over/.

“The traditional professions will be dismantled, leaving most (but not all) professionals to be replaced by less expert people and high-performing systems.” This is the central message of The Future of Professions, a new book from Richard and Daniel Susskind. Machines, they argue, will take over much professional work. Even when the machines cannot do so alone, the Susskinds expect that they will allow laypeople, paraprofessionals, and the clients themselves do the necessary work.

One way or the other, highly-trained and expensive human professionals will be mostly cut out of the value chain. The future of the professions, in this view, doesn’t seem like much of a future at all. Richard Susskind’s previous books make it very clear that lawyers are included in this troubling prediction.

This prophecy can be disputed, or resisted on moral grounds. Let’s assume, however, that machines will in fact make steady incursions into lawyer work. What does this mean for access to justice in the future?

The Susskinds offer one reason for A2J optimism: machines will themselves soon provide mass, affordable access to justice. I believe there is another good news story for access to justice: by taking over much of lawyers’ current work, machines may allow the Bar to refocus on meeting other sorts of unmet legal needs, which demand the human touch. Continue reading “Access to Justice: After the Machines Take Over” →

Three Routes to Justice for All

Noel Semple

Lawyers Weekly, October 30, 2015.

Full text: https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/articles/2204/the-three-routes-to-justice-for-all

The LSUC needs to expand the scope of paralegals, online information and ABS.

A statutory mandate was given to the Law Society of Upper Canada almost ten years ago: “Act so as to facilitate access to justice for the people of Ontario.” How effectively has it been carried out?

Undeniably, access to justice is now taken seriously at Osgoode Hall. Recent initiatives such as the treasurer’s action group on access to justice are encouraging to those who want all Ontarians to enjoy the law’s benefits.

While great strides have been made, a great distance remains to be travelled. Three policy areas — paralegal practice, online information, and alternative business structures — illustrate both how far the law society has come and how far it must still go.
Continue reading “Three Routes to Justice for All” →

ABS: What Horrors Within?

Noel Semple

Canadian Bar Association National Magazine, December 4, 2014.

“Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets,” said Hermione in a clear voice… “What exactly do you mean by the ‘horror within’ the Chamber?”

“That is believed to be some sort of monster…” said Professor Binns in his dry, reedy voice.

-J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

An alternative business structure (ABS) is a law firm that includes non-lawyers as investors, managers, or partners. Such arrangements are effectively forbidden throughout Canada today. However prominent voices, such as the CBA Legal Futures Initiative, are now calling for regulators to roll back these rules and welcome ABS firms to our legal landscape.

A future with ABS is a chamber of secrets, rumoured to contain both glittering treasures and savage monsters. The treasures may include enhanced access to justice for clients,and new innovation and flexibility for legal professionals. The value of these treasures cannot be known unless and until we roll back the regulation currently blocking the entrance to the chamber.

However many are reluctant to do so, because two monsters are also said to reside in the chamber. One of these beasts, it is said, eats legal ethics by corrupting lawyers. The other allegedly eats lawyers themselves, by stealing their clients.

While the treasures in the chamber are uncertain, the two monsters are entirely figmentary. Our regulators therefore have nothing to lose–and possibly a great deal to gain—from opening the door to alternative business structures

Full text here.

 

Dealing with Climate Change “Losers.”

Noel Semple

The Windsor Star, July 15, 2014.

Full text: http://blogs.windsorstar.com/opinion/dealing-with-climate-change-losers

How can politicians move climate policy forward?  “Dealing with losers” is a big part of the answer.

Last month, Stephen Harper joined the other G7 leaders in calling for “urgent and concrete action” to address climate change. We should expect our Prime Minister to take climate change seriously, because it’s probably the gravest long-term threat to Canada’s security and prosperity. Here in Windsor, heat waves and declining water levels are among the serious problems partially attributable to global warming.
President Barack Obama has mandated significant reductions from the leading sources of greenhouse gas emissions in his country. Will Prime Minister Harper be able to do likewise with Canada’s oil and gas sector, and with consumers’ transportation and home energy emissions?

A new book from Professor Michael Trebilcock, of the University of Toronto, can help our Prime Minister do so.  In Dealing with Losers: the Political Economy of Policy Transitions, Trebilcock shows that even the wisest policy changes create “losers.”  The key message of the book is that leaders must mitigate the opposition of those who stand to lose from policy change. Trebilcock proves this with examples from fields like public pension reform and agricultural supply management, in addition to carbon pollution control.

Continue reading “Dealing with Climate Change “Losers.”” →

CDO: Stop Assisting the NYC Migration

Ultra Vires (U. of Toronto Faculty of Law)

The Career Development Office (CDO) has to be one of the best-run bits of U of T. Efficient, compassionate, and knowledgeable — these people do a great job. I can only think of one thing that would make the CDO better: they should stop helping American firms hire our best graduates. The CDO shouldn’t advertise American jobs, host American OCIs, or do anything else to encourage our graduates to work outside the country.

Continue reading “CDO: Stop Assisting the NYC Migration” →

A Cowardly Concession

Noel Semple

The Varsity (Online Edition), October 26th, 2006.

On Monday, Hart House hosted a debate between candidates for the November 13th election of Toronto’s mayor.  Three candidates were invited – Stephen LeDrew, David Miller, and Jane Pitfield.  Among the 38 registered candidates, these are the only three who have any chance of being elected Mayor of Toronto.

A large and excited audience filed into the Great Hall at 6:30 to see and hear them.  As the spectators took their seats, they found that someone else was already making a speech.  The speaker was one of the 35 candidates who were not invited. He carried a large, dirty broom which he waved in the air and banged on the floor.  He ranted incoherently at the top of his lungs. He did so for a full hour, as the spectators’ mood shifted from amusement to embarrassment to anger.

Continue reading “A Cowardly Concession” →

“The Worst-Case Scenario, and How We Could Get There.”

The most serious source of conflict in Canada-U.S. relations in 2015 will be the Canadian response to American foreign policy. This essay will argue for the plausibility of the worst-case scenario, described in the fictional article below. Such a scenario would make Canada choose between economic devastation and participation in a highly unpopular war.

Continue reading ““The Worst-Case Scenario, and How We Could Get There.”” →

A Bus to Nowhere

_the newspaper_ (University of Toronto)

Tuesday, August 17, 2004.

As this issue of _the newspaper_ goes to press, most students are working summer jobs to save money for school. By contrast, amateur politicos at U of T’s Students’ Administrative Council (SAC) are busy holding meetings to find new ways to spend it. Naturally, the money SAC spends is the same money the rest of us save every summer- our mandatory undergraduate student fees fund the Council to the tune of about $850,000 per year.

Continue reading “A Bus to Nowhere” →

Enough with the propaganda: The U of T Bulletin

_the newspaper_ (University of Toronto)
April 8, 2004

My name is Noel Semple, and I’m a campus pressaholic. I lurk beside news-stands in libraries; I memorize publication schedules. There are dozens of U of T student papers, none of them are too obscure or too typographically shoddy to be worth picking up. There’s only one paper that even I won’t read. You’ve probably seen it, towering in forlorn, untouched piles-the University of Toronto Bulletin.

Continue reading “Enough with the propaganda: The U of T Bulletin” →

Dispelling the myth of the WTO ‘evil empire’

The Varsity – Feature
April 23, 2002

The huge crowds of protesters outside World Trade Organization conferences are not difficult to explain. The WTO’s somewhat obscure mandate can make it seem slightly sinister, and the organization hasn’t done the best possible job of explaining itself to the world at large. All things considered, it’s not too surprising that some people have come to imagine the WTO as part of some evil globalization cabal, so dangerous that it’s worth travelling long distances to throw bricks at police officers over. Chapter 11 of NAFTA, under which the Ethyl Corporation recently successfully sued the Canadian government, is often perceived as belonging to the same international conspiracy.

Continue reading “Dispelling the myth of the WTO ‘evil empire’” →

A Balloon transcends language: in a village that sees in colour, look at what I’ve learned about race and racism.

Globe & Mail, Oct 20, 2000

When I signed up to spend three and a half months in the West African nation of Benin with Canada World Youth, it goes without saying that I was looking for something different. It was this sentiment, along with the desire to avoid university for a year, which united the nine young Canadians with whom I lived in the rural village of Sakete. And yet, as the plane lifted off from Montreal, I think we were all expecting to have enough in common with our new neighbours that the inevitable differences wouldn’t prevent us from integrating relatively quickly into the daily life of the village. After all, you can’t spend three and a half months with the mindset of a tourist. Continue reading “A Balloon transcends language: in a village that sees in colour, look at what I’ve learned about race and racism.” →

Brave new world of teen autonomy: Teen-agers today are influenced by other teen-agers, television, celebrity endorsements, music, gang standards. Not by adults

Globe and Mail, July 13, 1998

It has been said that one can construct the history of a civilization merely by studying its garbage, but I prefer the rummage sale. The one at our local church always provides grist aplenty for the amateur social historian’s mill. Little bits and pieces of dated pop culture line the tables in a sometimes humorous, often instructive array. The Darth Vader shampoo dispensers, Elvis busts and Saturday Night Fever soundtracks seem to say more than even the most historically relevant coffee grounds and banana peels ever could. Continue reading “Brave new world of teen autonomy: Teen-agers today are influenced by other teen-agers, television, celebrity endorsements, music, gang standards. Not by adults” →