Law Times

PAGE 4 NEWS February 6, 2012 • Law Times Small claims cases getting more complex Continued from page 1 Goodman notes trial lists of- ten collapse as a result. In some cases, people simply fail to appear for their matters and judges go home due to vacant courtrooms. "From the litigators to the court staff , everyone is being aff ected and there really is no logical reason why this should be happening," says Goodman. "It was bad enough before, but the increase to $25,000 has just compounded it." But Sergiy Timokhov, a law- yer at Garfi n Zeidenberg LLP, says while it may be true that the Small Claims Court has become busier, many in the legal community ex- pected the increased caseload due to the monetary change. At the same time, he has noticed the gov- ernment has allocated additional resources to it in the last few years. "What is new are the number of deputy judges appearing before the small claims courts as a result and the number of lawyers that have come into the small claims practice," says Timokhov. "Be- fore the cap increase, there were usually more paralegals than law- yers. Now, that is not the case. Now, the cap increase gives lawyers more fl exibility in terms of their reach, which is attracting more of them to Small Claims Court." Th e crowd has also begun to include some lawyers and fi rms people wouldn't expect to see in the Small Claims Court, accord- ing to Goodman. "Th e big Bay Street law fi rms are starting to show up now," he says. "On the one hand, I enjoy the challenge and I think it's much better for the fi le. On the other, when the cap was only $10,000, a lot of fi rms would send their arti- cling students or smaller members to get the experience. But now, there's a tendency for more expe- rienced lawyers to come forward because the stakes are consider- ably higher. It's good for the clients but not necessarily the people be- ing wedged out." An example mentioned of the trend towards lengthier and more complex cases is a libel mat- ter that's currently in settlement Number of claims before Toronto's Small Claims Court 2009 claims (before the mon etary jurisdictional increase): 2010 claims (after the monetary jurisdictional increase): 2011 claims: 14,956 15,846 15,680 discussions. In Corrigan v. Hech- ter, London, Ont., immigration lawyer Edward Corrigan is seek- ing $25,000 in libel damages from Excalibur Capital Management president William Hechter, who's also a non-practising lawyer. Hechter had allegedly sent an e-mail to several Law Union of Ontario members calling Corri- gan an anti-Semite and an "idiotic spammer." Th e e-mail, according to Corrigan's statement of claim, was in response to his comments about the Israeli-Palestinian con- fl ict. None of the allegations have been proven in court. "Th ese types of cases wouldn't have come up in the Small Claims Court under the previous mon- etary cap," says Goodman. "Th ey are sophisticated cases and trials, if they reach that point, that de- mand more resources. But they also bring in a higher level of liti- gation and representation that is positive for clients." But as Timokhov notes, the number of cases in the court sys- tem in general hasn't necessarily in- creased. Instead, matters have sim- ply trickled down from the Supe- rior Court and thereby transferred the delay from one area to another. "You could say there has been an increase in the number and complexity of cases before the Small Claims Court in Toronto precisely because a percentage of the cases that were before the Superior Court are now being transferred to the Small Claims Court as cost awards increase to $25,000," says Timokhov. "I think a better term for this ANNOUNCEMENT Canadian Council of Criminal Defence Lawyers Conseil Canadien des Avocats de la Défense CHAIR William M. Trudell (Toronto, ON) VICE CHAIR Isabel J. Schurman (Montréal, QC) Mark Brayford, Q.C. (Saskatoon, SK) TREASURER André J. Rady (London, ON) SECRETARY John M. Williams (Regina, SK) DIRECTORS David J. Bright Q.C. (Halifax, NS) Gregory P. DelBigio (Vancouver, BC) Richard S. Fowler (Vancouver, BC) Peter J. Harte (Nunavut) Deborah R . Hatch (Edmonton. AB) Kim Hawkins (Whitehorse, YT) Brain Hurley (Edmonton, AB) Lucie Joncas (Montréal, QC) Lisanne O. Maurice (Moncton, NB) Jamie Merrigan (Corner Brook, NL) Evan J. Roitenberg (Winnipeg, MB) Robert E. Simmonds, Q.C. (St. John's, NL) FOUNDING CHAIR Brian H. Greenspan (Toronto, ON) PAST CHAIR Marvin R. Bloos, Q.C. (Edmonton, AB) 116 Simcoe Street * Suite 100 * Toronto * Ontario * M5H 4E2 * Tel: 416.598.2019 * Fax: 416.596.2599 Web page address: http://www.cccdl.ca * Administrator's email: tpryce@simcoechambers.com WilliamTrudell_LT_Feb6_11.indd 1 www.lawtimesnews.com 12-01-31 12:00 PM A staggering number of persons before our Courts are suffering from a serious mental illness. We hope that the conversation continues and we again urge all our Colleagues in the Profession and Government leaders to join in. We again salute and thank Bell Canada for its remarkable "Let's Talk" campaign on Mental Health. would be a switch, though. Th e number of cases in small claims courts hasn't really increased. Minor matters are simply being taken from the Superior Court and switched to the Small Claims Court." Either way, according to Good- man, delays and increased costs go against the province's original plans and aren't good for justice. "Justice delayed is justice denied," he says. "Th e purpose of access to jus- tice and Justice on Target is to allow cases to be heard in a more expedi- tious way. So far, that isn't happening and everyone is being aff ected." LT Lawyers feel 'forced' into unhelpful CPD Continued from page 1 "It seems silly that I would have to try to convince someone to sit with me and watch a webcast and I can't imagine that anyone actually would," says Griesdorf. "Th ey should really make the webcast archives much more convenient and accessible, particularly for people my age who need all the hours we can get in a day to attend to our practices. Th ere really isn't time to devote to webcasts that stretch for several hours, especially if they're only available during business hours." But Aaron Grinhaus, a lawyer at Himelfarb Proszanski LLP, doesn't feel the interactivity requirement is cumbersome. "Th e interactivity require- ment is designed to provide some evidence that you actually did the course rather than just leave your computer on and walk away," says Grinhaus. "Although I still think it's far more valuable to attend in person, I know some people have said that is diffi cult if they don't live in the GTA. But local bar associations oſt en host the courses and practically every town with lawyers and paralegals in them has a local bar association." Apart from interactivity requirements, the law society's report also notes concerns about other aspects of the policy. Th e report found the policy's obligations on new members, for example, was a concern as several people said they felt they were being "held back" in the types of learning opportunities available in their area of practice. "New members have commented on the restriction on their choices of content," the report noted. "Th ey feel they are being held back from experiencing the broader range of substitutive learning options that are available to develop their knowledge and skills in their chosen area of practice." Th e report found similar concerns among more experienced law- yers and paralegals who said the number of claimable hours for activities like teaching and mentoring were insuffi cient. People also felt they were being "forced" into programs that weren't valuable to their practice and were oſt en repetitive. Yarmus agrees with the comments, noting he has oſt en felt restricted by the requirements when it comes to expanding his paralegal practice. "Paralegals are only allowed to take professional development courses in a certain set of practice areas and any outside those don't count toward your CPD requirement," he says. "It seems to me that the law society is trying to control the education of paralegals by limiting what they have access to, to prevent them from expanding into other areas like family law." Griesdorf, meanwhile, says the course content has become increas- ingly expensive while leaving lawyers with little applicable knowledge to show for it. "Oſt en, you end up getting credit for something far beyond anything that relates to your practice," says Griesdorf. "Th at can get pretty expen- sive when you're paying $200 or $300 per program, especially when it doesn't leave you with much to show for it. I've been a lawyer for 51 years and I've just seen it become more onerous." But Grinhaus says that might be the wrong view for lawyers and paralegals to take. "I think they might be looking at this in the wrong way," he says. "It shouldn't be looked at as a burden. It should be looked at in the same way pro bono is looked at, as giving back to society by increasing their education to better serve the public. Th e law society making pro- fessional development an offi cial obligation just formalizes something that should already be done." Adam Dodek, an associate professor of law at the University of Ot- tawa, expresses similar views, noting the new requirements are an im- portant factor in protecting lawyers and paralegals against ethical issues in the future. "Lawyers encounter legal and ethical issues every day of their career, and this has a preventative eff ect in helping lawyers stay out of trouble by educating them about what to look out for," says Dodek. "It helps pro- vide direction, discussion, and debate and puts those issues of the pro- fession front and centre every year. I think it's been a great success so far." For now, at least 1,831 law society members have yet to complete the professional development requirements, according to the report. Th e law society expects to have a full evaluation of the program later in the year with recommendations on changes to the policy to go before Convocation. "Like the introduction of any new program, there will be warts that come along with it, and I think these will all be things that will be revis- ited in the next fi ve years or so," says Dodek. "What's important in the meantime is that it has everyone really thinking about professional reg- ulation seriously for the fi rst time in a long time." LT S our c e: M inistr y of the Aor tt ney G ener al

• Cover