Brian – Law and Innovation

September 5, 2017

The Welcome Post

Welcome to the Law and Innovation Blog!

This space is about law students learning the legal skills of the twentieth century: legal knowledge engineering, project management, legal design…

A group of students at Thompson Rivers University Faculty of Law is collaborating with Neota Logic and several non-profit organizations to design and build legal apps that enhance access to justice. At the same time, students at both TRU and University of Ottawa Faculty of Law are working with the British Columbia Ministry of Justice on knowledge engineering new areas of law for the Civil Resolution Tribunal Solution Explorer.

All of these pioneering law students are gaining important, cutting-edge skills that are very much in demand in today’s legal market. But these learning experiences not just about the new. The students are also developing and practicing the traditional professional skills of lawyers. They’re learning to understand and solve client problems. They have to communicate clearly, professionally, and accessibly. They have to be organized – no coasting till the last week and then banging out a final paper over a few all-nighters. They have to collaborate with professionals from other fields, including IT professionals at Neota and the MoJ.

Perhaps most importantly, these innovative educational experiences call on our students to put the client at the centre of what they are doing. On the vital importance of training new lawyers to be client-centred professionals, see Professor Julie Macfarlane’s excellent and thought-provoking recent blog posts on the deficiencies of legal education.

This journey will be exciting and challenging. The blog is here for the students to share their reflections, ideas and observations along the way. I’m looking forward to some great posts and comments. Please join the conversation!

August 30, 2017August 30, 2017

Test Post

Congratulations on your acquisition of A New Order. We hope you will find this a worthy volume. Sturdy, well-constructed, highly resistant to empty sentiment and received wisdom. If looked after with care and attention, this collection will serve you faithfully for a lifetime.

As you read these pieces, you will be welcomed deeper into the world inhabited by the Followers of the Apocalypse. The FOTA are a noble and hardy order, if too easily dismissed as scruffy and incorrigible malcontents, unfit for participation in serious enterprise.

Some readers are advised to proceed with special care. Be particularly cautious if you have a history of intoxication via certain common tropes, such as those that spread “disruptive innovation”, or “There Is No Alternative”. Sudden immersion into the FOTA mindset after simmering in consensus reality can be a jarring and dizzying sensation. Finding oneself unexpectedly absorbed in British higher education policy wonkery can be difficult to comprehend, at least at first.

Whatever their orientation or attributes, it is common for the Followers to experience sensations of disorientation, agitation, and occasional discomfort when reading. Do not be alarmed. Indeed, these symptoms suggest that the Follower of the Apocalypse is still capable of feeling outrage, sadness, and a refusal to accept the triumph of jive bullshit as inevitable. In many respects, reading FOTA is facing the horror we are building without the comforting escape of chipper buzzmemes that promise a happy ending. Without the consolation of not caring.

To relieve these pains, David Kernohan has provided numerous means of relief. Elegant phrasing. LOLs and love of LOLs abound. Keep your ears on for esoteric and cleverly placed musical notes. Sense the camaraderie and fellowship that warms so much of the writing. And understand that the stories and the struggles being shared in this collection are not ended.

October 21, 2016

A Day in the Life of a Rural Lawyer

A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbor—such is my idea of happiness. – Tolstoy

After living in Calgary for several years, my Dad opened his own law firm in a small farming community. He had just finished articling, had a wife and two children, and no money. It was one of the best things that ever happened to us.

I am not a rural lawyer (yet), but I have developed a great deal of experience working in our family law office, running my own registry business, and being involved in our community. I have also had opportunities to speak with a variety of lawyers, about their professional experiences.

Deciding where to practice law should be an informed choice. By distilling my perspective into one day, I aim to share a picture of what practicing in a rural community could look like. Additionally, I hope to engage considerations of entrepreneurship and work-life balance.

In the morning, I contemplated what to show my classmates about a rural lifestyle. While enjoying my coffee, I watched a beautiful sunrise and four moose in our field. I thought, “This is already going to be good”.

My drive to the office did not involve waking up early to avoid traffic, and only took ten minutes. Next year, I will be able to drive my son to school, because my work day begins around the same time. Although that means, he will argue with me to listen to Johnny Cash in the car.

The Elementary and High School are both only two blocks away from our office

Having my own business in a small community, and being close to my son’s school, will help me balance a busy career with being an involved parent. I will have the flexibility to meet with his teachers, coach his sports teams, and be home for dinner.

One drawback of small communities is that they tend to lack anonymity. For me, this was a positive. Having a more public life pushed me out of my comfort zone, and taught me to be an open, honest, and accountable person. Qualities which I hope to instill in my son.

At the office we have transparent fees, which are mostly flat rate and quoted directly from a lawyer. We often provide free consultations and notarizing, which has brought us a lot of repeat business and loyal clients.

Our clients have personable relationships with us. We care about the people in our community, and we are respected and appreciated by them. It is important for us to be involved in the community, in order to understand their particular needs.

We provide a variety of legal services, including Family, Wills and Estates, Secured Transactions, Real Estate, Corporate, and Litigation. Sometimes, in a rural setting, these regular transactions take on a unique form. For example, instead of registering a lien on someone’s car, it may be on a tractor or the quota of “eggs from chickens”.

Fridays are busy Real Estate days. One of the local bank managers knows this, and tries to help our Paralegals by hand delivering documents or drafts we need. We also have collegial relationships with legal staff in the surrounding communities. It’s nice to have such friendly interactions with other law offices and banks, because so much of our work is interconnected.

In the afternoon, we drove to court in Calgary on an interesting estate matter. We usually travel to court in Didsbury, Airdrie, Red Deer, Calgary, and sometimes Edmonton.

Even though we serve a large rural area, we are still only about 50km away from the Calgary Courts Centre. The travel time is significant enough that we think twice about bringing small issues to court, but not enough to dissuade us from going when needed, or from catching the Flames games.

I know of many sole practitioners in rural communities who would like to retire, and pass their thriving businesses on to young lawyers. I hope my story will inspire some students to inquire further into the merits of business ownership and rural law.