Dec 4, 2017
Osler partner Sarah Millar says the Federation of Law Societies of Canada’s proposal to amend its baseline professionalism standards to incorporate technological competence is “fair,” according to an article in Law Times. In the article, author Dale Smith explores the proposed guidelines and the permeation of technology in the legal sector. Sarah, Head of Osler Works – Discovery — which uses technology to help streamline the discovery process and lower the costs of litigation — says that technology can promote access to justice and efficiency.
“I think it’s a fair amendment, because increasingly practices are relying on technology,” Sarah tells Law Times. “Clearly, there are some practices where technology is the lynchpin, like my practice, whereas in other people’s practices, technology would be more about promoting efficiency.”
Sarah also tells Law Times that the federation would be prudent to emphasize “the tools for the purposes of delivering services more efficiently for clients.”
She also acknowledges the importance of understanding the benefits and functionality of these tools from a client perspective.
“I’ve been on too many phone calls where you have these senior [lawyers] who are talking about e-discovery who don’t know what they’re talking about and could be committing their clients to tens of thousands of dollars in costs without realizing it,” she tells Law Times.
For more information, read Dale Smith’s article “Standards may require technical competence” in Law Times.