Advocacy-Matters-Winter-2024

JUDICIAL REFORM
WE ARE
LCM ATTORNEYS.
WE SPEAK
LITIGATION.
In less than a decade since its founding in
2014, LCM Attorneys has established itself
as one of the most trusted litigation
boutiques in Montreal.
With wide-ranging expertise and true
commitment to understanding our clients’
needs, we can handle the most challenging
matters, providing skilful advocacy,
insightful advice and practical solutions.
To celebrate our 10th anniversary,
we decided to refresh our image.
New logo, new website.
Visit lcm.ca
Jeff Van Bakel
Joe Thorne
Civil court dockets across the country are
jammed. Whether as a result of the prioritization
of criminal proceedings post-Jordan,
COVID-related backlogs, lack of infrastructure,
or understaffed courts – court time for civil
matters is a vanishingly rare commodity.
Much has been said about the epidemic of
court delays – TAS published a call to action to
the profession, the courts, and governments
to address these delays in June 2023. You can
read it here.
Unfortunately, systemic issues are difficult
to fix. As litigation procedures become increasingly
complex, so too does the prospect for delay.
And as recently noted by Justice Koehnen
of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, “delay
begets delay.”
What can we as advocates do to get into
court as soon as possible, when a motion date
Justice Delayed
(Part 1) – Getting on
the Docket
Jeff Van Bakel (he/him), Scott Petrie
LLP and Joe Thorne (he/him),
Stewart McKelvey
is 12, 18, or even 24 months out? We get creative.
Even if we can’t control court access, we can
control how we litigate and how we manage
client demands.
When we begin to head down the road of
unnecessary or overbroad motions, it is hard
to pull back. Trite as it may be to say, our first
consideration should be: do we need to be on
the docket at all? Does a motion or trial serve
our client’s interest, or is it just a rote response
to disagreement or resistance? How can we resolve
that disagreement without waiting a year
or more? Can we narrow the issues enough
that, even if we ultimately need a judge to make
the decision, the scope of the hearing is minimized
to ensure we get on the docket sooner
and that we use the court’s time efficiently?
We have found, through bitter experience,
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