Law Commons^™

Legalbench: A Collaboratively Built Benchmark For Measuring Legal Reasoning In Large Language Models, Neel Guha, Julian Nyarko, Daniel E. Ho, Christopher Ré, Adam Chilton, Aditya Narayana, Alex Chohlas-Wood, Austin Peters, Brandon Waldon, Daniel Rockmore, Diego A. Zambrano, Dmitry Talisman, Enam Hoque, Faiz Surani, Frank Fagan, Galit Sarfaty, Gregory M. Dickinson, Haggai Porat, Jason Hegland, Jessica Wu, Joe Nudell, Joel Niklaus, John Nay, Jonathan H. Choi, Kevin Tobia, Margaret Hagan, Megan Ma, Michael A. Livermore, Nikon Rasumov-Rahe, Nils Holzenberger, Noam Kolt, Peter Henderson, Sean Rehaag, Sharad Goel, Shang Gao, Spencer Williams, Sunny Gandhi, Tom Zur, Varun Iyer, Zehua Li

All Papers

The advent of large language models (LLMs) and their adoption by the legal community has given rise to the question: what types of legal reasoning can LLMs perform? To enable greater study of this question, we present LegalBench: a collaboratively constructed legal reasoning benchmark consisting of 162 tasks covering six different types of legal reasoning. LegalBench was built through an interdisciplinary process, in which we collected tasks designed and hand-crafted by legal professionals. Because these subject matter experts took a leading role in construction, tasks either measure legal reasoning capabilities that are practically useful, or measure reasoning skills that lawyers …

Ai And Legal Scholarship : Reflections On Evolution And Influences, Jonathon W. Penney

Articles & Book Chapters

Leading Legal Disruption: Artificial Intelligence and a Toolkit for Lawyers and the Law is designed to challenge lawyers with the practical implications that emerging technologies will have on delivering legal services and thinking about legal issues to navigate their digital transformation. By inviting thought leaders across the world and in different disciplines, ranging from privacy, contract law, and torts to governance and policy, this book goes beyond abstract and general philosophical observations on matters that concern practitioners. This practical approach has generated a wide range of global perspectives, which are refreshingly novel and timely for what are increasingly global issues. …

My Covid Pause, Jennifer Nedelsky

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Angela Fernandez, Pierson V. Post, The Hunt For The Fox: Law And Professionalization In American Legal Culture, Jennifer Nadler

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Neither Smarter Nor Stronger: Bill 161 Is A Step Backwards For Access To Justice And Community-Based Legal Services In Ontario, Amar Bhatia, Janet Mosher, Jillian A. Rogin, Gemma Smyth, Erin Sobat, David Wiseman

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

Schedule 16 of Bill 161, the Smarter and Stronger Justice Act, will replace, if passed, the Legal Aid Services Act, 1998 (LASA 1998) with a new Legal Aid Services Act, 2019 (LASA 2019).

The Bill, if passed, will have profoundly negative impacts on the clients and communities served by Ontario’s community legal clinics and community-driven boards. These clinics engage in “clinic law” through: a) the determination of their communities’ legal needs; b) the provision of individual and collective legal services to provide access to justice in numerous and intersecting areas of law; and c) the development and reform of …

Will It Ever Be 50/50?: Diversity And Gender In The Law Firm And On Corporate Boards, Kathleen Killin

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

Today, women account for 50% of graduates from university programs in Canada and abroad. Traditional gender roles are a growing “thing of the past” with women taking on more responsibility and leadership positions within law and business. However, a gap still remains between the sexes in partner track and directorships. This paper explores regulatory bodies, both in law and finance, which have voiced for change and sparked conversation to bridge this gap. As one will find, major successes have occurred in recent years, however a commitment must be maintained in order to continue to advance gender diversity in law and …

Indigenous Lawyers In Canada: Identity, Professionalization, Law, Sonia Lawrence, Signa A. Daum Shanks

Articles & Book Chapters

For Indigenous communities and individuals in Canada, "Canadian" law has been a mechanism of assimilation, colonial governance and dispossession, a basis for the assertion of rights, and a method of resistance. How do Indigenous lawyers in Canada make sense of these contradictory threads and their roles and responsibilities? This paper urges attention to the lives and experiences of Indigenous lawyers, noting that the number of self-identified Indigenous lawyers has been rapidly growing since the 1990s. At the same time, Indigenous scholars are focusing on the work of revitalizing Indigenous law and legal orders. Under these conditions, Indigenous lawyers occupy a …

Addressing Access To Justice Through New Legal Service Providers: Opportunities And Challenges, Alice Woolley, Trevor C. W. Farrow

Articles & Book Chapters

Most informed observers of the Canadian and American legal systems accept the existence of a significant crisis in access to justice. One possible solution is to permit paralegals, notaries or other licensed individuals with training more limited than that enjoyed by a licensed attorney to practice in certain areas of law. This paper supports these developments, arguing for a regulated and incremental introduction of new legal service providers into the legal services market. It considers the appropriate training and scope of practice for new legal service providers, and some of the associated opportunities and challenges.

Legal Writing, Therapeutic Jurisprudence, And Professionalism, Shelley Kierstead

Articles & Book Chapters

“Professionalism as a personal characteristic is revealed in an attitude and approach to an occupation that is commonly characterized by intelligence, integrity, maturity, and thoughtfulness.”

“Words are the principal tool of lawyers and judges, whether we like it or not.”

The quotes above refer to two quintessential aspects of lawyers’ work. First, as members of a self-regulated profession, we must aspire to a level of professionalism that is characterized by intelligence, maturity, and thoughtfulness. Second, regardless of the tasks we undertake, words are critically important to lawyers. Not only must we be able to conduct comprehensive and coherent legal analysis; …

Will The Law Society Of Alberta Celebrate Its Bicentenary?, Harry W. Arthurs

Articles & Book Chapters

External changes - in demography and economy, in the domestic and global organization of power - are transforming the knowledge base of Canada's legal profession, the relations amongst lawyers and between lawyers and their "relevant others, " and indeed the very notion oflegal professionalism. This article explores the implication of these changes for the future of the profession 's governing bodies.

Madly Off In One Direction: Mcgill’S New Integrated, Poly-Jural, Trans-Systemic Law Program, Harry W. Arthurs

Articles & Book Chapters

In 1994, the McGill Faculty of Law organized a two-day faculty retreat, seeking to lay the foundations of a new curriculum. This desire was in part a response to the contradictions inherent to the faculty, but also stemmed from a deep-seated preoccupation with ‘polyjurality’, non-state normativity, transnational legal systems, and legal theory—a preoccupation that dates back to its origins, over 150 years ago. The author, while praising McGill's efforts at reinventing itself, laments a certain reserve toward interdisciplinarity. He conjectures that at least some understand the teaching of polyjurality and transsystemic law as a project that is largely concerned with …

Legal Education As A Strategy For Change In The Legal Profession, Mary Jane Mossman

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

In The Name Of The International: The Supreme Court Of Canada And The Internationalist Transformation Of Canadian Private International Law, Robert Wai

Articles & Book Chapters

Globalization and internationalization are pervasive in contemporary cultural, political, and economic policy discourses. Not surprisingly, a concern with internationalization and globalization increasingly characterizes the policy discourses of law. While the law often operates at a lag to broader social trends, it is sometimes more active in constituting such trends. This article is concerned with a striking episode of legal change oriented towards the perceived new realities of the international system, which occurred in the unlikely venue of private international law in Canada.

Getting The Insider's Story Out: What Popular Film Can Tell Us About Legal Method's Dirty Secrets, Rebecca Johnson, Ruth Buchanan

Articles & Book Chapters

In this paper, the authors seek to use the insights gained by viewing and thinking critically about a range of Hollywood films to better illuminate the disciplinary blindspots of law. Both law and film are viewed as social institutions, engaged in telling stories about social life. Hollywood films are often critical of law and legal institutions. Law is dismissive of its representation within popular culture. However, the authors argue that law disregards cinematic cynicism about itself at its peril and that there is much to learn by taking cinematic portrayals of law very seriously---not as representations of the truth of …

Recent Trends In The Organization Of Legal Services, Frederick H. Zemans

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

The Dead Parrot: Does Professional Self-Regulation Exhibit Vital Signs?, Harry W. Arthurs

Articles & Book Chapters

Self-governance of the legal profession, and the promulgation and enforcement of a code of professional conduct are usually justified by arguments from principle, practicality and past practice. None of these can be sustained However, if professional self-governance were replaced by governmental or judicial regulation, the operational norms of professional conduct - the way lawyers actually behave - would likely not change very much. In fact, formal regulation, by whatever means, is not a major determinant of conduct that can be characterized as unethical. Rather, such conduct is largely determined by the personal characteristics of the individual lawyer, the professional circumstances …

Copyright Inside The Law Library, David Vaver

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Lawyers And Family Life: New Directions For The 1990'S, Mary Jane Mossman

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Can Ontario Sustain Cadillac Legal Services?, Frederick H. Zemans, Lewis T. Smith

Articles & Book Chapters

Recently described in the American Lawyer as Canada's Cadillac legal services, the Ontario legal aid scheme--Canada's first and today its most costly-is in serious need of repair. This paper, which grows out of a presentation made by Robert Holden, Director of the Ontario Legal Aid Plan, describes both the introduction of legal aid services in Ontario and the evolution of the original pro bono scheme into a government-funded judicare scheme.

It is not surprising that in 1952, when contemporary legal aid was introduced into Canada, both the bar and government of Ontario looked to the United Kingdom for direction. In …

The Role Of A Chief Justice In Canada, Peter W. Hogg

Articles & Book Chapters

Professor Hogg describes the duties of Chief Justices in Canadian courts, and explains that the effective discharge of their many administrative functions plays a significant role in maintaining the independence of the judiciary.

Unauthorized Legal Practice Prosecutions And Independent Paralegals In Ontario And The United States, John A. Flood, Frederick H. Zemans

Articles & Book Chapters

The issue of unauthorized legal practice involves questions of professionalism and market protection. The legal profession, like other professions, is seen a being particularly successful at excluding others from its area of jurisdiction. Disputes over jurisdiction occur at the edge of this jurisdiction, specifically when certain condition arise. The e conditions are characterized by the "indetermination/ technicality (I/T) ratio", where "I" represents the ideological underpinning of the profession and "T" represents the technical knowledge. "If either the knowledge base or the ideological underpinning deteriorates, the occupation will lose control over its spheres of activity....For an occupation or a profession to …

That's Just The Way It Is: Langille On Law, Allan C. Hutchinson

Articles & Book Chapters

This article is a defence of the sceptical critique of the legitimacy of law and adjudication. It is a direct reply to the arguments of Professor Brian Langille, whose article "Revolution Without Foundation: The Grammar of Scepticism and Law" appeared in Volume 33 of this Journal. In that article, Langille defended the viability of law, legal discourse and legal critique primarily by attacking the claim that scepticism based on the "indeterminacy of language" can be grounded in the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Professor Hutchinson concentrates his spirited response on the indeterminacy of language. He contends that law fails to meet …

The Changed Legal Profession: Who Has Control Of The Market For Legal Services?, Frederick H. Zemans

Articles & Book Chapters

During the nineteen sixties, it was provincial governments rather than lawyers or their professional societies, which determined that there would be a significant increase in the number of places for Jaw students at Canadian universities. Formula-funding programmes (in place in several provinces) along with a growing demand for law degrees stimulated government- funded universities to open their doors to students seeking a legal education and ultimately entrance to the legal profession. Prior to the late seventies, little opposition was encountered from the profession to its loss of control of the supply of lawyers. The economic recession, combined with the growth …

Feminism And Legal Method: The Difference It Makes, Mary Jane Mossman

Articles & Book Chapters

Prompted by questions raised in A Feminist Perspective in the Academy: The Difference It Makes, Mossman questions whether or not feminist theory, namely as it concerns equality and the impact of women as key actors, could impact the structure of legal inquiry.

The Market For Legal Services: Paraprofessionals And Specialists, Selma Colvin, David Stager, Larry Taman, Janet Yale, Frederick H. Zemans

All Papers

This is a working paper prepared for The Professional Organizations Committee.

Clinical Legal Education And Legal Aid - The Canadian Experience, Frederick H. Zemans, Lester Brickman

Articles & Book Chapters

Last fall CLEPR sponsored the first workshop of Canadian law schools devoted exclusively to the subject of clinical law training in Canada. The seminar was co-hosted by the McGill University and Osgoode Hall Law Schools and CLEPR, and was held at the Law School of McGill in Montreal, on November 29th and 30th, 1973. The workshop was organized and co-chaired by Professor Frederick H. Zemans of Osgoode Hall Law School and Professor Lester Brickman of the University of Toledo Law School, who are responsible for this report of the proceedings. A list of those attending is included at the conclusion …