Legal Research

LSO Guidance on Artificial Intelligence

Posted on by Brenda Lauritzen

It’s difficult to have a conversation about the future of legal services without addressing the elephant in the room: generative AI. Here at the library we’re seeing it gradually seep into the legal research process, and lawyers and students are rightfully curious about how the technology can and will be useful in all areas of their practice. Like it or not, the technology is here to stay!

The Law Society of Ontario has released several documents of guidance that can assist for those looking to experiment with the technology, and we recommend taking a look:

It’s important to also be aware of current guidelines issued by the courts on AI usage. The LSO maintains a list of notices and practice directions on AI usage issued by the courts, which can be found here.

 

Lexis+ Now Available at the CCLA Library!

Posted on by Brenda Lauritzen

We’re excited to announce that Lexis+ is now available at the CCLA Library! We’re very happy to welcome the new and updated user interface, as well as the added Legislative Pulse and Brief Analysis capabilities. You can access Lexis+ onsite at the courthouse through our CCLA Library Toolkit, either through the computer terminals in the library or on your own device as long as you are connect to our CCLA Courthouse Wifi.

Please see the publisher’s note below for more information and for some upcoming training sessions!

 

Lexis+ Canada is a comprehensive integrated legal research and workflow tool providing a range of features designed to enhance legal research and practice:

  • Access the vast collection of case law, editorial analysis, and data visualization with over 490 full-text textbooks and looseleaf publications in more than 30 different areas of law.
  • Rely on the up-to date practical material within Practical Guidance to support your day-to-day practice.
  • Track upcoming legislative changes with the Legislative Pulse service.
  • Extract any relevant information from Lexis+ Canada to make sure you cover everything mentioned in your document with Brief Analysis.

Training Sessions for Courthouse Library Staff and Lawyers – CPD Accredited for Professionalism  (1 hour in length)

The session will be offered at four dates and times as listed below along with the link. Click to attend each session via Zoom, no registration needed in advance.

Training Resources

Thank you to LiRN for making this addition possible through the e-LiRN suite of electronic resources.

Rangefindr: New Tool for Criminal Sentencing

Posted on by Brenda Lauritzen

We’re thrilled to announce that Rangefindr, a resource for Criminal Sentencing, is now available for use remotely at your own office! Researching sentencing quantums can be frustrating and time-consuming, but this tool can point you to relevant case law within minutes. While we haven’t had direct access to this tool at the CCLA before, I’ve been getting some of our library colleagues to run searches on it for me for years, so I’m very excited we can offer it to all Ontario lawyers now! This access was made possible through LiRN (Legal Information and Resource Network).

How to Get Remote Access

Rangefindr is available both here at the library and remotely through your LSO resource portal. To get your login credentials, email greatlibrary@lso.ca with your name and Law Society number. NOTE: rangefindr.ca and HeinOnline use the same username and password, so if you are already able to access HeinOnline, please skip this step.

Once you have your login and password, click here to login to rangefindr.ca.

Training

Learn more about the tool that helps lawyers and judges find criminal sentencing ranges in minutes instead of hours! We have three upcoming training sessions as well as some resources:

Online Training Sessions (Zoom):

Short explainer about how to use RangeFindr (2:14 min)

Getting Started With rangefindr.ca Guide (pdf)

Acknowledgements

This pilot project will run from September 1, 2024 to December 31, 2025 through the Innovation and Equity of Access to Legal Information project funded by The Law Foundation of Ontario, and we thank the Law Foundation for this opportunity.

LiRN would also like to extend its thanks to the Great Library for their assistance in making remote access possible for lawyers, articling students, and paralegals as well as courthouse library staff.

 

Canadian Open Access Legal Citation Guide

Posted on by Brenda Lauritzen

Nothing excites librarians quite like citation guides! While many people are familiar with the products available through the major publishers, our colleagues across the country have been busy working on an open access guide that will be free and accessible for all. We’re so pleased to announce that the Canadian Open Access Legal (COAL) Citation Guide/Guide canadien de la référence juridique en accès libre (RJAL) is now freely available on CanLII.

This guide is a continually-evolving publication, and there is an email included below for any feedback. Stay tuned as well, as there will be training sessions for this guide offered this fall!

You can read the full press release below.

The Canadian Open Access Legal (COAL) Citation Guide/Guide canadien de la référence juridique en accès libre (RJAL), which began with the desire for an open-access legal citation guide in Canada, is now available: https://canlii.ca/t/7nc6q

Over the course of two years, law librarians from across Canada worked together to create the COAL-RJAL Guide. The English version of the Guide is now freely available and hosted on CanLII (2024 CanLIIDocs 830), and the French version is in progress. The Guide is intended to be used throughout the legal field and incorporates feedback contributed by reviewers from Canadian courts, law firms, law journals, law societies, and law schools.

COAL-RJAL is freely available on CanLII, allowing anyone requiring a Canadian legal citation guide to access it online without financial barriers. This Guide will reduce the financial burden on law students, new lawyers, and sole practitioners and will also support self-represented litigants, libraries, and other organizations with an access to justice mission.

The Editorial Board of COAL-RJAL is a national, bilingual, and bijural group, committed to continuity of the Guide and continuous knowledge building. Regular Guide updates will centre the needs of the legal community by incorporating user feedback and responding to emerging developments, while maintaining long-term consistency.

The legal community’s support and expertise is the foundation for COAL-RJAL’s success. Explore the Guide on CanLII for writing, editing, or teaching, and give us your feedback. The Guide will be enriched by contributions from a diverse group of people sharing their knowledge. Connect with the Editorial Board at coal.rjal@ubc.ca for feedback, volunteer inquiries, and more.

Library Information for Summer Students

Posted on by Jennifer Walker

Welcome new Ottawa summer students! If you’re a law student working a firm this summer, we’d like to invite you to a tour of the CCLA Library and learn more about our services. Library tours are a great opportunity to meet library staff and learn about the legal research services and resources we can offer, training opportunities, and legal services to support and assist a legal practice. We also encourage any and all students to sign up for the CCLA Newsletter to begin learning about news, events, and opportunities in the East Region. The newsletter is always free, and not tied to CCLA membership.

Tours will be held beginning May 11 on Wednesdays at 10:30 AM, and usually take between 15 to 20 minutes. Please email library@ccla-abcc.ca or call 613-233-7386 x221 to schedule a tour. Need another time? Would rather meet virtually? We can do that, too! Email the library and let us know how we can help you get started this summer.

vLex Canada: New Subscription!

Posted on by Brenda Lauritzen

We have another new database now accessible at the CCLA Library! We’re excited to announce our subscription to vLex Canada. This includes access to both their AI-powered research tool, Vincent, as well as electronic versions to the popular Irwin Law book series Essentials of Canadian Law.

Vincent, AI-powered legal research

Vincent is a virtual legal assistant who, through artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies (Iceberg AI), finds legal citations, cited documents and the most relevant legal concepts in any legal document from 10 jurisdictions including Canada. Just drag and drop your document into Vincent and it will generate a list of documents for you to review including legislation, case law, books, journal articles and more!

We haven’t been able to play around with it much yet, but we’re looking forward to hearing how it works for you! You can learn more about Vincent here.

Irwin Law’s Essentials of Canadian Law

You’re probably familiar with the Irwin Law textbook series even if you don’t know it! Many of them can be recognized by a burgundy-coloured cover. They are very popular in the library because they are so straightforward and easy to read.

And now they’re even more accessible on the vLex platform – to read and search electronically! The Essentials of Canadian Law series contains over 300 titles on a wide variety of topics.

Training

Interested in checking these out? Feel free to attend one of four upcoming training sessions! Click on the dates below to register:

This subscription was made possible through the Legal Information and Resource Network (LiRN) new Electronic Resources Suite for all courthouse libraries in Ontario.

LexisNexis Practical Guidance: New Subscription, Plus 2-Week Remote Access!

Posted on by Brenda Lauritzen

We’re so excited to announce that we’ve acquired a subscription to LexisNexis Practical Guidance! It’s not an exaggeration to say that this database has quickly become one of our favourite sources, as it contains some of the most helpful and practical materials we’ve seen in most areas of law.

There are Precedents, Practice Notes, Checklists, Calculators, How-to Guides, toolkits… the list truly goes on! We now have access to ALL of the modules, featuring the following subjects:

  • Capital Markets and M&A
  • Commercial
  • Corporate and Private M&A
  • Employment
  • Family Law
  • In-house Counsel
  • Insolvency & Restructuring
  • Litigation & Dispute Resolution
  • Personal Injury
  • Wills, Trusts & Estates

This database will be accessible at the CCLA library terminals.

Remote Access

Although the COVID-19 remote access to Quicklaw has now ended, as a promotion LexisNexis is offering two-week remote access to Practical Guidance for Ontario Courthouse Libraries. Register here by February 28th for a complimentary two-week remote access trial of LN Practical Guidance accessible from the convenience of your own office or designated workspace. Your two-week trial period starts the day you register.

Training

If you would like to attend training on this new resource, please see the links in this pdf for upcoming CPD-accredited sessions.

 

This subscription was made possible through the Legal Information and Resource Network (LiRN) new Electronic Resources Suite for all courthouse libraries in Ontario. More details on this new suite of resources will follow!

Recently Published Ottawa Decisions

Posted on by Jennifer Walker

Find below recently published Ottawa decisions, available for free through CanLII.org.

Family Matters

Barta v. Barta (2021 ONSC 6265)
spousal support — income — imputed — child support — temporary
Justice T. Engelking

Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa v. K.D. (2021 ONSC 6092)
child — parents — genuine issue requiring — summary — affidavits
Justice J. Audet

Civil Matters

Abboud et al. v. Bouwer et al. (2021 ONSC 6188)
oppression — directors — pleading — shares — corporation
Justice C. MacLeod

Thomson v. Benjamin (2021 ONSC 6096)
costs — motion — cross-examinations — indemnity — adjournment
Justice R. Ryan Bell

McGuire v. Dejong and Coldwell Banker (2021 ONSC 6044)
real estate — commissions — registration — transactions — trade
Associate Justice A. Kaufman

Criminal Matters

R. v. Gill (2021 ONSC 6328)
metal weightlifting bar — knives — home — murder — gloves
Justice A. London-Weinstein

Divisional Court Decisions of Local Interest

Merivale-Gilmour Manor Ltd. v. Municipal Property Assessment Corporation Region No. 3 et al (2021 ONSC 6240)
higher assessment — reason to doubt the correctness — withdraw — motion for leave — property
Justice K. Muszynski

Pinon v. City of Ottawa (2021 ONSC 6172)
class proceeding — preferable — bus — certification — class members
Justices D. Aston, K. Swinton, and J. McCarthy

Compendium of Damages Awarded in Personal Injury Actions Across Ontario, January 1999 – October 2020 Update

Posted on by Jennifer Walker

The 2020 update to our Compendium of Damages Awarded in Personal Injury Actions Across Ontario is now available! You can download a copy of this year’s update here, or find it on the Civil Litigation Practice Portal of the CCLA website.

We would like to thank The Honourable James Chadwick for his leadership on this project, as well as the law students and lawyers who make this update possible every year. This year’s update was completed with the efforts of Philip Byun of the University of Ottawa Common Law program. Thank you very much for your contribution to this year’s update!

New Features on CanLII!

Posted on by Jennifer Walker

Keen CanLII users may have noticed a few new features in the last month or two, and if you’re legal research nerds like us, were probably quite excited! For all the details on these upgrades and how to make use of them, check out the CanLII Blog. In short, here are two of the updates we think you’ll like:

  • “Unfavorable mentions”: This is a big one! A yellow jalapeño will now appear when there is an unfavourable mention in a citing decision.  This complements the blue jalapeño of relevancy.
  • “Heatmaps” in legislation: Our reference librarian Brenda absolutely loves this one. Heatmaps are a tool used to visually indicate which parts of a document have been cited more frequently. CanLII rolled out this feature for decisions earlier this year, and it’s now available on legislation.

As we always say with CanLII, the best way to learn how to use these new features is to just do it! Head on over to CanLII’s blog for all the details on how these features work, and then jump in on CanLII. Want a quick link to both of these? Check out Canada v. Vavilov and look for the yellow pepper! For the legislative heatmap, take a look at the right side of the screen on the Construction Act. Remember, the darker the blue, the more heavily cited that section is.