CFCJ December Newsletter

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

The CFCJ is happy to welcome the Winkler Institute for Dispute Resolution to Osgoode Hall Law School. The Institute, which was launched December 3, 2013 to coincide with the retirement of the Ontario Chief Justice Warren K. Winkler, will focus on pursuing new ideas, practices, research and innovation in dispute resolution in the service of promoting access to justice. CFCJ Chair Trevor Farrow will serve as the Institute’s inaugural Academic Director, with CFCJ's Executive Director Nicole Aylwin taking a new role as Project Director. The CFCJ looks forward to collaborating with the Winkler Institute on important civil justice reform initatives.

Learn more at the Winkler Institute's webpage.

Reforming the Family Justice System: An Evidence-Based Approach

Noel Semple

Family courts are at the epicentre of Canada's access to justice problem. Every weekday over 700 new separation-related cases commence in this country. These cases involve Canadians from all walks of life. Disputes over child custody and access and child support obligations are especially common, and they can have profound impacts on separating adults and on their children.

The cost of justice is often very high for separating families. The minority who have the benefit of counsel often confront five-figure legal bills. Self-represented parties, who are now the majority of family court users, often struggle to navigate a system that is often perplexing and sometimes hostile...

Over the course of the next several months we will be profiling the members of the CFCJ Cost of Justice Research Alliance. The Cost of Justice is a five year long study with the goal of defining the economic and social costs of justice. Our researchers are a central part of the CFCJ team and we are delighted to introduce them to you.

Noel Semple holds a SSHRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, where he is Visiting Scholar in Residence at the Centre for the Legal Profession. His postdoctoral research queries the relationship between legal services regulation, professionalism, and access to justice.

Noel completed his Ph.D at Osgoode Hall Law School (York University) in 2011, after having received an LL.M degree in 2009. His doctoral focus was the custody and access arrangements made for children following the breakdown of their parents’ relationships. His dissertation critically analyzed the litigation and settlement mechanisms used to resolve these disputes, and their costs and benefits for the children involved. The severe lack of affordable and professional legal assistance in the family law field became obvious during this research, and inspired Noel’s postdoctoral research agenda.

Noel’s work has appeared in the Osgoode Hall Law Journal, the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, and the Family Court Review, among other journals. He has taught Legal Process at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and Children and the Law at the University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law. During the autumn 2010 term, he was a visiting Research Fellow at Columbia Law School in New York. Noel was called to the Ontario bar in 2008 after completing articles at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, in Toronto. In 2007, he received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Noel lives with his wife, Angélique Moss, and their two children in the west end of Toronto.

Trevor Farrow Gives Presentation at 311 Youth Court Open Bar Series

Earlier this month, CFCJ Chair Trevor Farrow gave a presentation entitled “Doing the Right Thing: Legal Ethics in Youth Court” as part of a conference hosted by the 311 Youth Court Open Bar Series. The conference was chaired by Justice Brian Scully and held at 311 Jarvis St. courthouse.

CFCJ Research Alliance Member Andrew Pilliar recently delivered an inspiring TEDx talk on the importance of access to justice. The talk was part of the part of the TedX Renfrew-Collingwood “From Far to Here” lecture series event. Entitled, Why you should care about access to justice, Pilliar's talk made a passionate case for why access to justice should be all of our concern. Pilliar's talk has been viewed over 900 times! Congratulations Andrew! To watch Pilliar's talk click here.

CFCJ Executive Director Nicole Aylwin participated in the “Family Justice Reform Colloquium: An Agenda for Ontario” on November 15, 2013. The event was hosted by the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, Ontario Chapter and discussed various issues concerning family law reform, including the increasing number of self-represented litigants, court-connected services such as mediation and private professional services.

In late November, CFCJ Chair Trevor Farrow travelled to Myanmar to work on a legal sector capacity development project with the Union Attorney General Office (UAGO), in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Development Law Organization (IDLO). After adopting a new constitution in 2008, Myanmar is undergoing a series of political and economic reforms. The capacity development project involves supporting the development of a comprehensive long-term training framework for UAGO to build the capacity of lawyers, judges, law students, and police to promote access to justice.

from the CFCJ

We wish all of our readers the very best this holiday season.

3015 Osgoode Hall Law School York University 4700 Keele Street Toronto Ontario M3J 1P3
416 - 736 - 2100 ext 22858 communications@cfcj-fcjc.org
Canadian Forum on Civil Justice © 2013 All rights reserved

DECEMBER 2013

The CFCJ welcomes the Winkler Institute for Dispute Resolution

Reforming the Family Justice System: An Evidence-Based Approach

Noel Semple

Noel Semple

Trevor Farrow Gives Presentation at 311 Youth Court Open Bar Series

Andrew Pilliar gives TEDx talk: Why you Should Care About Access to Justice

AFCC-O Family Justice Reform Colloquium

Trevor Farrow travels to Myanmar for International Development Project