Verdicts & Voices

In October, CBA National reported on findings from a recent national study, spearheaded by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada and the CBA, that rang the alarm on the wellness of legal professionals. The study shone a light on the heavy toll that daily work takes on legal professionals. The research revealed significantly higher levels of psychological distress among legal professionals than experienced by the Canadian working population (57.5% compared to 40%) and similarly higher levels of anxiety (35.7%, compared to 13%). It also showed that alcohol and drug use among legal professionals has reached worrying levels. According to the study, the proportion of men with risky drinking behaviour increases from roughly 27% to 34 % between five and ten years of practice. For women, the figures run from 18% to 24% in the first five years.

But let's not forget that behind the number are real people. It's why I'm so appreciative to have had the opportunity to speak with Jason Ward – a well-known and highly-regarded litigator from Lindsay, Ontario, who has recently retired from the practice of law. Jason started his career as a Bay Street commercial litigator before deciding, with his wife, to launch their firm in 2003. Over the following couple of decades, they grew Wards PC into a thriving midsize law firm. Then, in his early- to mid-forties, when discovered that alcohol and drugs gave him an escape from all the demands of running a practice and building his firm's brand.

Please take the time to listen to Jason Ward's story. The legal profession needs to have these conversations, as unsettling as they are, if we want mental health outcomes to start moving in the right direction.

To contact us (please include in the subject line ''Podcast''): [email protected]

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Yves Faguy speaks with legal sector analyst Jordan Furlong, author of Law21.ca, about the multiplying disruptions facing the legal profession all at once.

With so many overlapping crises happening at once, feeding off one another and contributing to the unraveling of longstanding institutions, how must the legal profession prepare itself for the future? 

That’s the starting point of a conversation with returning guest Jordan Furlong. Many listeners are familiar with Jordan, a former editor-in-chief of CBA National, and now a legal sector analyst based in Ottawa. His work now focuses on change in the legal industry, legal regulation and lawyer formation. He is also the author of the Law21.ca blog, and the book Law Is a Buyer’s Market: Building a Client-First Law Firm. 

We discuss various topics, including the national implications of reregulating the legal profession in BC and the impact of generative AI tools on legal practice. We also dug into how the profession needs to rethink lawyer formation, talent retention and a growing mental health crisis that demands urgent action. Jordan also explains why he plans on staying busy on Twitter, and why the platform remains an important forum for lawyers.

Jordan Furlong is a legal sector analyst based in Ottawa, former editor-in chief of CBA National, whose work focuses on change in the legal industry, legal regulation and lawyer formation.  He is also the author of the Law21.ca blog, and the book Law Is a Buyer’s Market: Building a Client-First Law Firm.

To contact us (please include in the subject line ''Podcast''): [email protected]

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Yves Faguy speaks with economist Robin Shaban, founder of Vivic Research about competition law and why reforms should aim to make it more growth inclusive.

Robin Shaban is the co-founder and associate at Vivic research, an economic consultancy for organizations working towards positive social change. They are the co-founder of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project, a think tank dedicated to addressing issues of monopoly in Canada.

They are also the co-author, with Colleen Kaiser, of an upcoming report, Leveraging Competition Law and Policy to Promote Inclusive Growth in Canada.

To contact us (please include in the subject line ''Podcast''): [email protected]

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 15: Supreme Court briefing

In this episode, Yves Faguy speaks with Nadia Effendi of BLG to brief us on the latest at the Supreme Court of Canada. Effendi is a partner at BLG, based out of Toronto and Ottawa, a member of the CBA’s Federal Courts Bench and Bar Liaison Committee. She is also the chair of BLG's Appellate Advocacy and Public Law Group. Before joining the firm, she served as a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada to then-Justice Michel Bastarache.

To contact us (please include in the subject line ''Podcast''): [email protected]

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Yves Faguy speaks with law professor Tuma Young, KC, of Cape Breton University about the revitalization of Indigenous legal orders and what it means to braid them into Canada’s contemporary system of laws.

Young, who grew up in the traditions of the Eskasoni First Nation, is a researcher and an assistant professor in Indigenous studies and political science at Cape Breton University (CBU). He also served as the Nova Scotia Barrister’s Society’s first Indigenous president in 2021-2022.

His research primarily focuses on the analysis of L’nu worldview – L’nu being the term the Mi'kmaq use to describe themselves –  traditional concepts of governance, and how they can be used in contemporary legal institutions.

To contact us (please include in the subject line ''Podcast''): [email protected]

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Yves Faguy speaks with Karen Eltis of the University of Ottawa about our courts’ modernization efforts and the challenges ahead. 

Professor Eltis is the contributing editor to the CBA No Turning Back Report, released in February 2021. She is a law professor at the University of Ottawa and specializes in artificial intelligence, innovation law and policy, and cybersecurity. She is also the author of Courts, Litigants and the Digital Age.

To contact us (please include in the subject line ''Podcast''): [email protected]

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 12: Supreme Court briefing

In this episode, Yves Faguy speaks with Nadia Effendi of BLG to brief us on the latest at the Supreme Court of Canada. Effendi is a partner at BLG, based out of Toronto and Ottawa, a member of the CBA’s Federal Courts Bench and Bar Liaison Committee. She is also the chair of BLG's Appellate Advocacy and Public Law Group. Before joining the firm, she served as a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada to then-Justice Michel Bastarache.

To contact us (please include in the subject line ''Podcast''): [email protected]

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Yves Faguy speaks with Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner Patricia Kosseim about aligning our values as a society with laws governing privacy fit for the coming age of AI. 

Patricia Kosseim began her career as a lawyer in Montréal at Heenan Blaikie, practising in health law, privacy law, and civil litigation.  She has worked at Genome Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, where she developed national strategies for addressing legal, ethical and social implications of science and technology. She also served over a decade as Senior General Counsel at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC), and has advised Parliament on privacy implications of legislative bills.

Before appointment to lead the IPC in Ontario, she was counsel at Oslers in privacy and data management.

She is also host of the Info Matters podcast, about people privacy and access to information.  It is available to listen on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts or on the IPC website at: www.ipc.on.ca.  

To contact us (please include in the subject line ''Podcast''): [email protected]

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Yves Faguy speaks with Malcolm Lavoie of the University of Alberta and an associate counsel at Miller Thomson about our property rights in an increasingly cashless and digital economy.

To contact us (please include in the subject line ''Podcast''): [email protected]

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Yves Faguy speaks with Wissam Aoun about our IP laws and their fitness for purpose in the digital era. Aoun is the Acting Associate Dean at Windsor Law. He’s also an assistant professor focusing his research on patent law, professional regulation and governance. He has previously taught copyright law and trademark law. Aoun is also the new co-editor of the Canadian Bar Review with his Windsor colleague Chris Waters and associate editor Patrice Deslauriers of the Université de Montréal.

To contact us (please include in the subject line ''Podcast''): [email protected]

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.