ADR - Victoria
Submitted by Section Chair, Michael Butterfield
Summary of Meetings
Number of Meetings Held: 3
March 20, 2014
Guest Speakers: Michael Butterfield and Derek LaCroix, Q.C.
Meeting Title/Topic: Creating a Sustainable Practice
Synopsis: Presentation to Law Students on using an ADR model to build a sustainable practice.
April 2, 2014
Guest Speaker: Catherine Morris
Meeting Title/Topic: The Impact of Mediation on the Culture of Disputing in Canada
Synopsis: Experiments with mediation began to take place in Canada in the 1970s and 1980s in response to concerns about access to justice and adversarial disputing. At that time, most lawyers, legal scholars or members of the public knew little about mediation. Four decades later, mediation is a mainstay within Canada's legal system. Catherine Morris will talk about her recently published chapter on some of the milestones in the field of mediation in Canada since the 1970s. She will pose a fundamental question: How has the dispute resolution movement affected Canada's culture of disputing?
A brief executive meeting followed this presentation.
June 25, 2014
Guest Speakers: Ministry of Justice representatives
Meeting Title/Topic: Inside the Victoria Justice Access Centre (JAC)
Synopsis: This was a joint Section meeting held with the Family Law - Victoria Section. Discussion of how the Justice Access Centre works and will provide services for the lower income members of our community. In essence - how the government plans to supply two tear access to justice.
Comments and Observations of the Co-Chair
This has been a very hard year. The group started very slowly. By the end of the year we were able to encourage two new members to the executive. We are currently planning two events in the fall and building on the lessons we learned this year.