Over the weekend, the Ontario Bar Association held its annual Fall Council Meeting. There were several amazing speakers. President Colin Stevenson spoke about the barriers to innovation and the ways companies are overcoming these barriers.

Barriers to innovation include:

  • The solitary work of lawyers. Lawyers tend to work alone, even in large law firms.
  • Lawyers tend to be risk adverse, and tend to be unwilling to invest in change.
  • Lawyers that are already successful are hesitant to embrace change.

Colin warned that complacency within our legal profession will lead to the obsolescence of lawyers. The Big 4 Accounting Firms are eating into the mid-level transactional work traditionally done by law firms. For instance, EY has invested $2 billion in innovation.

However, through practice innovation, lawyers can also deal with clients more efficiently. He cited examples of innovation by lawyers. For example: 

  • Osler has launched a new service that streamlines estoppel certificate production. 
  • McCarthy Tetrault has launched MT Divisions.
  • Dentons hired an accountant Beth Wilson to manage the Canadian firm. This step shows the professionalization of law.
  • The Legal Innovation Zone at Ryerson University addresses legal needs not well served by lawyers.

At the meeting Attorney General Douglas Downey spoke about the government’s consultations. The government is currently considering whether the estate system should be changed. Right now all estates are dealt with the same way. Meaning the estate of a billionaire is dealt with the same way as an estate worth $20,000. The complex process leaves some smaller estates in limbo. The government is considering providing a simplified procedure for smaller estates.

Acclaimed author and lawyer Andrew Pyper spoke about the importance of narrative. He talked about his writing process. He begins writing a story by thinking of a body of ideas. He then shaves off the things that don’t work until he gets to the core idea.

Pyper recommended that our stories have a main character and that we identify the stakes. By having a main character, the reader becomes invested. The writer must answer why them and why does the reader care about it. By finding the right question, the author tells the right story.

I truly enjoyed the conference and found the topics enlightening.

(Views are my own and do not represent the views of any organization.)