Aside from the practice of law, I also teach at a law school. Lately, I have been doing a lot of work in civil procedure law and the concern for what we now term “access to justice”. That is, meaningful and timely access to the law, legal professionals, and the courts. This is nothing new. Reform of civil procedure since the 1830s has been attempting to improve access to justice, although at a pace that sometimes drives observers to distraction. Things are particularly fraught at the moment in respect of criminal proceedings. On the back of R. v. Jordan, [2016] 1 SCR 631 (S.C.C.), the wagons are now circling around preliminary hearings. This week I would like to consider how access to justice can be improved in our corner of the legal universe, and start with what we traditionally term “uncontentious business”, those matters that are (partially) provided for in Rule 74 of the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure.

The question, then, is how can our procedures respecting probate and the administration of estates be made more efficient so that access to justice is improved? I can’t pretend to know all the answers but it does seem to me that much more pressure must be put on the provincial government to improve the IT infrastructure used by Estates Registrars and the Judges that problematic applications are referred to for review. It simply does not make sense to me that efficiencies cannot be made over the current system, and that some degree of centralization may improve the time to the grant of a Certificate of Appointment. Moreover, given that most courthouses have courts that can accommodate out-of-court witnesses to be heard, there would seem no reason not to improve upon access to Judges using IT in appropriate circumstances. I realize that there may be a need to changes either the Rules or the Estates Act, but this seems small potatoes if the institutional will and resources are in favour of change.

I realize that we toil away in an area of the law where we go relatively unnoticed compared to say criminal or family law proceedings but the public interest in improving access to justice requires that we too consider how we can improve matters. Many of you sit on committees within your local law association, the CBA/OBA, and the like. Take up this question please. (By the way there are great resources respecting access to civil justice online at the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice.)

Have a nice day!

David