What is CaseLines?
As noted in the Supplementary Notice to the Profession and Litigants in Civil and Family Matters Regarding the Caselines Pilot, E-Filing, and Fee Payment, CaseLines is a user-friendly cloud-based document sharing e-hearing platform for remote and in-person court proceedings. It is being used to provide a platform for parties to upload electronic copies of their documents for review by all participants before and during a court hearing. It is important to note that parties are still required to file materials in accordance with the applicable rules of Court and Notices to the Profession.
Parties have new responsibilities when using CaseLines, including, among other things, adding their email addresses to all court documents, using a specific document naming method, and uploading each document to be marked as an exhibit during the hearing separately.
In addition, while there are many benefits to using CaseLines, some that are particularly helpful are that users can make private notes and highlight documents, terms can be searched in all uploaded documents, and parties can navigate documents and direct opposing counsel and the court to view specific sections. These features can increase efficiency and make it easier for all parties and the court to quickly navigate through specific documents during a hearing.
TimeLine
The pilot project began in August 2020 for select civil motions and pre-trial conferences in Toronto. The goal was to gradually expand to other practice areas and court locations.
In Toronto, CaseLines was expanded to select family matters in December 2020 and select criminal matters as of February 8, 2021. Effective March 1, 2021, CaseLines started being used for select civil, family and criminal proceedings in the East and Northwest Regions. It is anticipated that province-wide expansion of the CaseLines pilot will continue throughout the summer and that all judicial regions will be using CaseLines by the end of summer 2021.
Resources
Since the CaseLines pilot was launched in August 2020, there have been many helpful resources that have been published to assist parties in learning how to use this new process, some of which have been included below:
- A demonstration of CaseLines;
- An 18 Minute Tutorial on how to access, update, invite people and review evidence for cases;
- Frequently Asked Questions About Thomson Reuters CaseLines;
- CaseLine Hearings – Tips for Counsel and Self-Represented Parties; and
- Sydney Osmar’s article on MAG’s Pilot Project with CaseLines.
Thank you for reading!