This post is Part 2 in a series examining the ONSC’s five-year plan “Leading the Justice System Into the Future: Five Year Strategic Plan for the Ontario Superior Court of Justice”. In this post, I am putting a particular focus on AI and the tech stack that will shape the estates bar. Part 1 can be found here on the Hull & Hull blog.
As noted in yesterday’s blog, the senior leadership of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (ONSC) has put technology and, explicitly, AI governance at the centre of its five-year strategy from now until 2030. For litigators in the practice area of Trusts, Estates and Capacity litigation, it would seem the writing is on the wall – technology will become even more embedded in our day-to-day practice.
Coming to Toronto Region: A New Filing System
Within the report, there is repeated reference to a new ‘unified filing system’. This refers to the Ontario Courts Public Portal (“OCPP”), which will be replacing Justice Services Online (“JSO”). Case Centre will continue to be the second-stage platform for managing hearing-related document sharing and presentation. It will link to OCPP so that filings accepted through OCPP can flow into hearing bundles.
The Court’s end-to-end digital solution begins rolling out in the Toronto Region in 2025 for civil matters (including contested estates) and family matters. Criminal matters are expected to begin this transition beginning in 2027, following which, the new digital system will be staged region-by-region across Ontario.
For firms that are already “paperless”, the impact of this transition will be minimal – however, for those whose practice is still partly in analog format, the push towards a fully electronic practice continues.
Modernized Resources for In-Court and Hybrid Hearings
The plan specifies a “standard solution” in every SCJ courtroom: dedicated network, commercial-grade cameras/audio, and integrated monitors at the bench, counsel tables, witness stand, and jury box, plus reliable Wi-Fi to support Case Center and the digital platform. Hybrid evidence presentation will become the default, not the exception.
The AI Subcommittee: What to Expect
In Part 1 of this series, brief reference was made to the Court’s recognition that artificial intelligence (“AI”) is expected to become a permanent feature of legal practice – reflected by the creation of the Artificial Intelligence Subcommittee of the Civil Rules Committee.
As an extension of this, it is likely not a coincidence that the changes to the Form 53 Acknowledgment of Expert’s Duty now require that when an expert files a report, the materials must now be accompanied by a certificate confirming the authenticity of every “authority, document or record” cited, and requiring that any doubts about authenticity be expressly listed.
This updated Form 53, which came into effect on December 1, 2024, is likely one of many changes to the Rules of Civil Procedure and Ontario’s court forms to come in the near future, given the massively challenging evidence implications for of our new reality where documents, recordings and other media can instantly be conjured from the digital ether.
The bottom line
I again take the occasion to commend Ontario’s judicial leadership for looking around the corner technologically, to prepare the court system for the new era in which we are practicing – and for setting firm expectations about what “technological competency” will mean in the very near future, as is similarly reflected in the Law Society of Ontario’s ‘technological competence’ definition within the Rules of Professional Conduct.
This period of change will no doubt be challenging, but the aim to apply technology to achieve the goal of “advancing the consistent, independent, impartial, and accessible administration of justice” is one that should be celebrated.
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