The Art of Practice

For lawyers with a higher calling, effective practice is an art. Check in for regular case summaries, practice points, client service tips and more.

Today
Today
lawyer facing computer screen with AI agents

The Future is Always Six Months Away: Anticipating the dawn of LLM agents in legal work

  • August 28, 2024
  • Colin Lachance

Agentic AI frameworks are increasingly being used in software development and customer service environments, but is there a place for them in law? OBA’s Innovator in Residence tackles that question with a look at a common law-firm scenario where the combined access and analytical and reasoning capabilities of these ‘agents’ could cultivate unexpected efficiencies and client satisfaction.

women with finger on chin and ponderous expression on her face

Wanted: The right legal tech for my firm

  • August 28, 2024
  • Tali Green

Ready to invest in AI but unsure of where to invest or allocate resources? Tali Green offers her top tips for lawyers on how to find the tools that will alleviate pain-points, increase revenue, and make your team happier and more productive.

young adults - one man, one woman - in business attire in office pumping fists and grinning in excitement

SPILL: What excites you about your area of practice?

  • June 13, 2024

With Call to the Bar ceremonies taking place across the province this month, and a new cohort of legal change-makers carving out career paths, what better time to pull back the curtain to expose the possibilities – the intrigue and enrichment – found in some of law’s most dynamic legal specialties and settings?

AI rendering of young woman against colourful pixelated computer-screen-like background

Tackling the Problem of AI “Revenge Porn” in Canada: Existing Law and Upcoming Legislative Reform

  • June 13, 2024
  • Mavra Choudhry and Shalom Cumbo-Steinmetz, Torys LLP

The popularity of generative AI applications has skyrocketed, leading to an explosion of unique legal issues and potential harms that the law has been called upon to address. One of the most severe is the use of deepfake technology or AI image generation to create fake images depicting a real, identifiable person in an intimate, explicit, or pornographic manner – which has already become an all-too-common practice with a disproportionately harmful impact on women.

scales of justice with coins one on the left scale weighing it down

The Test for Security for Costs, in Ontario, Clarified

  • June 12, 2024
  • Katherine L. Shadbolt

Litigation can be a long and expensive process. It’s important that a party who is owed costs by the opposing party has assurance they will be able to recoup the full amount owed before further steps are taken in a proceeding or appeal – especially when the other party won’t take reasonable steps to settle. Katherine Shadbolt outlines the rules and strategies for lawyers to consider in seeking security for costs and the options available to enforce payment of a cost order.

man seated at desk in front of laptop computer, interacting with generative AI on his phone

To Use or Not to Use: Navigating privacy risks associated with generative AI tools

  • March 14, 2024
  • James G. Kosa, Vipal Jain and Yatin Sidhu, Weirfoulds LLP

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Cohere, and DALL-E2 are popular tools that allow organizations to generate images, text, sounds and creative content based on a prompt. While these tools can provide practical benefits such as improved efficiency and productivity, they raise privacy risks which are important to mitigate.

A multicultural, multigenerational family pictured in an affectionate huddle

Family Dynamics: Five ways they come into play in practice

  • March 14, 2024
  • Gosha G.S. Sekhon

Whether it’s taking the time to get context around a client’s instructions, avoiding generic definitions, understanding that experiencing the death of a family member can be a form of trauma, or remembering to be alert to unconscious bias, lawyers who devote due consideration to family dynamics become better service providers.

Woman sitting cross-legged with computer on lap looking in surprise at the screen

SPILL: Your most surprising answers from AI

  • March 14, 2024

Many lawyers contemplating making greater use of generative AI in their practices – a prospect entertained with equal parts curiosity and caution – are in the early stages of testing out just what the rewards and risks might be. So, we asked members who’ve used AI tools, what has been the most surprising result they’ve received from a request.