Lexpert Magazine

LEXPERT MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2018 51 | ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | ters calls "walkaround" training. "We liter- ally have experts walk the floor and sit down with lawyers to find out where there has been good pickup and where it is being ig- nored," Peters says. "It works better than just rolling out with an email that says 'Guess what we're doing and good luck with it'." Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt uses a three- pronged approach to ensure its lawyers are technologically competent. Initially, the firm resorts to presentations on technology that are already available in-house. "e presentations are basically an introduction to the soware's capability and how to use it with the objective of demonstrating how to incorporate it into practice," says Natalie Munroe, who leads Osler Works – Trans- actional from her Ottawa base. Osler then integrates the technologi- cal training into the substantive training. "For example, in due diligence training, we also talk about the technology that is used to support due diligence," Munroe says. "We don't start with tech, rather we start with a problem that clients want us to solve. So when we train folks, we make sure they understand the service that the tech is supporting." Finally, hands-on training is made avail- able. "For example, Kira's contract analy- sis soware is used only by Osler Works – Transactional, so we provide hands-on training in its use to students and associates working with us," Munroe says. "at in- volves a high-level presentation that focuses on how we can incorporate technology and alternative services providers to best meet the clients' needs." Clients are, aer all, what it's all about. And as the chief innovation officer of a leading global firm put it, the main risk to law firms is that they will lose their long- standing ability to charge for their ineffi- ciencies. "Legal technology, particularly ar- tificial intelligence, that involves comput- ers performing functions far faster and bet- ter than lawyers and paralegals, will go to the heart of how law is practised in Canada and globally," says Barry Leon, a mediator and arbitrator who practised with Torys and Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall LLP before serving as Commercial Court Judge of the High Court of the Eastern Ca- ribbean Supreme Court. Julius Melnitzer is a writer based in Toronto. Canada's law schools may be lagging behind the curve: not a single one features a mandatory course in legal tech. They're even having a hard time familiarizing students with the law as it relates to technology. "Our legislation is moving so slowly on this front that it's just not reaching law schools," says Stephanie Vaccari in Baker McKenzie LLP's Toronto office. But things may be changing. "The focus at law school has been teaching students how to think like a lawyer, rather than how to be one," says Monica Goyal, an adjunct professor at Osgoode, business lawyer and innovator who founded Alluvion Law and My Legal Briefcase, two cutting-edge legal services providers. "But if you look at the market dynamics and the challenges young lawyers are facing in terms of getting placements, it's clear that they're not getting sufficient skill-based training to actually practice, and I think that we may be seeing more of the UK or Scotland model, where lawyers have to show some competency around skills to get licensed." Students in Goyal's course, Using Digital Tech in Law Practice, advance and resolve a simulated litigation file using state-of-the-art practice management software and legal technology. They're also exposed to topics such as data analytics in law firms, cyber security and online dispute resolution. Goyal has accompanied five students to The Institute of Future Law Practice's (IFLP) initial boot camp in Chicago. The program, which aims at providing foundational knowledge for "effective 21st-century law practice," combines internships and field placements preceded by exposure to basic accounting and business principles; professional communication and teamwork; core elements of M&A; Litigation management; IP strategy; high-volume commercial contracting; and basic principles of project management, process improvement, and data analytics. Following law school, Ryerson University's Law Practice Program, led by Chris Bentley and now in its fifth year, provides one of the avenues by which graduates can obtain their licenses to practice in Ontario. It offers an innovative alternative to traditional articling through an eight-month course that combines four months of online training and experiential learning with a four-month work term. Closely associated with the Law Practice Program is the Legal Innovation Zone, also led by Bentley, a co-working space and legal tech incubator. "There's no question that, as time goes on, AI and legal tech are taking off," Bentley says. For the time being, however, most of that fuel is coming from law firms. The challenge, says Theo Ling in Baker McKenzie's Toronto office, is to target legal tech training and development in a strategic, organized way. "Some lawyers and non-lawyers are technically very savvy, but it's unrealistic to think that any firm is going to get its general population to explore technology in depth," he says. "So the next best thing is to provide enough understanding and training to educate lawyers and give them real-life experience with the objective of enabling them to have an intelligent conversation with their clients." — Julius Melnitzer LAW SCHOOLS CATCHING UP

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