Theory and Practice of Mediation offers students an interactive opportunity to develop an understanding of the utility and impact of mediation within the context of the dispute resolution spectrum. Students will gain knowledge through lecture, group discussions, simulations, placements in the Toronto Small Claims Court (circumstances permitting), and final evaluated mediations. As well, the seminar provides an opportunity for students to undertake a paper assignment to examine both theoretical and practical issues discussed during the term. Students will be engaged in a hands-on learning opportunity to explore negotiation, mediation styles and tactics, while being mindful of ethics and professional obligations.
Course or Seminar Category: Family Law
Litigation Dispute Resolution and the Administration of Justice Colloquium
The LDA Colloquium provides students with the opportunity, in collaboration with their peers, to develop and refine a major research paper, ideally, on a scholarly project commenced in a previous seminar or course. It is designed to enable students to take a piece of writing to the stage where it is publishable, and to help them to develop the skills to do so with other scholarly writing.
The seminar proceeds in three phases.
First, students identify the research that they wish to develop in the seminar, and they consult on ways to develop and refine the research. They present their paper proposal to the class for comment and discussion and provide comment on the proposals of other members of the seminar.
Second, based on the proposal and the discussion, students conduct further research and writing in order to craft the substance and structure of their papers. Based on an outline prepared for the class, they present their papers and receive feedback on the analysis and the direction of the argument.
Third, as the papers progress through initial drafts, the students participate in intensive editing workshops to provide them with techniques for improving the quality of their writing.
Dispute Settlement: Alternatives to Resolving Disputes
Students are introduced to an analysis of the dispute resolution continuum and will be required to identify where and how, through the different processes, dispute resolution is achieved. Students will gain an appreciation of the historical development and current application of various dispute resolution processes, including litigation, arbitration, negotiation, and mediation. The process of litigation as applicable to the adversarial system of justice will be examined. The seminar focuses on an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to dispute resolution as well as the appropriateness of when to use them. Students will also gain a practical understanding of the theoretical aspects of certain processes available for resolving disputes within the legal system as a applicable to the Province of Ontario, including litigation and methods of alternative dispute resolution including negotiation, lobbying and mediation. The seminar will provide an opportunity to develop and practice some of the techniques of dispute resolution under the supervision of members of academic staff. Teaching methods include: lectures/seminars (Socratic and otherwise), facilitated class discussions, interactive small seminar and larger group exercises.
Advanced Children & the Law Workshop
This workshop enhances students’ practical and theoretical understanding of child protection. Building on the Children and the Law seminar, students explore the system through the perspectives of those most impacted and examine the socio-economic factors that lead to family involvement. You will develop skills in document drafting by working with counsel and participate in two four-week placements (one day each week), mentored by Children’s Aid Societies and legal counsel representing parents and children. Additionally, you will hear from parents with lived experience, engage with community partners, and learn self-care strategies—fostering reflection on the connections between theory, policy, and practice.
The exact externship experience will vary depending on placements, but typical activities include: observing preparations for a temporary care hearing, summary judgment motions, or trial preparation with parent’s counsel or society counsel; observing a supervising lawyer negotiating a temporary or final resolution of a child protection case; attending court and/or mediations with a supervising lawyer, followed by debriefs; observing Children’s Aid Society-supervised access visits and subsequent debriefs; and spending a day with a child protection team to assess intervention needs for a family—and subsequent debriefs. Placements will be in person.
Theory and Practice of Mediation
Theory and Practice of Mediation offers students an interactive opportunity to develop an understanding of the utility and impact of mediation within the context of the dispute resolution spectrum. Students will gain knowledge through lecture, group discussions, simulations, placements in the Toronto Small Claims Court (circumstances permitting), and final evaluated mediations. As well, the seminar provides an opportunity for students to undertake a paper assignment to examine both theoretical and practical issues discussed during the term. Students will be engaged in a hands-on learning opportunity to explore negotiation, mediation styles and tactics, while being mindful of ethics and professional obligations.
Lawyer as Negotiator
Law schools have traditionally prepared lawyers for litigation and the courts, although in practice lawyers spend much of their time resolving disputes through forms of dispute resolution, including negotiation and mediation. Lawyer as Negotiator is designed to familiarize students with representative negotiation theory and practice, and specifically how theory informs the development of bargaining strategy in a legal setting. Students will attend weekly lectures, conduct negotiation simulations, and participate in small group discussions and coaching sessions which will introduce and critique the principles of representative negotiation. Students will be expected to prepare detailed negotiation plans for their weekly negotiations as well as a final negotiation held at the end of the semester. Students will be coached and critiqued by dispute resolution practitioners throughout the year and will be encouraged to reflect on and discuss their weekly negotiations in small working groups of either 14 or 16 students. The first half of the course will introduce students to distributive and integrative bargaining techniques as well as the importance of developing a negotiation strategy and a detailed plan for each negotiation. The second half of the course will focus on the importance of power, gender, culture, ethics, and emotions, among other issues, in representative negotiations.
Health Law
This seminar explores the dynamic and challenging field of health law, with a focus on practical issues. The course provides a survey of the legal framework and policy considerations underlying the cornerstone areas of health law, including: consent, capacity and substitute decision-making; mental health law; professional regulation and governance; medical malpractice; and health information privacy. Practical and topical issues will be explored in the areas of: elder law (issues in long-term care facilities, retirement homes); the law of medical assistance in dying in Canada; human rights in health care; hospitals and health care facilities (including physician privileges, employment issues and tensions between administrators, healthcare professionals and other stakeholders); the civil commitment system; reproductive health and surrogacy; governance of health care and corporate health issues.
Typical seminars will cover substantive law including case law and statutes, as well as policy issues and examples of applications in practice. Students are expected to actively participate via class discussion and a class presentation. Guest speakers will provide unique perspectives on particular topics. Students will be asked to attend (in person or through electronic means) a hearing in the health law field and to reflect on that proceeding in a midterm written paper, and to explore and analyze an issue in health law through a major research paper. Through readings, class discussion and assignments, students will gain a foundation for a dedicated health law practice and an analytical framework for addressing health law issues as they arise in other practice areas.
Trusts
Trust law is an important legal discipline in its own right; however, as trusts can appear in other areas of law, including family law, corporate law, real estate, and estate planning and litigation, having a foundational knowledge of trusts can be of assistance to a lawyer no matter what area of law they practice. This course seeks to provide an understanding not only of what a trust is and how a trust is created, but also explore the legal relationship between the trustee, the beneficiary, and the property that is held in trust. The topics to be covered include the legal nature of trusts and how they are created, the reasons why trusts are created or come into existence by operation of law, the various kinds of trusts, including express trusts, purpose trusts, constructive trusts, and resulting trusts, as well as the legal relationship between the trustee and the beneficiaries, and the corresponding duties of the trustee and the rights the beneficiaries may exercise. The real-world use of trusts, and the implications and intersectionality of trusts with other areas of law, will be covered if time permits.
Administration of Civil Justice: Estate Litigation
This seminar will examine the substantive, procedural, and practical issues surrounding litigating certain claims by and against estates. Topics may include, depending upon available time, a detailed review of will challenges, dependant support claims, appointment and removal of estate trustees, passing of accounts, quantum meruit claims, and solicitor’s negligence in drafting wills. We will also examine the role of mandatory mediation and other negotiation techniques in resolving estate litigation. Students will also participate in a mock mediation exercise.
For each of these topics, we will explore how a client’s case is developed through the interaction of the case law, the Rules of Civil Procedure, the applicable statutes, the rules of evidence, and the psychology of the family unit.
Children And The Law
This seminar will examine both theoretical and practical aspects of child protection law. The theoretical component will include an analysis of family autonomy in the face of state intervention and the best interests of children in a risk-driven protection environment as opposed to the conventional benefits-driven best interests tests applied in private custody cases. We will explore Charter implications of various aspects of child protection law throughout the seminar, as well as the inter-disciplinary nature of child protection work.
The practical component will provide students with the opportunity to examine child protection issues through case studies and to engage in case preparation for selected fact patterns. Both theoretical and practical components will examine tactical, ethical and policy questions throughout the seminar.