Sweeping changes in civil justice and legal practice are testing lawyers across all fields
Change is nothing new for the legal profession, but rarely has it come so thick and fast – or demanded so much resilience from lawyers in every field. In this issue, we see how the ground is shifting beneath our feet, not only in the courts but also in the tools we use to serve clients.
The Ontario government’s sweeping civil justice reforms are a case in point. In medical malpractice and commercial litigation, lawyers will be asked to adapt to a new world of compressed timelines, limited oral discovery, and increased upfront obligations. For medical malpractice counsel, the elimination of oral examinations and the move to lawyer-prepared witness statements threaten to upend the careful fact-finding that has long been the bedrock of these complex cases. As Aleks Mladenovic at Thomson Rogers put it, “Every medical malpractice case I had won hinged on impeachment – where a physician says one thing at discovery and another at trial. That will now be impossible to achieve.”
Commercial litigators are also forced to rethink their strategies. The proposal to resolve most disputes within two years, regardless of complexity, means that cases once measured in years must now be resolved in months. The pressure to adapt is immense, requiring stamina, creativity, and a willingness to embrace new working methods.
Meanwhile, in family law, the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence is transforming the risks and rewards of practice. Lawyers must now be resilient not just in the face of emotional and procedural challenges but also as they learn to harness – and sometimes rein in – powerful new technologies. The lesson here is that resilience is not about resisting change; it’s about learning, adapting, and maintaining professional judgment even as the tools of the trade evolve.
In times of upheaval, it is tempting to focus only on survival. But as Cheryl Foy reminds us, true resilience means returning to the fundamentals: upholding the rule of law, acting with integrity, and remembering that our highest calling is to serve justice itself. In the face of relentless change, this unwavering commitment to principle will sustain both our profession and the public’s trust in it.
This article appeared in the October 2025 issue of Canadian Lawyer magazine.
