Programme

9:00 a.m.

Welcome

Dean Bruce Elman and Prof. Jasminka Kalajdzic

9:15-9:45

Opening Address:  What is Access to Justice in the Context of Class Actions?

The Honourable Frank Iacobucci,C.C., Q.C., LL.D.

Key Questions:  What does access to justice mean?  In the context of class actions, is access to justice equivalent to access to the courts?  Does it entail concepts of substantive justice or procedural fairness? 

9:45-10:00

AccAccess to Justice Fund – Update

Mar Mark Sandler (Chair, Board of Trustees, Law Foundation of Ontario)

10:00-11:00

PanPanel One:  The Fringe Class Actions:  Overcoming the “Other” Barriers to Justice

R. Douglas Elliott (Roy Elliott O’Connor LLP)

Louis Sokolov (Sack Goldblatt LLP)

Dean Lorne Sossin (Osgoode Hall Law School)

Chair:  Prof. Jasminka Kalajdzic

Key Questions:  Which barriers to justice exist beyond financial ones?  What are the “fringe” class actions?  What are the incentives for lawyers to take on such cases?  Can incentives be devised or recalibrated to increase the number of class actions in poverty law, human rights or environmental litigation? Are "diffuse" claims (indivisible group rights) amenable to class litigation in the same way as collective individual rights claims?

11:00-11:15

Cof Coffee Break

11:15-12:15

Panel Two:  Comparative Access to Justice:  Exploring the Spectrum of Mass Harm Redress

Prof. Joanne Blennerhassett (University College Dublin)

Dr. Christopher Hodges (Oxford University)

Prof. Howard Erichson (Fordham University, NY)

Chair:  Prof. Jacob Ziegel

Key Questions:  Why are class actions chosen as the vehicles for redress in certain cases of mass harm, but not others?  What other mechanisms exist in the U.S., Ireland, U.K. and elsewhere to respond to mass harm?  Does the absence of a class proceeding mechanism mean less access to justice?

12:15-1:30

Lunch

1:45-2:30

Keynote:  Empirical and Theoretical Approaches to Measuring Access to Justice

Dr. Deborah R. Hensler (Professor, Stanford Law School)

2:30-2:45

Coffee Break

2:45-3:30

Panel Three:  Communication with the Class:  Access to Information as a Key to Justice

Todd Hilsee (The Hilsee Group LLC)

Stephanie Poulin (Option Consommateurs)

Student presentation:  “Notice and Communication via Social Media”

Chair:  Prof. Gemma Smyth (University of Windsor)

Key Questions:  Why is notice key to meaningful access to justice?  How can better notices be crafted to increase access to justice?  How is communication integrally linked to ethical representation of class members?

3:30-4:30

PanPanel Four:  Access to Ethical Lawyering

Dr. Deborah Hensler (Stanford University)

Hon. Justice Paul Perell (Superior Court of Justice)

Prof. Jasminka Kalajdzic (University of Windsor)

Chair:  Lorne Sossin

Key Questions:  Are class members more or less vulnerable to unethical lawyering than other users of the justice system?  What are the particular ethical challenges of class proceedings?  Is judicial oversight enough?

4:30-4:45

ConConcluding Remarks from Day One

5:00-7:00

Coc Cocktails and Dinner (Vanier Hall, University of Windsor)

8:45-9:00

Op  Opening Remarks, Day Two

9:00-10:00

PanPanel Five:  Judge as Inquisitor, Fiduciary and Policymaker

Hon. Justice Robert Sharpe (Court of Appeal for Ontario)

Dean Daniel Jutras (McGill Law School)

Prof. Catherine Piche (Univ. de Montreal)

Chair:  Prof. Bill Bogart

Key Questions:  How do judges perceive their role in the class action context?  Is there a divergence of views on the bench?    Does class proceedings legislation necessitate an inquisitorial approach to judging, and if so, what are the challenges for class action judges in fulfilling that role?  Should we also conceive of the class action judge as an actor in public governance, with a responsibility to consider interests that extend beyond those of the litigants?

10:00-10:15

Co   Coffee Break

10:15-11:15

Panel Six:  Substantive Access to Justice:  What are Class Members Getting and How Much Does it Cost Them?

Prof. Charles M. Silver (University of Texas School of Law)

Paul Morrison (McCarthys)

Nicholas M. Pace (Rand Institute)

Chair:  Chief Justice Warren Winkler

Key Questions:  How is substantive justice to be measured in the class action context?  What is the empirical evidence in the U.S. and Canada regarding class member take-up of settlement and trial awards?  What are class members paying for legal services?  Are the concerns about overcompensation of lawyers and undercompensation of class members exaggerated?

11:15-12:30

Panel Seven:  Access to Justice On The Ground: Practitioners' Perspectives

Tim Buckley (BLG)

Won Kim (Kim Orr)

Kevin Ross (Lerners)

Lawrence Thacker (Lenczner Slaght)

Chair:  Justice Terrence Patterson

Key Questions:   What do class action litigators and their clients, be they the class members or defendants, perceive to be the particular challenges or barriers to effective access to justice?  Do incentives need to be recalibrated in order to improve access to the courts? 

12:30-1:15

LunLunch

1:15-2:15

Keynote:  Choosing the Right Tool(s) for Advancing Access to Justice:  Examining the New EU Model for Collective Redress

Dr. Christopher Hodges (Head of the CMS Research Programme on Civil Justice Systems, University of Oxford, and Erasmus Professor of the Fundamentals of Private Law, Erasmus Law School, the Netherlands)

2:15-3:00

PanPanel Eight:  Behaviour Modification vs. Access to Justice

Prof. Jeffrey Berryman (Professor, University of Windsor Faculty of Law)

John Kleefeld (University of Saskatchewan College of Law)

Chair:  Prof. Jasminka Kalajdzic

Key Questions:  Is there a tension between the goals of access to justice and behaviour modification?  When in conflict, should one goal take priority?  At what stages of a class proceeding are the objectives most pressing?  How can the success of a class action in meeting either objective be measured? 

3:00-3:15

Concluding Remarks