Data Analytics for Lawyers 2022

Course Chair
Chilwin Cheng — Ascendion Law, Vancouver

About the Course Chair
Chilwin Cheng is a skillful business litigator with deep experience in regulatory and criminal defence work, and public law. He is a leader in his field, having been Chief Counsel of the regulator of Canada's public equities markets and trading systems, a prosecutor with the BC Securities Commission, and a former Crown counsel. His current work includes cases involving the intersection of criminal and regulatory investigations and s. 7 of the Charter, a challenge under federalism principles, and has had recent success in the Court of Appeal challenging provincial regulators. He's a thought leader in law practice innovation and a pioneer in the legal industry using quantitative approaches to litigation assessment and management as Chair of the CBA BC's Business Practice and Innovation Committee. He is passionate about professional development as the Chair of CLEBC's upcoming White Collar Crime and Regulatory Proceedings conference in fall of 2022.

Faculty
D. Geoffrey Cowper, KC — Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver
Digby R. Leigh — Digby Leigh & Company, North Vancouver
Donny Surtani — Barrister, Arbitrator and Mediator, Toronto
Sarah Sutherland — President and CEO, CanLII, Vancouver
Paul-Erik Veel — Lenczner Slaght, Toronto

Click here for full faculty bios

Welcome and Land Acknowledgement (9:00 - 9:05)

Chilwin Cheng — Ascendion Law, Vancouver

Big Data and the Future of Litigation (9:05 - 9:20)

D. Geoffrey Cowper, KC — Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver

BREAK (9:20 - 9:25)

Primary Law as Data (9:25 - 9:50)

• what is law from a data perspective?
• how does the structure of the law and legal systems affect its use as data?
• so what can the law as data tell us that the law as language cannot?

Sarah Sutherland — President and CEO, CanLII, Vancouver

BREAK (9:50 - 9:55)

Data and Law Practice Management (9:55 - 10:20)

• reviewing the transition away from hourly billing
• how data has been used to improve efficiencies and overall profitability
• how technology has been used in pricing

Digby R. Leigh — Digby Leigh & Company, North Vancouver

BREAK (10:20 - 10:35)

Descriptive Statistics and the Quantitative Analysis of the Common Law (10:35 - 11:10)

• Quantitative analysis of judges' decisions can provide insights that complement conventional legal analysis. The insights derived from quantitative legal analytics can help lawyers make more accurate assessments of their cases and improve their advocacy.
• The Lenczner Slaght Supreme Court Leave Project provides an example of how machine learning tools can be applied to legal data. That project includes a dataset that includes dozens of variables about every Supreme Court of Canada leave application decision from January 1, 2018 onward. In addition to allowing us to draw insights about what factors make cases more or less likely to get leave to the Supreme Court of Canada, we have built a machine learning model that predicts the probabilities of cases getting leave.
• Over time, we're beginning to see more commercially available legal analytics tools. Lawyers practicing in niche practice areas where legal data analytics tools are unavailable but might be useful should consider whether the creation of their own data assets might add value to their practices. 

Paul-Erik Veel — Lenczner Slaght, Toronto

BREAK (11:10 - 11:15)

Decision Tree Analysis (11:15 - 11:35)

• why use quantitative risk analysis techniques to evaluate dispute risk
• how to do so—a case study: building a model, interpreting outputs, using sensitivity testing
• real-world use cases

Donny Surtani — Barrister, Arbitrator and Mediator, Toronto

Measuring Uncertainty in Litigation (11:35 - 11:55) 

• the difference between variability and uncertainty
• cognitive bias and the difference between looking at aggregate risk and unique risk
• using Monte Carlo techniques to model uncertainty and risk in litigation
• using sensitivity analysis to help guide litigation decisions
• using modelling interpretation in litigation, settlement, and mediation

Chilwin Cheng — Ascendion Law, Vancouver

Panel Discussion (11:55 - 12:35)

Moderator: Chilwin Cheng — Ascendion Law, Vancouver

D. Geoffrey Cowper, KC — Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver
Digby R. Leigh — Digby Leigh & Company, North Vancouver
Donny Surtani — Barrister, Arbitrator and Mediator, Toronto
Sarah Sutherland — President and CEO, CanLII, Vancouver
Paul-Erik Veel — Lenczner Slaght, Toronto

Concluding Remarks (12:35 - 12:45)

Chilwin Cheng — Ascendion Law, Vancouver