More lawyers, more litigation?

Exploring trends in litigation and the legal profession in Ontario, Canada

Authors

  • Avner Levin Ryerson University
  • Asher Alkoby Ryerson University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1118

Keywords:

Litigation trends, access to justice, Ontario, Canada

Abstract

This brief paper explores the correlation and potential relationship between the composition of the legal profession and trends in litigation, in Ontario, Canada. Specifically, we ask whether there is a positive correlation between the numbers of lawyers and paralegals licensed to practice in the province, and the amount of civil litigation initiated across the province. The paper then discusses possible reasons for the trends in the profession and in litigation, and considers traditional objections, such as the argument that an increase in the number of lawyers will lead to 'litigation explosion'. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research in this area.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

        Metrics

Views 569
Downloads:
PDF 394
XML 291


Author Biographies

Avner Levin, Ryerson University

Department of Law and Business, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street Toronto, Ontario, M5B 2K3 Canada. Email address: avner.levin@ryerson.ca

Asher Alkoby, Ryerson University

Department of Law and Business, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street Toronto, Ontario, M5B 2K3 Canada. Email address: aalkoby@ryerson.ca

References

Abel, R.L., 1988. The contradictions of professionalism. In: R.L. Abel and P.S.C. Lewis, eds., Lawyers in Society. Vol. 1, The Common Law World. Berkeley: University of California Press, 186–243.

Alexander, R., 1994. Before you believe in a litigation explosion. The New York Times, 8 April.

Alkoby, A., and Alon-Shenker, P., 2017. Out of the Closet and Up the Ladder? Diversity in Ontario’s Big Law Firms. Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice, 34(2), 40–72.

Andrew, E., Robson, J., and Lippert, O., 1999. Law and markets: Is Canada inheriting America’s litigious legacy? Journal of Canadian Studies, 34(1), 184–200.

Baxter, J., and Yoon, A., 2014. No lawyer for a hundred miles? Mapping the new geography of access of justice in Canada. Osgoode Hall Law Journal [online], 52, 9–57. Available from: http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj/vol52/iss1/1 [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Bielenand, S., and Marneffe, W., 2018. Testing the Lawyer-Induced Litigation Hypothesis in Europe. Applied Economics [online], 50(16). Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2017.1374544 [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Bocharov, T., 2021. Is there a “compensation culture” in contemporary Russia? The role of liability insurance, non-pecuniary damages, and legal profession in personal injury litigation. Oñati Socio-Legal Series [online], 11(2-this issue). Available from: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1141 [Accessed 9 March 2021].

Burns, R.P., 2013. Advocacy in the Era of the Vanishing Trial. Kansas Law Review [online], vol. 61, 893. Available from: https://www.scholars.northwestern.edu/en/publications/advocacy-in-the-era-of-the-vanishing-trial [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Chan, K.W., 2019. Japanese Litigants after the Justice System Reform: Unreluctant or Still Reluctant? Paper presented at the “Too Much Litigation?” workshop. Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law, 27–28 June.

Clio, 2018. Legal Trends Report [online]. Burnaby: Clio. Available from: https://www.clio.com/resources/legal-trends/2018-report/ [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Daniel, S., and Martin, J., 2016. Where Have All the Cases Gone? The Strange Success of Tort Reform Revisited. Emory Law Journal [online], 65(6), 1445. Available from: http://law.emory.edu/elj/content/volume-65/issue-6/articles-essays/where-cases-gone-success-tort-reform-revisited.html [Accessed 15 January 2020].

de Groot‐van Leeuwen, L., 2019. Too little litigation. Paper presented at the “Too Much Litigation?” workshop. Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law, 27–28 June.

Easton, S., 1997. Some economics of the Canadian legal profession. In: J. Robson and O. Lippert, eds., Law and Markets: Is Canada Inheriting America’s Litigious Legacy? Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, 75–86.

Engel, D., 2016. The Myth of the Litigious Society: Why We Don’t Sue [online]. Chicago University Press. Available from: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226305189.001.0001 [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Fish, D., 2017. Are there too many lawyers? PrecedentJD [online], 6 September. Available from: http://precedentjd.com/news/are-there-too-many-lawyers/ [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Galanter, M., 1986. The day after the litigation explosion. Maryland Law Review [online], 46(1), 3–39. Available from: https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/mlr/vol46/iss1/4/ [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Galanter, M., 1996. Real World Torts: An Antidote to Anecdote. Maryland Law Review [online], 55(4), 1093–1095. Available from: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/56358099.pdf [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Galanter, M., 2004. The Vanishing Trial: An Examination of Trials and Related Matters in Federal and State Courts. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies [online], 1(3), 459–570. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-1461.2004.00014.x [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Gonzalez, G., 2006. Rising litigation trends increase demand for E&O coverage in Canada; Legal changes ease filing of class actions in several jurisdictions. Business Insurance, 40(44), 27.

Harnick, C., 1997. Civil justice reform in Ontario. In: J. Robson and O. Lippert, eds., Law and Markets: Is Canada inheriting America’s Litigious Legacy? Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, 109–114.

Katvan, E., 2013. “Overcrowding the profession” – An artificial argument? Oñati Socio-Legal Series [online], 3(3), 409–429. Available from: http://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/viewFile/207/250 [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Katvan, E., and Shnoor, B., 2021. Don Quixote de la Corte: Serial litigants, emotions, and access to justice. Oñati Socio-Legal Series [online], 11(2-this issue). Available from: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1117 [Accessed 9 March 2021].

Kritzer, H.M., 2004. Disappearing trials – A comparative perspective. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies [online], 1(3), 735–754. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-1461.2004.00022.x [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Kritzer, H.M., 2008. To lawyer or not to lawyer: Is that the question? Journal of Empirical Legal Studies [online], 5(4), 875–906. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-1461.2008.00144.x [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Kritzer, H.M., 2010. Examining the real demand for legal services. Fordham Urban Law Journal, 37(1), 255–272.

Law Society of Upper Canada (LSO), 2016. Annual Report Data. Law Society of Upper Canada: 2016 annual report [online], p. 50. Available from: http://annualreport.lsuc.on.ca/2016/en/annual-report-data.html [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Law Society of Upper Canada (LSO), 2017. Law Society benchers approve action plan to improve access to justice for families via special licensing for paralegals and others [online]. Press release. 1 December. Available from: https://lso.ca/news-events/latest-news/latest-news-2017/law-society-benchers-approve-action-plan-to-improve-access-to-justice-for-families-via-special-licen [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Levin, A., and Alkoby, A., 2012. Is Access to the Profession Access to Justice? Lessons from Canada. International Journal of the Legal Profession [online], 19(2–3), 283–299. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/09695958.2013.771123 [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Menkel-Meadow, C., 2021. What is an appropriate measure of litigation? Quantification, qualification and differentiation of dispute resolution. Oñati Socio-Legal Series [online], 11(2-this issue). Available from: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1146 [Accessed 9 March 2021].

Niblett, A., and Yoon, A.H., 2017. Unintended consequences: The regressive effects of increased access to courts. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies [online], 14(1), 5–30. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/jels.12140 [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Nichols, P., 2003. Trust in Institutions in Kazakhstan. Central Asian Journal of Management, Economics and Social Research, 3, 159–172.

Nockleby, J.E., 2007. How to Manufacture a Crisis: Evaluating Empirical Claims Behind “Tort Reform”. Oregon Law Review, 86, 553–554.

Olson, W., 1997. How America got its litigation explosion: Why Canada should not consider itself immune. In: J. Robson and O. Lippert, eds., Law and Markets: Is Canada Inheriting America’s Litigious Legacy? Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, pp. 21–26.

Onţanu, E., and Velicogna, M., 2021. The challenge of comparing EU Member States judicial data. Oñati Socio-Legal Series [online], 11(2-this issue). Available from: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1151 [Accessed 9 March 2021].

Ostrom, B., 2019. Under Pressure: How Courts Control the Volume of Criminal Litigation using Differentiation, Dismissal, and Delay. Paper presented at the “Too Much Litigation?” workshop. Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law, 27–28 June.

Roach Anleu, S., and Mack, K., 2019. Too much case processing, too little case resolution: Judicial strategies for moving cases along to finalisation. Paper presented at the “Too Much Litigation?” workshop. Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law, 27–28 June.

Scallen, E.A., 2017. In a World of Vanishing Trials: Why the Evidence Course Matters More than Ever – and could Matter Even More. The Review of Litigation, 36(3), 513–527.

Schultz, U., 2019. Coordinates of the delivery of justice in Germany. Paper presented at the “Too Much Litigation?” workshop. Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law, 27–28 June.

Seidman, G., 2021. A hard look at common law administrative tribunals. Oñati Socio-Legal Series [online], 11(2-this issue). Available from: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1150 [Accessed 9 March 2021].

Solomon, J. M., 2014. Juries, Social Norms, and Civil Justice. Alabama Law Review [online], 65(5), 1125–1128. Available from: https://www.law.ua.edu/resources/pubs/lrarticles/Volume%2065%20Issue%205/Issue%205/Solomon_1125-1203.pdf [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Statistics Canada, 2018. General civil court cases, by type of action, Canada and selected provinces and territories [online]. Data set. 28 November. Available from: https://doi.org/10.25318/3510011401-eng [Accessed 15 January 2020].

The Ottawa Citizen, 1996. Law of oversupply: Canada's lawyers make sound proposals for reforming civil law while missing one problem – too many lawyers. The Ottawa Citizen, 29 August.

Titaev, K., 2019. Too Many Claims in Russia: mobilization of law or dysfunction of the state agencies. Paper presented at the “Too Much Litigation?” workshop. Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law, 27–28 June.

Trabucco, L., 2018. What are we waiting for? It’s time to regulate paralegals in Canada. Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice [online], vol. 35, 149–176. Available from: https://doi.org/10.22329/wyaj.v35i0.5277 [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Yates, J., Davis, B.C., and Glick, H.R., 2001. The Politics of Torts: Explaining Litigation Rates in the American States. State Politics & Policy Quarterly [online], 1(2), 127–143. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/153244000100100201 [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Yates, J., Tankersley, H., and Brace, P., 2010. Assessing the Impact of State Judicial Structures on Citizen Litigiousness. Political Research Quarterly [online], 63, 796–810. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912909336271 [Accessed 15 January 2020].

Ziv, N., 2008. Who moved my gown? On the unauthorized practice of Law. Mehkarei Mishpat, 24(2), 439–489.

Downloads

Published

01-04-2021

How to Cite

Levin, A. and Alkoby, A. (2021) “More lawyers, more litigation? : Exploring trends in litigation and the legal profession in Ontario, Canada”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 11(2), pp. 535–556. doi: 10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1118.