A pilot project to reduce the oversupply of chambers applications has been initiated by the Vancouver Law Courts after several civil matters were bumped from the chambers because of too many applications.
The courts recently proposed implementing several assize weeks to better accommodate long chambers (two-plus hours) applications during civil litigations. This issue has been an ongoing concern for the past two years, causing matters that may not proceed in court to be bumped from the chambers list.
“It’s certainly been a problem getting dates,” says Michael Dew, a Vancouver civil litigator.
At times, Dew claims to have had problems booking long chambers dates from an increasing amount of lawyers seeking appointments at the same time.
“This is a good example of our court taking some initiative to solve a problem, and I hope that counsel will take advantage of it,” says Dean Crawford, a civil litigator and vice president of the Canadian Bar Association British Columbia branch.
For Crawford, the former method for chambers applications is “frustrating for both clients and lawyers” who have prepared for a hearing and arrive at the court “only to learn that you’re not going to be able to proceed.”
In a press release from the Supreme Court of B.C., Chief Justice Robert Bauman said although the project is designed to improve matters, it can not “guarantee that every member on the assize list will be heard” and counsel “must be available to proceed on short notice during the assize week.”
“Like many things, this is an initiative where it’s going to require the co-operation of counsel to get things done efficiently for their clients,” says Crawford. “So it would be my hope that counsel will do that, and take advantage of this to their own benefit.”
“I think it will allow parties more certainty about getting before the court,“ says Dennis Hori, civil litigator and president of the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia.
Hori mainly practises in Kamloops, B.C., and claims that Kamloops currently has a similar system to the proposed pilot project that works “quite well.”
