Cristina Sdao on long-term goals, innovation, and prioritizing the human element
This article was produced in partnership with Bogoroch & Associates LLP.
As Cristina Sdao puts it: “The law was always the plan for me.” Leveraging her undergrad double major in health studies and law and society, she gravitated to health law as her practice area of choice.
“Health is such an important aspect of everybody’s life, and we often take this for granted,” Sdao explains. “For those who have been injured, their capacity to do even the most basic tasks is affected. As a lawyer in this field, providing access to justice for those people is paramount.”
After completing law school at Queen’s University, Sdao began her search for a law firm where she could complete her articles while gaining experience in health law. It didn’t take long for Bogoroch & Associates LLP to stand out as a frontrunner.
“Everyone at this firm is extremely welcoming; they encourage questions and provide continued support and guidance,” Sdao, now a student-at-law at Bogoroch & Associates, says. “It is very clear that everyone here wants to help. They work diligently to get clients the compensation they deserve. They have a great reputation for a reason.”
Coming up in the law in the age of technology, Sdao has never attended discoveries or mediations in person. She appreciates the benefits of everything being virtual because it provides better access to justice in general — more cost- and time-efficient overall and particularly useful for people who live in remote areas, for example — but especially for the clients Bogoroch & Associates represents, who are often seriously injured.
Because of their circumstances, it can be difficult if not impossible for these plaintiffs to travel. Requiring less scheduling time and eliminating the need to travel to the courthouse, find parking, and spend what is typically hours waiting, is a huge benefit, as these tasks take a toll physically and mentally. But it’s also a double-edged sword, Sdao notes.
“Viewing someone through a screen makes it easier for others in the proceedings to disconnect from the person on the other side, and not fully appreciate what their injuries encompass,” she says. “They don’t witness first-hand how difficult it is for the plaintiff to do things like walk or sit for long periods, for example. They can’t see body language either.”
Losing the human element in the legal process is a significant con and its ramifications are not limited to the proceedings: the lawyers involved miss the camaraderie that comes with seeing each other at a physical location as well, whether in passing or on the other side of the table.
“I’ve heard from many of the lawyers I’ve interacted with that they miss those opportunities to socialize with their colleagues,” Sdao says, adding she understands the difference well given the second semester of her law school career was spent virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was necessary at the time, but it was also great to get back into a room with my peers,” she adds.
While the human element is nice to have when it comes to various proceedings, it’s a must-have when it comes to AI. The powerful tool — increasingly prevalent in the legal profession — has clear benefits, but being aware of its potential downsides is necessary to wield it properly. Sdao points to the highly publicized misstep where a US attorney relied on AI without checking sources and a case included in the motion record didn’t exist. Sdao too has had a similar experience where AI hallucinated a citation.
“The technology is incredibly useful, but we must also do our due diligence and fact check everything — especially if it’s being submitted to the courts,” Sdao says.
There are also confidentiality concerns for clients and the more specific a user gets with their inputs, the more cautious they must be. It’s hard to utilize a tool effectively if you can’t give it all the facts, Sdao notes, and especially in medical malpractice cases, the details can be very specific versus those of a car accident or slip and fall.
“In medical malpractice, each case is unique and highly unlikely to have the same set of facts,” Sdao explains, adding that while it’s great that many companies are working on improving AI for the legal profession specifically, there’s still a long way to go when it comes to automatic checks and balances.
“The same rule applies to what you put into AI as to what it gives back to you. Be diligent and very careful.”
As Sdao settles in at Bogoroch & Associates, she’s increasingly certain she made the right choice for her career. She’s enjoying the personal injury side of the practice and looking forward to expanding more into medical malpractice as part of her articling rotation. as she continues to =
While innovation continues in the legal profession and in the firm, the overall goal for Bogoroch & Associates remains firmly fixed: to provide access to justice and as much support as possible to those who really need it. That pursuit of justice for clients will always drive the firm, and that aligns firmly with Sdao’s ambitions.
“Advocating for access to justice for people who have been injured is what motivates me. That’s what we’re doing here at Bogoroch & Associates — and that’s why this firm is so great.”
