Technology Task Force

Emerging legal technologies have the potential to significantly impact the public, the legal professions and the Law Society as a regulator.

The mandate of the Technology Task Force, composed of lawyer, paralegal and publicly-appointed lay benchers, is to consider the role of technologies in the delivery of legal services, examine the Law Society’s role as a regulator in a changing, tech-enabled environment, and explore how the Law Society can encourage innovation in the professions through the use of tech to better deliver legal services.

In November 2019, the Task Force released an update report which outlines its preliminary observations and work process. As an important next step in its work, the Task Force recommended that Convocation approve its report proposing a regulatory sandbox.

On April 22, 2021, Convocation approved the Task Force’s “Regulatory Sandbox for Innovative Technological Legal Services” Report. As a result, the Law Society launched Access to Innovation (A2I), a five-year pilot project, in October 2021.

A2I allows approved providers of innovative technological legal services (ITLS) to serve consumers for a specified period while complying with risk-based public protection requirements.

A2I participants that meet expectations during their operating period can receive permits from the Law Society to continue providing legal services in Ontario on an ongoing basis.

In addition to A2I, the Technology Task Force is focused on exploring approaches to support and encourage the technological competence of legal professionals. In response, the Technology Resource Centre has been created to provide lawyers and paralegals with professional guidance about technology usage and access to technology resources in one place.