As articling students, we are given the opportunity to assist lawyers with different types of work. Our assignments vary, depending on the file’s stage in the course of litigation.
One of my past assignments required me to research case law where a party had suffered similar injuries as our client and to focus specifically on the non-pecuniary damages awarded by the court.
My research would ultimately assist the lawyer with their post-discovery report, which must be prepared for the client after an examination for discovery. This report typically entails pertinent evidence from the examination for discovery, along with the lawyer’s revised liability and damages assessment of the file.
In order to find relevant cases, I took a three-step approach.
- I logged into the firm's Westlaw account, an online legal research platform. I also spoke to a Westlaw representative over the phone, who introduced me to the “Personal Injury Quantum Service” tool. By inputting certain general details, such as the type of injuries sustained, age group of the injured party, and jurisdiction, the tool populated the applicable cases along with a range of damages awarded in those cases.
- Then, I met with our firm’s designated Westlaw representative over Microsoft Teams. I shared my screen, allowing me to learn more about the fascinating Westlaw platform and obtain more thorough research results.
- As a final step, I sent a firm e-mail to the “MB lawyers'"group, asking for their insight on this topic. One of the lawyers directed me to the “Compendium of Damages awarded in personal injury actions across Ontario”, which was compiled by CCLA and was useful for my assignment.
by Ashna G.