Borne out of a directed research project at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law - listen in to this conversation between final-year law student Faaris Hussain and 4 esteemed guests:

Jeff Beedell - Partner at Gowling WLG

Cory Giordano - Partner at Supreme Advocacy LLP

Alyssa Tomkins - Partner at Gowling WLG

Paul Daly - Professor at the University of Ottawa

The discussion overviews aspects of the Supreme Court of Canada’s Leave to Appeal. The topics discussed included:

• The ‘public importance’ standard for leave to appeal
• What counsel/applicants can take away from a leave application being denied 
• 'Dialogue Theory' and the leave to appeal
• The significance of an area of law/feature of a case to the leave application
• The impact of the style/persona of the bench on rates of leave 
• Self-represented litigants and access to justice 
• AI and the future of leave applications

The goal of the discussion was to shed light on an aspect of Canada’s judicial process, both for enhanced academic and judicial discourse on the SCC, thereby helping guide litigants and counsel if/when they prepare their materials for leave. We hope this discussion provides fruitful information for all those interested in appellate advocacy or advocacy in general, and those interested in the work of the Supreme Court of Canada.

*Please note that captions are auto-generated and therefore may contain some typographical errors - we apologize for any inconvenience*