Background
In the Fall of 2023, sharing a vision for a civil justice system that is effective, relevant, responsive and timely, Chief Justice Morawetz of the Superior Court of Justice and Attorney General Doug Downey announced their support for a comprehensive review of the Rules of Civil Procedure.
The Civil Rules Review (CRR) was launched in January 2024, under the leadership of Co-Chairs Justice Cary Boswell of the Superior Court of Justice and Allison Speigel, partner with Speigel Nichols Fox LLP. The mandate of the CRR is to conduct a comprehensive and complete review of the Rules and identify, through consultation, areas where targeted changes to the Rules would increase efficiency and access to justice for Ontarians, reduce complexity and costs, maximize the effective use of court resources, reduce delay, and leverage technical solutions. This mandate is set out in its Terms of Reference linked below.
The CRR Co-Chairs are supported by a Working Group comprised of practising members of the Bar, both private and public, a judge and an academic. The Working Group members are John Adair, Tamara Barclay, Justice Jennifer Bezaire, Suzanne Chiodo, Chantelle Cseh, Jacob Damstra, Trevor Guy, Rebecca Jones, Sunil Mathai, Zain Naqi, Jeremy Opolsky, Darcy Romaine and Jennifer Hall, Project Coordinator and Senior Counsel in the Deputy Attorney General’s office.
Over a two year period, the CRR will identify and target areas for Rules reform that will have the most beneficial impact for the public, self-represented litigants, members of the practising bar and legal profession, judges and court staff. Its work will proceed through three phases: Phase One- Scoping; Phase Two – Study and Policy Proposal Development; Phase Three – Approval and Implementation.
Updates about the CRR’s progress through these three phases will be posted on this site periodically.
Terms of Reference
The Terms of Reference for the CRR can be found here: Civil Rules Review – Terms of Reference