It was a long year, but you made it! Time to put on your fuzzy socks, curl up with some cocoa, and dig into a good book. We’ve assembled an elite Canadian legal brain trust… to give you reading recommendations for the holidays.

Want ideas for fiction? Non-fiction? True crime? Children’s lit? Narrative verse about a rescue at sea by a teenage girl in 19th-century Newfoundland? Between University of Ottawa law professor Adam Dodek, Toronto freelance lawyer Erin Cowling, Halifax family lawyer Shelley Hounsell, K.C., and Vancouver technology lawyer Jacob Kojfman, this episode has you covered.

Verdicts & Voices is a legal current affairs podcast presented by the Canadian Bar Association. With her retinue of expert guests, host Alison Crawford keeps listeners up to date on news, views, and stories about the law and the justice system in Canada.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why can’t lawyers and judges just say what they mean? Legal documents – statutes, contracts, court decisions – are infamous for being dense and full of jargon (not to mention Latin). But a growing community of legal professionals is advocating plain language as a way to make the law more accessible, build trust in the justice system, and ensure that ordinary litigants can read a decision and, you know, understand whether they won or lost.

Karen Jacques is a Vice-Chair of Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal and the Canadian representative of Clarity International. Paul Aterman is a former Chair of the Social Security Tribunal of Canada and a board member of the Center for Plain Language.

Verdicts & Voices is a legal current affairs podcast presented by the Canadian Bar Association. With her retinue of expert guests, host Alison Crawford keeps listeners up to date on news, views, and stories about the law and the justice system in Canada.

Plain language resources:

Clarity International

Center for Plain Language

Plain International

Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please by Joseph Kimble

Mr. Mouthful children's books by Joseph Kimble

Simon Fraser University's Plain Language Certificate

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the coming days, Quebec’s National Assembly will hear testimony about a proposed new provincial constitution, known as Bill 1. Alexandre Forest, President of the Canadian Bar Association’s Quebec Branch, will attend and argue that the legislation should be withdrawn in its entirety for reasons of substance and process. Meanwhile, Professor Stéphane Beaulac of the Université de Montréal is staying away to avoid legitimizing what he fears will be belated, token consultations; instead, he’s off to the United Nations, leading an effort by the Quebec chapter of the International Commission of Jurists Canada to challenge the bill on the global stage. First, though, they both joined Verdicts & Voices to explain their concerns and their approaches.

Verdicts & Voices is a legal current affairs podcast presented by the Canadian Bar Association. With her retinue of expert guests, host Alison Crawford keeps listeners up to date on news, views, and stories about the law and the justice system in Canada.

Notes:

CBA-Québec’s written brief (in French): https://abcqc.qc.ca/Notre-impact/Memoires/PL1-sur-la-Constitution-du-Quebec-L-ABC-Quebec-reagit

Bill 1, Québec Constitution Act, 2025 - National Assembly of Québec

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.