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The SCL Lecture is in honour of the memory of Rt Hon Sir Brian Neill PC, a former President of SCL.

Chair:
Professor Richard Susskind OBE FRSE, President of the Society for Computers and Law

Lecture to be given by:
Shannon Salter, Chair of the Civil Resolution Tribunal, Canada
 
Can Online Dispute Resolution Humanize the Justice System?
Online dispute resolution (ODR) often focuses on the application of technology to legal problems. Yet the promise of ODR lies, ironically, in its potential to humanize the justice system by adapting to a diverse and changing population. 

This presentation examines how the Civil Resolution Tribunal, Canada’s first ODR tribunal, developed a culture and design methodology which leverages online and offline tools to fundamentally re-orient the public justice system to put the public at the centre.


Shannon Salter, BA, LLB, LLM
Shannon Salter is the Chair of the Civil Resolution Tribunal, Canada’s first online tribunal resolving small claims, condominium disputes, and motor vehicle accident disputes (April 2019). She is also an adjunct professor at the UBC Allard School of Law, teaching administrative law and legal ethics and professional regulation. She earned her BA and LLB from UBC, and her LLM from the University of Toronto. Shannon was a BC Supreme Court judicial law clerk before practicing civil litigation at a large Vancouver firm. She has served as a vice chair of the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal and on the College of Registered Nurses of BC. 

Shannon is currently a commissioner of the Financial Institutions Commission, vice president of the BC Council of Administrative Tribunals, a Law Society of British Columbia disciplinary hearing panel member, and a board member of the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII). She is a co-author of the BC Administrative Decision Maker’s Manual, as well as a number of legal journal articles. 

In 2017, Shannon was named one of the 25 Top Most Influential Lawyers in Canada, and was previously recognized as one of Canada’s New Law Pioneers by the Canadian Bar Association and an Access to Justice All-Star by the National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSLAP). She is also the 2016 recipient of the Adam Albright award for outstanding teaching by an adjunct professor. Ms. Salter is a frequent speaker at international conferences on online dispute resolution, administrative law, legal education, and the future of law and technology.