CL Talk

Canadian Lawyer Magazine
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CL Talk is the official podcast of Canadian Lawyer magazine. It will hear from leaders in the legal profession in Canada and beyond. Our editorial team interviews legal leaders about topical issues affecting lawyers from coast to coast.

  1. 1d ago

    Inside Thomson Reuters' legal AI buy-or-build moment

    In this episode of CL Talk, host Tim Wilbur speaks with David Wong, chief product officer at Thomson Reuters, and Alexander Kardos-Nyheim, who co-leads the company's foundational machine learning research and came to Thomson Reuters through the 2024 acquisition of his legal AI startup, Safe Sign Technologies. Together, they unpack the strategic reasoning behind Thomson Reuters' decision to build Thomson – its first proprietary large language model – rather than continuing to rely entirely on third-party providers. The conversation covers what domain-specific training actually delivers for legal work, how Thomson Reuters defines fiduciary-grade AI and is tackling hallucinations, and the buy-versus-build question law firms across Canada are navigating. They also discuss Canada's place in Thomson Reuters' product rollout and what they would say to lawyers still skeptical of AI. Thomson Reuters is a supporting partner of the Canadian Legal Summit, taking place on October 14 in Toronto. Register here: https://events.canadianlawyermag.com/canadian-legal-summit?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=editorial_article&utm_campaign=CLS2026&utm_content=awareness&utm_term=asset01

  2. Sep 29

    Legal AI proficiency: what Canadian lawyers keep getting wrong

    Most lawyers experimenting with AI are making one of two mistakes, according to Samuel Puchala, President and General Manager of LexisNexis Canada. One group briefly tries a tool, gets a disappointing result, and shelves it. The other dives in, gets impressive early results, and over-relies on the output. "There's a happy middle ground," he says, "but you have to keep your professional judgment." In this episode of CL Talk, Puchala offers a framework for thinking about AI that any lawyer can apply immediately. He compares working with AI to managing a young lawyer: the leverage is real, but the instructions matter and the output always needs review. That means knowing what the product is actually designed to do — using it outside those parameters is one of the most common sources of frustration — and being specific with prompts. Vague instructions, he says, produce the same result as sending an articling student out with ambiguous directions. On accuracy, Puchala draws a distinction that often gets lost. A verified citation is not the same as a correct analysis. Within a grounded legal AI platform, hallucinations are rare, he explains — but whether the cited authority actually fits the facts at hand is still a judgment call that belongs to the lawyer. The conversation also gets into agentic AI — what it means beyond the buzzword. "With agentic AI, you can give it more of an objective, and it can work through the multiple steps towards that objective rather than have you direct its every move," Puchala says. And in procurement, law firms that are still evaluating legal AI tools sequentially are already behind. "By the time you're looking at that second, third competitor, the first one's already moved several generations ahead." Puchala's path to LexisNexis ran through pharmacology, strategy consulting at Bain & Company, and 16 years as a partner at Satov Consultants — an unusual background for a legal tech executive, and one that shapes how he thinks about what lawyers actually need from software. Puchala will take part in a panel on getting reliable results from legal AI — covering prompts, workflows, and emerging agents — at the Canadian Legal Summit on October 14 at The Carlu in Toronto. Register now: https://events.canadianlawyermag.com/canadian-legal-summit?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=editorial_article&utm_campaign=CLS2026&utm_content=awareness&utm_term=asset01

  3. Sep 22

    Law firm culture suffers when rock star bullies run the show

    Law firms spend a lot of time writing about their culture. Laura Williams has spent more than 30 years watching what they actually do – and the gap between the two is where most of the damage happens. Williams is the managing partner of Williams HR Law LLP and CEO of Williams HR Consulting Inc. She has advised organizations across industries on HR law, workplace investigations, and culture recovery for over three decades. In this episode, she sits down with Canadian Lawyer Managing Editor Tim Wilbur to discuss the specific pressures law firms face, why high-revenue partners who bully their teams so often go unchallenged, what inclusive leadership actually looks like on a busy file, and the one habit she says is quietly eroding culture at firms across the country. Williams will take part in the closing fireside chat on building competitive advantage through leadership and culture at the Canadian Legal Summit on October 14 at The Carlu in Toronto. Register now: https://events.canadianlawyermag.com/canadian-legal-summit?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=editorial_article&utm_campaign=CLS2026&utm_content=awareness&utm_term=asset01

  4. Sep 17

    Correctional Negligence: Holding Canada's Institutions Accountable

    Correctional negligence is one of the most consequential and underexplored areas of Canadian personal injury law. As scrutiny of the country's correctional system intensifies, driven by rising deaths in custody, inadequate medical care, the expanded use of solitary confinement, and a growing number of coroner's inquests, the legal obligations governments owe to incarcerated individuals have never been more relevant to Canadian lawyers. This is not a niche practice area: it sits at the intersection of constitutional rights, government accountability, and the fundamental standards of safety and human dignity that Canadians expect from their public institutions. In this episode of CL Talk, Joel Dick, a Partner at Howie, Sacks & Henry LLP in Toronto and a certified specialist in civil litigation recognized by the Law Society of Ontario, offers a thorough examination of how correctional negligence claims are built and litigated in Canada. Drawing on his experience representing individuals harmed while incarcerated, Dick explores the evidentiary challenges unique to this area of law, the legal duties the Crown owes to people in its custody, and how systemic failures translate into viable negligence claims. He also examines how coroner's inquests contribute to institutional accountability, what reforms would make the greatest difference inside correctional facilities, and why every Canadian lawyer, regardless of practice area, should care about this evolving field. Key Takeaways • How correctional negligence differs from conventional personal injury litigation, and the specific legal duties the government owes to incarcerated individuals • How these cases are investigated, built, and argued, including the evidentiary complexities that make them uniquely challenging • The systemic failures most commonly giving rise to correctional negligence claims in Canada today • What rising deaths in custody and coroner's inquests reveal about accountability gaps within the correctional system • What Canadian lawyers need to know if they are considering this area of practice, and why it matters far beyond prison walls Tune in now and gain a deeper understanding of correctional negligence, and what it means for the Canadians who need the law to work for them most.

  5. Sep 8

    Fasken on agentic AI: building the tools lawyers actually use

    In this episode of CL Talk, Canadian Lawyer managing editor Tim Wilbur speaks with Clarke Barnes, Fasken's firm managing partner, and Andrea Alliston, who leads the firm's knowledge and practice innovation programs, about an AI strategy that predates the firm's July 2026 announcement of a firmwide Legora partnership by more than a year. Barnes and Alliston discuss Fasken's joint innovation program with Walter AI — acquired by Legora in March 2026 — how that work began in the firm's emerging technology and venture capital practice, what agentic AI changes about legal workflows compared to earlier tools, why bilingualism was the deciding factor in the platform evaluation, and how the firm is managing adoption through lawyer secondments and dedicated AI engagement roles. They also address how client expectations have shifted in under two years, and where agentic AI may take legal service delivery next. Andrea Alliston will appear on a panel titled "How Law Firms Are Re-Engineering Legal Delivery" at the Canadian Legal Summit in October. Visit us here for more information on the summit: https://events.canadianlawyermag.com/canadian-legal-summit?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=editorial_article&utm_campaign=CLS2026&utm_content=awareness&utm_term=asset01.

  6. Sep 1

    Mesha Donaldson on building Tandem Law her own way

    In this episode of CL Talk, Canadian Lawyer managing editor Tim Wilbur speaks with Mesha Donaldson, founder and managing partner of Tandem Law P.C., a family law, real estate, and wills and estates firm in Pickering, Ontario. Called to the Ontario bar in 2011 after graduating from the University of Windsor, Donaldson made partner at her previous firm within three years, then launched Tandem in 2016 and got it fully operational in less than 24 hours. In this conversation, Donaldson talks candidly about how she has built and leads a team in a small firm environment: hiring deliberately for personality and culture fit ahead of credentials, researching the market to pay competitively despite operating one GO Train stop from Bay Street, tying team bonuses to firm performance, and holding a firm line on no after-hours or weekend client emails to protect the team's mental health. She also shares why she remains skeptical that AI will replace a good clerk or lawyer, and what she would tell any lawyer considering going solo. Donaldson will bring these perspectives to the panel "From Hiring to High Performance: Rethinking Legal Talent Strategy" at Canadian Lawyer's Canadian Legal Summit on October 14 at The Carlu in Toronto. Register now: https://events.canadianlawyermag.com/canadian-legal-summit

  7. Aug 25

    Kurt Schlachter on building a succession plan that holds up

    In this episode of CL Talk, Tim Wilbur speaks with Kurt Schlachter, chief executive officer of Stringam Law, about succession planning at small and medium law firms — why it is universally discussed and rarely done well, and what it actually takes to get it right. Schlachter draws on his experience running one of Western Canada's largest regional firms to walk through the mechanics that most leaders avoid: how to transfer client relationships without losing them, why governance failures tend to surface long before anyone is thinking about succession, and what a compensation structure that holds together through a transition actually looks like. He also describes the tiered partnership model Stringam introduced in 2023 — and why he deliberately built it so income partners have real skin in the game rather than just a title. The conversation covers the full arc of succession planning, from the first hard conversations with junior lawyers about thinking like owners, to the advice Schlachter gives to firm leaders considering a sale or merger: start early, or there may not be much to sell. Schlachter is speaking on this topic at the Canadian Legal Summit in Toronto on October 14. Details and registration at https://events.canadianlawyermag.com/canadian-legal-summit?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=editorial_article&utm_campaign=CLS2026&utm_content=awareness&utm_term=asset01

  8. Jul 7

    AI is not all or none: Tiana Van Dyk on using it well in e-discovery

    A single litigation file or regulatory investigation can now surface more data than any team could read in a lifetime, and the temptation is to let AI sort it out. On this episode of CL Talk, Canadian Lawyer managing editor Tim Wilbur speaks with Tiana Van Dyk, managing director of Epiq Canada, about using these tools well without handing over judgment. Van Dyk, who has spent nearly two decades in e-discovery, is blunt that when AI disappoints, the fault usually lies with the user rather than the tool. She explains where generative AI is genuinely delivering in document review, why fluent, human-sounding output tempts lawyers into overconfidence, and why keeping a human in the loop is non-negotiable. She also traces the shift from vendor-as-provider to embedded partner, and makes the case that more affordable tools could widen access to justice for smaller firms. Van Dyk expands on these themes as a panellist at the Canadian Legal Summit in Toronto this October, where she joins a session on how far lawyers can treat AI as a genuine legal partner. For more information on the Canadian Legal Summit, visit our website: https://events.canadianlawyermag.com/canadian-legal-summit?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=editorial_article&utm_campaign=CLS2026&utm_content=awareness&utm_term=asset01

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About

CL Talk is the official podcast of Canadian Lawyer magazine. It will hear from leaders in the legal profession in Canada and beyond. Our editorial team interviews legal leaders about topical issues affecting lawyers from coast to coast.

Information

  • Creator
    Canadian Lawyer Magazine
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    146
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    CL Talk

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