Court of Queen's Bench for Saskatchewan Education Seminar - Online

Overview

This seminar touched on a variety of topics related to reserve judgments, writing principles, productivity, and time-management. The program delivered practical tools for effective work habits, delivering oral judgments, and drafting written reasons, with interactive breakout group discussions and polling questions within the online platform of Zoom.

Specific topics included:

• Effective work habits and time-management, including time-blocking and prioritization methods
• Tips and tricks for dealing with reserve judgments
• How to avoid taking reserve judgments by delivering oral judgments
• A panel discussion with Justices from the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan
• Writing effective reasons, including point-first structure and issue driven writing

Objective

Participants developed skills for dealing with reserve judgments, as well as how to circumvent reserve judgments by delivering oral judgments. Participants practiced skills central to effective written reasons, including point-first structure and issue driven writing.  Participants learned to navigate the Zoom platform—using both the plenary and breakout groups.

Summary

In this seminar, delivered entirely online using the Zoom platform, a professor of organizational behaviour explained the fundamentals of why we procrastinate and what we can do about it; Justices from the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan covered a range of topics around decision writing and oral judgments; Justices from Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia explored the process for reserve judgments in both provinces, best practices for avoiding reserve judgments, and practical strategies for writing them; and finally, participants reviewed fundamental writing principles for effective reasons that meet readers' needs: precise issues and context before detail.