Transforming the Justice System

Overview

This three-part webinar series held in collaboration with PwC Canada will initiate a discussion on the future of justice and help pave the way to a major roundtable, taking place in the spring of 2022. The webinar’s aim is to refine the participants’ knowledge of key trends affecting the administration of justice. These topics will then be examined at greater depth during our roundtable. This series will provide attendees with in-depth knowledge and insights that will help build a future with improved justice services and better outcomes for families, businesses, and society.

60 to 90-minute webinars
Participation in this program is accredited in provinces where CLE requirements for lawyers are mandatory.

List of webinars (scroll down to access the videos)

• Webinar #1, May 12, 2021: Hybrid Courts – The New Operational Normal

• Webinar #2, June 16, 2021: Redesigning Justice Administration − Pillars and Obstacles of Innovation

• Webinar #3, November 30, 2021: Transforming the Justice System: Exploring a Trauma-Informed Approach

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Date: September 25 - November 27, 2025
Location: Online

 

SERIES OVERVIEW | WEBINAR 1 | WEBINAR 2 | FEES | CONTACT

 

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SERIES OVERVIEW

With the growth of digital assets as a form of investment and an everyday asset class, there is an increasing need for our judges and lawyers to have a greater awareness of what they are and how their unique character can impact court processes and dispositions.

It is not only a matter of digital asset fraud cases and injunctions (Marevas, Anton Pillers, Norwichs, Interim Possession/Custody orders, etc.), but also court cases where digital assets are simply an asset class that must be dealt with in every day court dispositions (tracing or accounting for them; specific performance on their disposition; interim custody and preservation; valuation and damages calculations on highly volatile assets, etc.).

It is increasingly important to de-mystify this asset class for our judiciary and bar and provide a practical ‘how to kit’ on approaching these cases. This series and its experts will help you recognize in what respects digital assets are meaningfully different from conventional assets/loss categories (and how/when they are not), and help you build a framework on how to identify the unique issues and questions that may arise from their involvement and disposition.

DATES	EVENTS	EXPERTS
Thursday, September 25, 2025	Webinar | Part One: De-Mystifying Digital Assets and Recognizing When Digital Asset Issues Arise	Benjamin Bathgate, WeirFoulds, Chair – Commercial Litigation; Co-Chair – Blockchain and Digital Assets Amrit Dev, KPMG Forensic, Senior Manager – Digital Assets Forensics
Thursday, 27 November, 2025	Webinar | Part Two: Questions Every Adjudicator Should Ask About Digital Assets and Their Impact on Court Processes [For Judges Only]	Benjamin Bathgate, WeirFoulds, Chair – Commercial Litigation; Co-Chair – Blockchain and Digital Assets Michael Fawcett, Crown Counsel and Provincial Coordinator for cybercrime within the Ministry of the Attorney General for Ontario TBC: Guest from the judiciary

Bilingual program with simultaneous interpretation.
The webinars will be available on demand afterwards, at the same rate.

 

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WEBINAR PART ONE | DE-MYSTIFYING DIGITAL ASSETS AND RECOGNIZING WHEN DIGITAL ASSET ISSUES ARISE

 

Topics:

• What are we Talking About and Why Does it Matter?
  The basics on the blockchain, digital assets and why investment (and fraud and disputes) in Web3 will only grow, as will their impact on everyday court processes.

• Where to Start in the Courts?
  When might digital assets become the subject matter of court cases and what issues and questions arise when they do; from injunctions to valuations and interim custody, and everything in between

• What are Some Concrete Examples of Dispositions in the Courts?

  • Civil Cases: asset tracing, valuation, damages quantification, class action claims administration, interim custody and preservation;

  • Criminal Cases: warrant powers for investigative searches, dealing with laundered assets, asset recovery and assistance orders;

  • Bankruptcy and Insolvency Case: asset tracing, preservation and recovery from bankrupts, and business dissolution;

  • Family and Estates Cases: identification and tracing of digital assets, interim custody and division of ‘family digital assets’, equalization and support orders;

  • Intellectual Property Cases: IP and copyright infringement, valuation and damages quantification;

  • Corporate Law Cases: shareholder disputes, corporate governance and liability in decentralized organizations;

  • Regulatory Cases: compliance frameworks and enforcement, market conduct oversight including disclosures and market manipulation and asset freezing measures;

  • Tax Cases : dispositions of digital assets, treatments for tax purposes and consequences of trading (income rules on staking, trading)

Bilingual program with simultaneous interpretation.

 

Panelists:

Benjamin Bathgate, WeirFoulds, Chair – Commercial Litigation; Co-Chair – Blockchain and Digital Assets Benjamin Bathgate is the Chair of WeirFoulds’ Commercial Litigation Practice Group and Co-Chair of its Blockchain and Digital Assets Practice Group. His practice focuses on complex, high stakes fraud, digital asset recovery and commercial litigation. Ben is widely recognized in the crypto industry as the go-to digital asset investigations and recovery lawyer in Canada. He is faculty for Osgoode Law School’s Web3, Blockchain and Metaverse Law certificate course, authors numerous relevant texts and articles and has interviewed with leading publications on digital asset matters, including with CoinDesk, CBC Fifth Estate, Globe and Mail, Canadian Lawyer, Bloomberg and Yahoo Finance. → View full biography

Amrit Dev, KPMG Forensic, Senior Manager – Digital Assets Forensics Amrit Dev is a Senior Manager in KPMG’s Forensic practice in Toronto, specializing in digital asset investigations. With over nine years of experience in forensic mandates including fraud, money laundering, and asset tracing, she has developed deep expertise in blockchain analytics and cryptocurrency tracing. From 2021 to 2023, she worked in the Enforcement Division of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), investigating high-profile fraud cases involving digital assets. She now co-leads KPMG’s global forensic digital assets network and frequently presents to law firms and regulators on blockchain investigations. → View full biography

CPD Hours:
Participation in this program is accredited in provinces where CLE requirements for lawyers are mandatory.

• Total: 1h
• No EDI hours

 

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WEBINAR PART TWO | QUESTIONS EVERY JUDGE SHOULD ASK ABOUT DIGITAL ASSETS AND THEIR IMPACT ON COURT PROCESSES

 

Topics:

• What are examples of novel ways in which digital assets become a focal point in our courts?

• Which court processes are potentially impacted by the appearance of digital assets and what challenges arise when they do?

• What are the key questions every judge should ask lawyers about their digital assets’ case – views from the experts and the bench.
  

 

Panelists:

Benjamin Bathgate, WeirFoulds, Chair – Commercial Litigation; Co-Chair – Blockchain and Digital Assets Benjamin Bathgate is the Chair of WeirFoulds’ Commercial Litigation Practice Group and Co-Chair of its Blockchain and Digital Assets Practice Group. His practice focuses on complex, high stakes fraud, digital asset recovery and commercial litigation. Ben is widely recognized in the crypto industry as the go-to digital asset investigations and recovery lawyer in Canada. He is faculty for Osgoode Law School’s Web3, Blockchain and Metaverse Law certificate course, authors numerous relevant texts and articles and has interviewed with leading publications on digital asset matters, including with CoinDesk, CBC Fifth Estate, Globe and Mail, Canadian Lawyer, Bloomberg and Yahoo Finance. → View full biography

Michael Fawcett, Crown Counsel and Provincial Coordinator for cybercrime within the Ministry of the Attorney General for Ontario Michael Fawcett works as Crown Counsel and is the provincial coordinator for cybercrime within the Ministry of the Attorney General for Ontario. He also is Team Lead for the country’s first and only dedicated group of cybercrime Crowns. He provides legal assistance on various cyber and crypto-related law enforcement investigations, and also appears in court regularly on cybercrime, search and seizure, and digital-privacy related matters. Michael teaches cybercrime law at the University of Ottawa and Osgoode Hall Law School, and previously at Western University. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 2008, Michael practiced law in Washington, D.C., and clerked for the United States Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit, before returning to Canada and joining the Attorney General’s Office.

TBC : a guest from the judiciary

 

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Series | Digital Assets Entering our Courts: Building a Framework with the Experts

Date
Webcast on May 20, 2020

90-minute special webcast with simultaneous interpretation
Participation in this program is accredited in provinces where CLE requirements for lawyers are mandatory.
Specific accreditation: 1 hour and 30 minutes of Professionalism content (Ontario)

Overview

In his latest book, Online Courts and the Future of Justice, Professor Richard Susskind, one of the world’s most-cited authors on the future of legal services, writes about how online courts are destined to transform litigation. Our distinguished guests will debate whether technology can transform the legal system and offer better access to justice.

Speakers

• The Right Honourable Richard Wagner, P.C., Chief Justice of Canada
• Professor Richard Susskind, OBE, internationally renowned author, speaker and adviser

Moderator: The Honourable Justice James W. O’Reilly, Federal Court; President, CIAJ