The Access to Innovation (A2I) project benefits Ontarians, legal service providers and the Law Society.
Facilitating access to justice: By safely removing and adjusting regulatory barriers, the A2I project encourages the development and operation of innovative technological legal services (ITLS) that can reach new legal consumers in new ways, especially in areas of high unmet legal need.
Protecting the public: By carefully assessing and supervising ITLS providers, the A2I project ensures that ITLS consumers feel confident that they can make informed choices about the services they receive, are protected from risks of incompetent or unethical services and have recourse available, if necessary.
Spurring innovation: By reducing regulatory uncertainty and offering routes to approved service provision, the A2I project gives ITLS providers confidence that they can grow sustainable operations and encourages them to continue developing innovative new legal solutions for Ontarians. By establishing operating criteria and parameters, the A2I project can also help give ITLS providers targets for the features and protections they need to build into their service models. This helps shape the responsible development of innovative tools.
Supporting regulatory re-evaluation: By gathering real, detailed evidence about ITLS operations, the A2I project helps inform decision-making about the appropriate scope of the Law Society’s regulatory framework.
Educating legal professionals and the public: By highlighting new and innovative ways of providing legal services, the A2I project helps legal professionals understand the opportunities and challenges associated with ITLS and helps members of the public identify new opportunities to access legal help. Legal professionals can observe consumer interest in these new service models and can enhance their work by using, adapting to, or developing their own ITLS tools.