Al Vigier of Caseway has sent out this info in his latest newsletter..is there a subtext.. yes there is see highlighted sections in red

It might be worth looking into the other Lii’s if this is the case .

What’s happening at Austli these days?

I’m clueless but i’ll now be having a closer look

Per the Canadian experience the Australian experience mirrors  this “Legal data is widely accessible in the U.S., fueling a thriving legal tech sector. Access in Canada remains restricted to those who can afford it, likely a direct result of how the Law Society and CanLII choose to operate.”

Before we dive into the article this is what CANLII say they are.. all a bit depressing if it has all turned into what the article says it has

What is CanLII

Welcome to CanLII, the Canadian Legal Information Institute. Below is information on who we are and what services we provide.

For current news on our operations, please visit our blog or follow us on X, LinkedIn or Facebook.

Who we are

CanLII is a non-profit organization founded in 2001 by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada on behalf of its 14-member law societies. Its mandate is to provide efficient and open online access to judicial decisions and legislative documents. By doing so, CanLII supports members of the legal profession in the performance of their duties while providing the public with permanent open access to laws and legal decisions from all Canadian jurisdictions.

Consistent with its mandate, CanLII was a founding member of the Free Access to Law Movement and a signatory to the Montreal Declaration on Free Access to Law.

CanLII is financed by the lawyers and notaries who are members of Canada’s provincial and territorial law societies. We also receive funding on occasion for projects from provincial and territorial law foundations and other organizations.

CanLII’s technology and editorial services provider since its founding is Lexum. Lexum began operating in 1993 by collaborating with the Supreme Court of Canada to publish court decisions on the internet. Since then, Lexum has become a software company specializing in the online management and publication of legal information. It provides solutions and services to producers and users of legal information, as well as other organizations that prepare, manage, and publish large collections of documents. In March 2018, CanLII acquired Lexum. You can read more about the acquisition here.

If you are interested in our organization’s history, you can read this post on our blog. Information about our team is available here.

https://www.canlii.org/en/info/about.html

 

Ontario Law Society CEO at the Center of a $1M Scandal

The controversy surrounding the Law Society of Ontario and its CEO Diana Miles’s new, nearly $1 million contract highlights systemic problems within The Law Society, including concerns over governance, transparency, and potential conflicts of interest.

The hiring of retired Associate Chief Justice Dennis O’Connor to conduct an independent review of the matter signals the seriousness of the concerns raised by LSO benchers. However, this case does not occur in a vacuum; it fits into a broader pattern of opaque financial dealings within the legal establishment, including the operations of CanLII, a legal database controlled by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. The Ontario Law Society funds roughly half of CanLII.

The Problem with the Law Society’s CEO Contract

Diana Miles’s salary increase, negotiated by former LSO Treasurer Jacqueline Horvat, raised eyebrows among the governing board members, many of whom were not consulted.

A 50% pay raise without board approval raises fundamental questions about governance within one of Canada’s most influential legal institutions. If such a significant contract change can occur without proper supervision, what other financial dealings are happening behind closed doors?

A former Law Society bencher who spoke to us under the condition of anonymity noted, “The secrecy surrounding this decision is deeply troubling. Benchers were kept in the dark, and that’s unacceptable.”

The LSO’s need to hire a retired judge to investigate its own leadership suggests a lack of internal accountability. This incident underscores the need for greater transparency in how the Law Society handles financial and administrative decisions that impact the broader legal community.

The CanLII Connection: A Broader Pattern of Financial Mismanagement?

While the public outcry over Diana Miles is justified, it is only one part of a more significant issue concerning how the Law Society operates. The Law Society of Ontario—and other provincial Law Societies—control CanLII, a non-profit legal information database supposed to provide free access to Canadian legal information.

However, concerns have been raised about whether CanLII has leveraged its position to engage in anti-competitive practices and side deals with for-profit AI companies.

In November 2024, CanLII filed a lawsuit against the AI legal research company Caseway, alleging unauthorized data scraping. The lawsuit, covered by multiple media outlets, is widely seen by experts as an attempt to protect CanLII’s monopoly over Canadian legal data rather than a genuine copyright issue.

While CanLII claims to be a non-profit, it has dealt with private AI firms like Lexum and Jurisage, which former CanLII executives control.

Alistair Vigier, CEO of Caseway, fought back in the media against the lawsuit, telling us, “This is about control. CanLII is happy to partner with private AI companies run by former insiders while suing any real competition that might disrupt their monopoly.”

If CanLII is genuinely a public resource, why is it selectively partnering with certain AI companies while shutting others out? If it is receiving money from these deals, where is that money going? Is any of it flowing back to the Law Society, benefiting individuals?

These are pressing questions that require investigation. How did the CEO of the Ontario Law Society afford to pay herself $1m/year in salary? Where did this extra money come from?

The “Lawfia”: A System Designed to Protect Insiders

The tight connections between the Law Societies, CanLII, and select CanLII-affiliated AI companies reveal a troubling pattern. Financial self-interest is disguised as public service. Those who control legal information control access to justice. It raises serious ethical concerns if that control benefits insiders instead of the broader legal community.

Legal AI consultant Colin Lachance, a former CanLII CEO, admitted that obtaining bulk legal data in Canada is complicated. “There is no other way for anybody to get bulk case law unless they have a relationship with the courts to receive it,” he said in a LinkedIn post about the lawsuit.

Legal data is widely accessible in the U.S., fueling a thriving legal tech sector. Access in Canada remains restricted to those who can afford it, likely a direct result of how the Law Society and CanLII choose to operate.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON ADVOCATE DAILY.