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Difference between revisions of "JP Boyd on Family Law Editorial Manifesto"
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JP Boyd on Family Law Editorial Manifesto (view source)
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{{JP Boyd on Family Law TOC}} | {{JP Boyd on Family Law TOC}} | ||
==An editorial manifesto for a new public legal education resource== | ==An editorial manifesto for a new public legal education resource== | ||
===by John-Paul Boyd, | ===by John-Paul Boyd, Updated for 2017=== | ||
When Courthouse Libraries and I first started talking about this wiki project, there were some core values that I wanted the wiki to maintain. I’d never thought about these things before, but when we started talking about how the wiki would look and operate, I realized that there were certain qualities of my old BC Family Law Resource website that I wanted to preserve. From this came a set of guiding principles for the editorial tone of what is now called ''[[JP Boyd on Family Law]]''. My hope is that this resource will continue to: | When Courthouse Libraries and I first started talking about this wiki project, there were some core values that I wanted the wiki to maintain. I’d never thought about these things before, but when we started talking about how the wiki would look and operate, I realized that there were certain qualities of my old BC Family Law Resource website that I wanted to preserve. From this came a set of guiding principles for the editorial tone of what is now called ''[[JP Boyd on Family Law]]''. My hope is that this resource will continue to: | ||
# '''Be free'''<br/>The information should be available at no charge, without restriction and without expectation of reward. | # '''Be free'''<br/>The information should be available at no charge, without restriction and without expectation of reward. | ||
| Line 11: | Line 11: | ||
# '''Be helpful'''<br/>Above all, the information should be helpful. It should be practical and pragmatic and the wiki should provide other resources, like court forms, charts, checklists and links to external websites, where they serve a practical purpose. | # '''Be helpful'''<br/>Above all, the information should be helpful. It should be practical and pragmatic and the wiki should provide other resources, like court forms, charts, checklists and links to external websites, where they serve a practical purpose. | ||
(The bit about this resource being opinionated, prescriptive and recommendatory needs a bit of an explanation. Writing as an individual I have always felt free to express my views on things through my website, although I took care to ensure that my employers wouldn't be tarred with, or too upset about, my opinions. As a result, rather than trying to provide a legally complete, politically neutered website that in trying to say all things for all people wound up saying nothing, I have felt free to use the forbidden terms “should” and “shouldn’t.” I have said that parenting coordination can be expensive (it can), that grandparents will have a hard time getting parenting time over the objections of a parent (they will) and that the cost of resolving a legal dispute through trial can be prohibitively expensive (it is). There is value, I think, in being able to say “yes you can make an application for an order restraining the children from having their hair cut on Wednesdays, but you shouldn’t because it’s not worth the time, the money, the conflict or the anxiety.” I hope that in learning what you can do, you'll also learn what you oughtn't. | (The bit about this resource being opinionated, prescriptive and recommendatory needs a bit of an explanation. Writing as an individual I have always felt free to express my views on things through my website, although I took care to ensure that my employers wouldn't be tarred with, or too upset about, my opinions. As a result, rather than trying to provide a legally complete, politically neutered website that in trying to say all things for all people wound up saying nothing, I have felt free to use the forbidden terms “should” and “shouldn’t.” I have said that parenting coordination can be expensive (it can), that grandparents will have a hard time getting parenting time over the objections of a parent (they will) and that the cost of resolving a legal dispute through trial can be prohibitively expensive (it is). There is value, I think, in being able to say “yes you can make an application for an order restraining the children from having their hair cut on Wednesdays, but you shouldn’t because it’s not worth the time, the money, the conflict or the anxiety.” I hope that in learning what you can do, you'll also learn what you oughtn't. | ||
Finally, in reading the 2012 report of the [ | Finally, in reading the 2012 report of the [https://perma.cc/MK6U-5KT9 Family Justice Working Group of the Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters], I gained further insight into the purposes behind my website. In a discussion about court-provided information programs, the working group commented that: | ||
<blockquote>“Beyond the obvious value of orienting and helping to organize the parties, these programs are premised on two ideas. The first is that information is essential to a fair resolution. The second is that information is a dispute resolution tool, or put in the negative, misinformation can generate and prolong disputes. … Early information has been demonstrated to be sufficiently effective in reducing conflict and expediting resolution that many provinces have elected to make it mandatory.”</blockquote> | <blockquote>“Beyond the obvious value of orienting and helping to organize the parties, these programs are premised on two ideas. The first is that information is essential to a fair resolution. The second is that information is a dispute resolution tool, or put in the negative, misinformation can generate and prolong disputes. … Early information has been demonstrated to be sufficiently effective in reducing conflict and expediting resolution that many provinces have elected to make it mandatory.”</blockquote> | ||
I took two principles from this. First, that accurate legal information is essential to the fair resolution of family law disputes. Second, that accurate legal information is itself a tool for the resolution of family law disputes. That was kind of what I had always had in mind for my website. | I took two principles from this. First, that accurate legal information is essential to the fair resolution of family law disputes. Second, that accurate legal information is itself a tool for the resolution of family law disputes. That was kind of what I had always had in mind for my website. | ||