Canadian Bar Association
77 episodes listed below
Canadian law, explained at courtroom depth.
Verdicts & Voices is a measured Canadian legal affairs interview show with Alison Crawford steering guests through live questions in law and justice. It suits listeners who want the legal issue, the procedural stakes, and the human consequence kept in the same frame.
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Verdicts & Voices is a Canadian legal affairs interview show with a deliberately careful tempo. Alison Crawford frames each episode around a current legal problem, then lets the conversation develop through doctrine, institutional context, and practical fallout. The result is not headline commentary. It is closer to a guided file review, with enough context for non-specialists and enough procedure for listeners who care how courts actually work. Recent episodes move across generative AI in legal submissions, law society good-character tests, criminal justice legislation, Quebec's secularism law, court delay, racial bias in judging, immigration precedent, and the passage from policing into legal practice. The show often begins with a deceptively simple question. What does good character mean for a lawyer? What happens when a judge suspects a cited case does not exist? Can a bill protect victims if the court system lacks the resources to carry it out? From there, the discussion gets specific. Guests describe how judges verify sources, how tribunals weigh candour, how Jordan timelines changed the daily habits of criminal lawyers, and how public confidence can become a legal issue rather than a slogan. The show is strongest when it links legal principles to lived courtroom pressure. It hears reform arguments sympathetically, but it also asks what they require from judges, court staff, lawyers, victims, accused people, and the public. Its constitutional episodes are similarly grounded. A segment on Quebec's secularism law does not stop at symbolic conflict; it turns toward religious freedom, the notwithstanding clause, and the power provinces claim when they shield legislation from Charter challenge. Archive material adds depth, including the story of the Honourable Corrine Sparks, the RDS case, and Constance Backhouse's work on racism, policing, and judging. The tone is grave when the subject demands it and dry when the process invites a little skepticism. It is a show for listeners who want Canadian law explained without hype. It assumes legal questions are rarely clean. It also assumes they matter most when procedure meets real people.
Made for: For lawyers, law students, court-watchers, policy professionals, journalists, and engaged Canadian listeners who want legal controversies explained with procedural care. It also works for non-lawyers willing to stay with technical explanations when the stakes are clear.
What sets it apart: Verdicts & Voices stands apart by treating legal news as a chain of institutional consequences rather than a stream of opinions. Its interviews keep doctrine, court administration, public confidence, and lived effects in view at the same time.
Verdicts & Voices is a legal current affairs podcast presented by the Canadian Bar Association. With her retinue of expert guests, host Alison Crawford keeps listeners up to date on news, views, and stories about the law and the justice system in Canada.
Based on 4 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Verdicts & Voices connects Canadian legal doctrine to the institutional choices and courtroom practices that determine how justice actually works.
Verdicts & Voices turns Canadian legal affairs into clear, searching conversations about how courts, rights, and public policy operate in practice.
A stayed impaired-driving charge puts your tidy theory of court deadlines on trial.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A clear review of how lawyer licensing turns character, candor, and public confidence into legal questions.
The demand that every licensed lawyer be of good character sounds simple until the episode follows that standard through applications, public confidence, and appellate review.
A sober look at how Jordan still shapes criminal cases, delay, and the cost of staying charges.
Verdicts and Voices marks the 10th anniversary of R v. Jordan with a tight look at why delay still dominates Canadian criminal courts. The episode brings together current cases and Tony Paisana, who explains how a ruling meant to curb delay also changed the day-to-day work of…
A legal-policy episode that stays concrete about courts, borders, and what reform would actually require.
This episode keeps Ontario's civil justice system in focus, moving from a report that would drop oral discoveries and most motions to the Chief Justice of Ontario's Superior Court for reaction and context.
A steady tour of Section 33, Gold Seal, and the Supreme Court's 150th anniversary.
Verdicts and Voices starts with Section 33, the Notwithstanding Clause, and the way provincial premiers are leaning on it, then moves into Gold Seal and a conversation with Chief Justice Richard Wagner about the Supreme Court of Canada's 150th anniversary.
A careful Charter discussion that shows why Section 28 has stayed oddly quiet.
The episode looks at the Charter's gender equality framework, starting with the odd split between Section 28 and Section 15. It moves through Bill 21, then back through Andrews, Fraser, and later equality tests to show how women's claims have been handled in practice.
Fast legal signals for regulated marketing.
Mississippi talk radio with sharp elbows.
Ghanaian headlines with an accountability pulse.
Supreme Court cases, made legible.
Private Eye’s scandals, argued at speed.
Legal audio with the record intact.
This episode explores the increasing issue of AI-generated fake case citations in Canadian courts, featuring an interview with a judge who detected such hallucinations.
Alison Crawford, Nadia Leva, and Ben Cates explain how the Law Society of Ontario assesses “good character” through applications, investigations, and licensing hearings.
This episode analyzes Bill C-16 (the Protecting Victims Act), discussing its potential impacts on criminal justice reform, including new offences and penalties, while examining institutional challenges and legal implications.
This episode previews the Supreme Court of Canada's upcoming hearing on Quebec's Bill 21, a secularism law that bans religious symbols in public service jobs and raises constitutional questions about religious freedom and the Notwithstanding Clause.
This episode explores the landmark RDS case involving Judge Corrine Sparks, Canada's first Black woman judge, who faced accusations of judicial racial bias, through an interview with legal historian Constance Backhouse about the arrest of teenager Rodney Small.
R v Jordan is ten.
The episode opens with Ontario's civil justice system and the pressure to make it faster and less expensive.
It starts with Section 33.
This episode explores how generative AI is being implemented in legal practices, focusing on its applications in contract generation, document review, legal research, and predictive analytics, with insights from legal professionals at PwC.
This episode features an interview with privacy expert Woodrow Hartzog discussing the dangers of regulating AI with half-measures, comparing approaches from the EU, U.S., and China.
Modern Law opens with Section 28 of the Canadian Charter and the odd fact that a clause meant to protect equality between the sexes has rarely been the main tool in court.