Wednesday Webinar Series

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Wednesday Webinar Series

Level up, without leaving your desk.

You told us you wanted more flexibility and deeper dives, and we listened.

This year, instead of its traditional 2-day conference, BCCAT is pleased to offer a new, flexible way to learn through a series of 2-hour, virtual webinars. 

Advance your decision-making skills through a comprehensive webinar series designed for today’s administrative justice environment. Gain practical tools to assess challenging evidence, address complex ethical dilemmas, manage challenging conduct, and craft clear, defensible decisions.

Stay current on important developments in administrative law while exploring emerging trends, including the growing role of artificial intelligence in decision-making. Each two-hour session includes expert presentations, practical discussion, and opportunities to engage directly with panellists, ask questions, and share perspectives.

Choose the topics that matter most to you from seven focused sessions, or if you’re a BCCAT subscriber or CCAT member, register for the complete series and receive all seven webinars for the price of six.

Earn 2 CPD credits per webinar, with the opportunity to earn up to 14 CPD credits by attending the full series.

*To become a BCCAT subscriber, click here.

Please note: All sessions are live 2-hour events held from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm Pacific Time (PT). Webinar recordings will not be available.

Webinar Series Details and Speaker Biographies:

October 14, 2026
Managing Challenging Conduct, Communication, and Conflict in Tribunal Proceedings

Tribunal decision-makers, staff, and counsel are increasingly required to manage proceedings marked by heightened emotions, distrust of authority, unrealistic expectations, and complex interpersonal dynamics.
This panel discussion offers a practice-oriented examination of strategies for managing challenging conduct and communication before and during tribunal hearings. Drawing on experience across multiple adjudicative settings, panellists will discuss approaches to setting and maintaining appropriate boundaries, responding to trauma-related behaviours, managing challenging conduct while maintaining impartiality, and building institutional tools and systems that support efficiency and proportionality without compromising fairness.

Speakers:

November 18, 2026
Administrative Law Update: Recent Developments and Potential Implications

Developments in administrative law jurisprudence can have significant implications for decision-makers and others in the administrative law realm. The panellists will provide a curated overview of recent jurisprudence, focusing on recurring themes and key developments in administrative law in British Columbia. This session is intended to keep participants apprised of recent developments in the case law and their potential implications.

Speakers:

December 9, 2026
Everyday Ethics in Administrative Decision-Making

Decision-makers routinely face unique and complex ethical questions. Issues such as conflicts of interest, improper influence by a party, and assistance with decision drafting can give rise to overlapping ethical concerns that must be carefully considered in fulfilling their duties. This focused two-hour presentation will address these and other relevant topics, including the use of social media and public commentary, conduct both inside and outside the hearing room, and the application of the Code of Professional Conduct to decision-makers who are practicing lawyers. This webinar is designed to support decision-makers in navigating these challenges with confidence and clarity in their day-to-day work.
Attendance at this session satisfies the Law Society of British Columbia’s two-hour CPD requirement in professional responsibility, ethics, client care, or practice management.

Speaker:

January 13, 2027
The ATSSC’s AI Benefits and Efficiencies Framework: Measuring AI’s True Impact on Administrative Justice

The Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada (ATSSC) is a federal, legal shared-services support organization dedicated to enabling independent tribunals to deliver on their mandates and resolve disputes efficiently and fairly for Canadians and stakeholders. Guided by its published AI and Transformation Strategy, the ATSSC is partnering closely with tribunals to explore the responsible and ethical adoption of artificial intelligence through targeted pilots across registry operations, legal services, and member support, spanning areas such as legal research, editing, translation, and more. In collaboration with BVC Cyberjustice Group, the ATSSC is also advancing thought leadership by developing best practices and guidance for the ethical use of AI in the administrative justice sector.

This session will introduce ATSSC’s emerging AI Benefits and Efficiencies Framework, co-developed with Professor Nicolas Vermeys from the University of Montreal’s Cyberjustice Laboratory. Designed specifically for high-trust environments like tribunals, the framework balances efficiency gains with critical priorities such as quality, fairness, transparency, user experience, and risk management. It outlines expected benefits, measurable efficiencies, and key performance indicators that registry, legal, and member services can use to establish baselines and assess outcomes following AI implementation, helping determine the true value of these investments and their potential for enterprise-wide adoption. Participants will also be invited to share their perspectives on AI and explore how this framework may apply within their own areas of work.

Speakers:

February 10, 2027
Clear and Defensible: Mastering Administrative Decision-Writing

In an era of increasing legal scrutiny and evolving public expectations, the clarity and defensibility of administrative decisions have never been more critical. In this insightful session, former Supreme Court Justice Thomas Cromwell shares practical strategies for administrative decision-makers looking to elevate their writing.
The presentation will focus on two core pillars of effective decision-writing:

  1. Clarity in communication, including how to eliminate unnecessary legalese and write in a clear, accessible manner without sacrificing legal precision; and
  2. Drafting defensible decisions, including best practices for explaining credibility findings and demonstrating a logical path from the facts to the conclusion, as well as how to seamlessly integrate applicable legal frameworks in a manner that can withstand judicial review.

Key Takeaways: Attendees will leave with actionable guidance regarding how to write decisions that are not only easy for parties to understand but also robust, well-reasoned, and legally defensible.

Speaker:

March 10, 2027
Evidence: From Core Principles to Complex Applications

This webinar will offer practical guidance on assessing evidence in administrative law proceedings, including making determinations of relevance and weight. The session will also address issues of privilege, expert evidence, and hearsay evidence.

Speakers:

April 14, 2027
Charter Values in Administrative Decision-Making

The Supreme Court of Canada has directed that administrative decision makers must identify Charter values that may be implicated by their decisions and proportionately balance those values against statutory objectives. This session is intended to inform decision makers in this challenging context, recognizing that the law remains in a state of flux.
Topics will include the scope and content of Charter values, how a decision maker may be able to identify whether there are Charter values that must be accounted for, and the process of proportionate balancing. There is at least one decision currently before the Supreme Court of Canada relevant to Charter values. The content of this session may be adjusted if the Supreme Court of Canada renders judgment in that case, or any other pending case, prior to the session.

Speakers:

Speakers