The Supreme Court Of Canada's Holiday Present: Simpler Rules For 2021

The Supreme Court of Canada has announced important changes to the Rules of the Supreme Court of Canada that will take effect on January 27, 2021. The amendments were published in the Canada Gazette here, and the Supreme Court of Canada has also published a plain language guide for these amendments here. While these changes are fairly minor in the grand scheme of Supreme Court practice, they will simplify the process for seeking leave to the Supreme Court of Canada.

There are three primary categories of changes.

The first change is that parties to leave applications or appeals to the Supreme Court of Canada are no longer required to use an agent from the National Capital Region. Previously, all parties were required to use Ottawa agents. Depending on the particular agent's role, some agents would merely assist with filing of documents, others would assist with formatting to accord with the Supreme Court's requirements, and some would provide substantive input and