SPEAKER: Dr. Margaret Isabel Hall, Professor and BC Notaries Chair in Applied Legal Studies | School of Criminology Simon Fraser University

Prof. Margaret Hall discuses three developing areas of the law with potential implications for notary practice  in British Columbia.  Supported decision-making has been heralded in recent years as a preferred alternative to substitute decision-making (which the UN Human Rights Committee  has described as a form of discrimination on the basis of mental disability).  Will supported decision-making replace substitute decision-making? What is supported decision-making and what forms and approaches have been developed to date  in Canada?  The Law Commission in the UK and the Uniform Law Commission in the United States have recently examined and released recommendations regarding the development and use of electronic wills.  What are the issues?  What are the benefits and risks associated with electronic wills?  Statutory wills (provided for in the UK) refer to wills that are made on behalf of a person who has become incapable by the court (in the UK, the Court of Protection).  What is the process through which statutory wills are made?  What is the rationale for statutory wills, as an alternative to intestacy provisions?  What are the potential risks/drawbacks associated with statutory wills?

Dr. Margaret Isabel Hall, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD is a Professor and BC Notaries Chair in Applied Legal Studies in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. Margaret's research interests include law and aging, mental capacity and undue influence, legal responses to vulnerability, and systemic theories of liability in tort law. Margaret's research integrates doctrinal analysis with qualitative research methodologies. Prior to joining SFU Margaret was an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at Thompson Rivers University (as a founding member of that faculty) and an Assistant Professor in the UBC Faculty of Law. Margaret has also worked in law reform and was the first Director of the Canadian Centre of Elder Law Studies.