According to the school’s website, it will be the first Canadian university to “harness the power of virtual reality [VR] to simulate a trial, giving students technical competence that will be required in the future as the courtroom moves online.”
Ayushi Dave, uOttawa tech fellow
She said the tech fellows “wanted to explore innovative ways to address real world problems that have not only been brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic,” but also “issues that have restricted access to justice from the beginning of time.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has made us more isolated from our peers. The 2Ls in particular did not have the opportunity to interact with one another on a more personal level. So, when we were looking at different options that we could look at to explore to address these issues we came across virtual reality and it kind of removes that barrier of location,” Dave explained, noting that VR allows to meet people in the same room even if they “are on the other end of the world or the other end of the country.”
“With just a little more experimentation VR could assist in removing barriers to access to justice, so this is just a small part of what we think VR can do,” she added, noting that the mooting trial “was the first step” to see where the technology might lead.
Ritesh Kotak, uOttawa tech fellow
“It’s not just, ‘let’s just move to some virtual collaboration platform.’ It is, ‘what is the art of the possible? How can technology actually be leveraged in novel ways?’ and with all the talk that was going on, especially in the last year, about the metaverse, we started looking at what can we actually do,” he said, noting that two years ago VR was “cost prohibitive.”
“We were getting ridiculous quotes to create virtual courtrooms,” he said, adding that the tech fellows “kept exploring” VR and in the last year the technology has “accelerated.”
“There are more developers. The cost of hardware has gone significantly lower and there’s a lot of buzz around this, so there are ways of us leveraging this type of platform and technology because it does allow a physical-like presence in the virtual world,” he said.
Kotak noted that the legal profession has gone from being physically “in one location,” to a virtual court “where we were little boxes on a screen,” but he wondered “how do we take that and combine the elements of both worlds together?”
“And that’s where VR came in,” he added, explaining that the tech fellows partnered with the university’s mooting program lead to create the “first ever VR moot.”
“It shows us what’s possible, but also what are the challenges and how can we move forward in this space,” he said.
Dave explained that all mooting finalists have all been given an Oculus 2 headset and an avatar.
“It’s going to be held in a virtual courtroom that was designed by ENGAGE XR, so we’ve already started training them [students] on how to use the headset and how they can move around in the virtual environment,” she added.
Kotak noted that the tech fellows are also working on getting virtual robes done in time for the three judges.
“It’s really interesting in that you’re going to have two claimants and two respondents sitting on either side,” he said, noting that “if someone to the right of you speaks” you “hear it from the speaker on the right side” of the headset.
“So you naturally turn your head to the right and your avatar’s head turns to the right and everyone in the courtroom’s head turns to the right as well,” he explained, adding that the team has also “created virtual seats in the gallery.”
“We’re going to have individuals join us with their avatar and we’re going to lock them into a seat in the gallery, and they’ll be able to see from that particular view, so it’s going to feel like an actual trial, an actual courtroom,” he said.
Kotak noted that it’s important for lawyers to be familiar with the metaverse for a couple of reasons, the first one being as a training tool.
“What better way to practise then to set up a VR courtroom? To feel like you’re actually in the courthouse practising your arguments,” he said, noting that the metaverse has “that realistic feel, so from a training and education standpoint” is a positive thing for students.
He stressed that there’s also a “broader conversation” to be had “around the laws of evidence or the future of evidence” and “access to justice.”
“There are a lot of individuals who might not be able to travel to a courtroom. Can we actually create a VR courtroom for communities that are fly-in?” he asked, noting that judges flying into remote communities “might not be the most efficient or effective way of leveraging resources.”
“The other thing that’s very interesting is there’s a lot of development that’s happening in this space, moving at a rapid pace, and it brings into question, what is the future of evidence?” he added.
Kotak noted that people are “used to seeing CCTV or surveillance videos in courtrooms,” but the future of VR is the ability to “take 360 cameras and drone footage of an actual scene and re-create it to the point where we can actually teleport anyone with a headset onto that scene, re-create the scene, play around with it, touch it without disturbing it.”
“Are we there yet? No, but we are getting there and at some point, this is going to be a thing,” he said, stressing that “personal usage is a precondition to comprehension and if we’re actually in it, we’re understanding the opportunities. We can also look at what the future challenges are in this space and try to address them early.”
Dave noted that “on the foundational level, the legal profession has been very resistant to change, especially technological change, so there’s an issue of technological competency in our profession.”
“It’s really important for lawyers to be more up-to-date with where technology is taking us, how integrated technology is whether you’re looking at employment, whether you’re looking at family law matters, whether you’re looking at criminal law matters. It’s in every aspect of our life and so, by introducing technology on a more user-friendly level, something they can have fun with, I think is a very important way to slowly bring in the importance of technology into the profession,” she explained.
Kotak emphasized that the metaverse moot trial is “in its infancy” and “it’s important to understand that.”
“It’s not going to be perfect right out of the gate, but it is a first and what we’re hoping this actually does start a broader conversation on how innovative technology can be leveraged to co-create spaces that promote access to justice,” he said, stressing that “there’s tons of opportunities here, and we want to start that conversation at a very substantive level, especially when it comes to the metaverse.”
“The metaverse is going to be a thing. It’s not going away and as I said before, personal usage is a precondition to comprehension, and we truly believe that,” he added.
The judges of the first metaverse moot trial will be retired justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Ian Binnie, Justice Jodie-Lynn Waddilove of the Ontario Court of Justice and Ron LeClair, principal of LeClair and Associates.
LeClair and Associates will be “providing funding for the faculty’s metaverse project through to 2026,” a university release noted.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to support the University of Ottawa, the creators and hosts of the first ever virtual reality moot. It is exciting to help law students — our future colleagues — explore innovative ways to promote access to justice for everyone,” said LeClair in a statement.
“This is yet another example of how uOttawa’s mooting program continues to lead and innovate. We have many students who are hungry to sharpen their advocacy skills. I’m very proud of what is now a long list of outstanding students who have become exceptional members of our profession,” said professor Anthony Daimsis, director of the Common Law Section’s mooting program, in a statement.
Photo credit: Image of uOttawa's metaverse courtroom used with permission from Ritesh Kotak.
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