The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) and the Federation of Law Societies of Canada are pleased to announce the appointment of Francis Barragan of Montreal as CanLII’s new President and CEO. The announcement was made jointly by Crystal O’Donnell, the Chair of the CanLII Board of Directors, and Jill Perry, K.C., President of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada.
Called to the bar in Quebec in 2004, Francis received his LLB in 2002, his Master’s Degree in Business Law in 2009 and his J.D. in North American Common Law in 2011, all from the Université de Montréal.
He joined CanLII in 2022 as Director, Partnerships and Content, responsible for enhancing the relationships with partners and content providers. He has served as Interim President of CanLII since September. Prior to joining CanLII, Francis was Chief, Legal Affairs and Strategy with Éducaloi, a leading public legal information organization in the province of Quebec.
The new CanLII President and CEO says his first priority will be implementing the organization’s next strategic plan. “That plan includes CanLII’s response to new technologies, the continuing offering of secondary materials, and the continuing initiative to cultivate alliances with justice system stakeholders and other groups that share our mission of providing free access to Canadian law and legal information. “
“With more than ten years experience working with web content, especially free legal information, Francis has a deep appreciation for the challenges and opportunities that CanLII faces” says CanLII Board Chair Crystal O’Donnell. “That experience makes him well-suited to lead CanLII as it advances its strategic priorities and overall goals of providing free access to law information in new and innovative ways.”
“The Federation is very pleased to confirm Mr. Barragan as CanLII’s President and CEO” says Jill Perry, President of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. “The world of technology in the legal profession is constantly changing, and his experience with online services will ensure that CanLII remains at the forefront of free legal information.”
CanLII is a non-profit organization created by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada on behalf of its 14-member law societies. It was launched in 2000 on a test basis to provide efficient and free access to the growing number of judicial decisions and legislative documents available on the Internet. In 2001, CanLII became a permanent, not-for-profit service to support the legal profession in performing its duties while providing the public with permanent open and free access to the legal heritage of all Canadian jurisdictions.
The CanLII website features 47 legislative and 378 case law databases, representing over 3.1 million cases. The CanLII Connects web site currently hosts over 75,000 case commentaries and summaries supplied by the legal community. In the last 12 months, CanLII registered 20 million web site visits.
Access to the CanLII service is available at www.canlii.org, or through the web site of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada www.flsc.ca. Access to CanLII Connects is available at canliiconnects.org.