Countless class-action suits, preposterously large damage awards, and hordes of fast-buck lawyers - that is how most Canadians picture the American legal system. Yet that is not how we view Canada's legal system. We take for granted that our courts and lawyers are saner, less costly, and less disruptive. But is Canada immune from the legal lottery operating south of the border?

Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia now permit class-action suits. Our newspapers tell stories of increasingly costly legal settlements. We now graduate lawyers faster than the United States. Are the symptoms of the American legal malady already here? Are we inheriting America's litigious legacy?

This book draws together the opinions of distinguished American and Canadian legal scholars and researchers to address such critical questions as:

• What is happening in the United States and what legal innovations should we avoid?
• Has Canada already adopted American approaches to liability and negligence?
• How has Canada's legal system changed over the last 20 years?
• What legal innovations are being proposed today?
• How should we reform our courts and legal institutions?