Pouya's rulings and the page are one commit, not two, because they are not separable: Q37 changed the credential label the page renders, Q39 scoped the arbitration copy, and Q35 gave Med-Arb the row that lets the footer link stand. Splitting them would produce a commit where the register says one thing and the page says another. RULINGS Q39 — ANSWERED, and my assertion was FALSE as a universal. Pouya checked rather than defended. Family arbitration in Ontario is gated: prescribed training, 14h on screening for domestic violence and power imbalances, 30h of Ontario family law for arbitrators outside the bar, 10h ongoing per two years. claims-auditor produced that counter-example from inside the repo on 2026-08-26 and it was right. The source is now IN the repo per R14 — docs/reference/ontario-family-arbitration-training.md, retrieved with its provenance — and §4 states which half it establishes: the family gate directly, the commercial half only by absence. So "commercial arbitration in Ontario requires no licence and no designation" is recorded as Pouya's stated position, unstamped. What disposes of the question is the scope exclusion: he does not do family arbitration, so it is NOT OFFERED and the gate never bears on the practice. The false universal survived in three more live places, found by grep, not recall: §4's NOT-NEGOTIABLE boundary bullet (the boundary paragraph breaching its own boundary), §9's Q33 closure row, and a comment in SiteHeader.astro. Q35 — ANSWERED, all four items, and the answer supplied a gate that was missing. Med-Arb gets an Offerings row and stays in the footer sitemap. The six subject-matter labels pass test 1. §4 gains "Subject-matter areas — the publication gate": competence to accept an appointment, AND a page that frames it as positioning without claiming history. Nothing in the nav or footer is unrowed any more. Q37 — ANSWERED. "Law and engineering" becomes "Legal training and engineering practice". A degree is not a practice; the parallel was doing the implying. Q38/R13 — the committed SVG does not close it; the walk-back went too far. It renders faithfully BECAUSE it is the raster. R13 stays open. R1 — surfaced and acknowledged; the interim licensure framing is now carried by a shipped page rather than a spec, which raises the stakes. BUILD STEP 2 Seven of docs/01's eight home sections, six new components, zero JavaScript. Section 7 (Latest insights) ships at step 7 with the collection it lists — recorded in docs/01 and in the page, not just here. Four credential slots, not three: §4's paired-disclosure condition requires the Q.Arb stage on any page that offers arbitration. No booking link (R6). The masthead tagline is suppressed on / (it duplicated the hero eyebrow). The step-1 proof sheet is deleted, and five live references to it were found by grep. WHAT THE REVIEWS FOUND — 24 findings across the two passes claims-auditor FAILED it on ten, every one implication or scope rather than fabrication, which is where D13 says the risk lives. The four that mattered: "I mediate and arbitrate" asserted a track record §4 does not hold for arbitration; the JSON-LD asserted arbitration twice and stated the stage nowhere (a crawler-only claim is still a claim); "at one published rate with preparation time included" misdescribed money against docs/07's two day rates and capped prep allowance; and "Law and engineering are not blended here" was Q37's struck parallel relocated into prose one day after Pouya struck it. It also found the Canadian Tax Foundation missing from §9 Q8 — a stale second copy of a fact that would have bitten at step 3. adversarial-reviewer found fourteen, three blocking. The first was class="section-head" on <SectionHeading> never matching — the parent-cannot- style-a-child defect for the FOURTH time, written into a diff where I had just added fresh warnings about it to two other components. Measured: 0px margin, 0px gap, headings over the card edges, with astro check and eslint both clean. I had looked at a screenshot of that section and passed over it. Fixed with a page-owned wrapper (48px, measured) and the prop is deleted from six components so it is now a build error. Also: the credential row was never "two up on a phone" and its comment said it was; PROCESS was hardcoded in the page against the reason written in site.ts; 83px of residual overflow at a 200% default font size, now 3px. Seven more I found myself first, including <Picture widths> declaring the untouched 1600px master as the <img src> fallback (254,626 B for a 476px slot, and the build log said "before: 349kB" either way), and a prop named `as` silently turning off type-checking for a whole component. VERIFICATION — run, not asserted. Full figures in AGENTS.md entry (w). npx tsc 6.0.3 · check 0/0/0 · lint clean · build clean · audit 0 1 <script> and it is JSON-LD; non-JSON-LD scripts 0; no JS bundle; identical page with script execution disabled (444 nodes, 6,578 chars) Phase 5 minifier check: no `animation` shorthand beside animation-timeline overflow 0 at 14 widths, AND every mark measured at 1.5654-1.5657 vs 1.5657 one h1, no heading skips, focus order == DOM order across 44 focusables 31 painted contrast pairs at 3 widths, 0 failures 72/72 hit-test points across 8 cards resolve to the card's link print 0 hidden, reduced-motion 0 hidden Lighthouse NOT RUN — tool unavailable until step 7 (R11) HTML validator NOT RUN, and 4 of 12 srcsets carry a duplicate 1x descriptor Opened for Pouya: Q40 (one OG image for nineteen pages), Q41 (does Q37 reach prose; may the comparative be restored; what LAT pre-hearing mediation means), Q42 (the four "also offered" processes have no row), Q43 (the process timings are published commitments with no row). Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_0148NztQskLKKApP5SzAA78e
238 lines
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Markdown
238 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
# 03 — Content and voice
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Authority: `AGENTS.md` §4 (claim register) and §5 (audience model).
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Source material: `PL_ADR_Personal_Branding_Strategy_Brief.docx` (2026-05-26) and
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`ADR_Site_Content_Brief_for_Claude_Design.md` (2026-05-26).
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---
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## The one rule
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**Every factual claim traces to `AGENTS.md` §4 Verified.** Read the Forbidden
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table before writing any number, statistic, or superlative. If you need a fact
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you do not have, write `TODO(pouya): <exact question>` and log it in §9. Do not
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infer, do not soften, do not carry anything over from the old site.
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---
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## Voice
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**Restrained, precise, and unhedged.** The reader is usually a lawyer. They
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detect padding instantly and discount everything after it.
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**Do:**
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- Short declaratives. "I read the contract and the code." Not "clients benefit
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from a uniquely multidisciplinary perspective."
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- First person singular. This is a practitioner brand — "I", not "we", not "the
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practice". The old site's "we" implied a firm that does not exist.
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- Concrete nouns. *Lien claim. Change order. System Impact Assessment. Model
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card. Minutes of settlement.* Specificity is the credential.
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- Name the limits — but name the *right* ones. This bullet carried the model
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sentence *"Sole-arbitrator appointments follow the Q.Arb designation;
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co-arbitration work is available now"* until 2026-08-26. **Both halves were
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wrong and they were wrong in opposite directions**, which is why it survived
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two audits: the first half understated (sole-arbitrator appointments are
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offered **now** and are not gated by Q.Arb — §4 Offerings), and the second was
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unsourced when written. §4 now carries rows for all three forms.
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The shape of the bullet still stands, so here is a sentence that fits it and
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clears the register: *"I accept sole, party-appointed and co-arbitration
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appointments. The Q.Arb designation commenced in August 2026; C.Med-Arb is the
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endpoint."* The limit being named is the **stage of the arc**, stated plainly —
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Pouya's instruction is that being open about it is the differentiator, so do
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not hedge it into vagueness and do not drop it. (**No tribunal-secretary
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work** — D14
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removed the rate and bars offering it; see `docs/07-fees.md`.) Precision about
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what you cannot yet do makes the rest believable.
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- Plain words over Latin. "Without prejudice" survives because it is a term of
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art; *inter alia* does not.
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**Do not:**
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- **Any claim or implication of legal licensure.** D13: the site asserts the JD
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and nothing more. Never "lawyer", "called to the bar", "licensed", "my law
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practice", "my litigation practice", "my clients", "acts for", "represents".
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Implication counts as much as assertion.
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**The approved phrasing is "active litigation exposure" or "involvement in
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litigation and ADR matters" — never "practice" in that context.** Pouya's
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wording, 2026-08-26. So: *Director of Firm Operations at a Toronto litigation
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and ADR boutique, with active exposure to construction, personal injury, POA,
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and SABS matters.* Accurate, specific, and it claims nothing it should not.
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This framing is **interim** — see `AGENTS.md` §12 R1. Raise it with Pouya
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rather than letting it settle in by default.
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- Superlatives. No "leading", "premier", "top-rated", "best". They are
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unverifiable, they read as insecure, and marketing rules for regulated
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professions treat them as suspect.
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- Outcome language that could be read as a guarantee.
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- "Passionate", "dedicated", "committed", "proven track record", "results-driven",
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"leverage", "synergy", "solutions".
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- Hedges that erase the claim. The strategy brief warns specifically against
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softening the technical claim to "technologically literate" — **the claim is
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engineering practice, so the copy says engineering practice.**
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- Em-dash-heavy rhythm and tricolon padding. One idea per sentence.
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- Second-person sales copy on counsel-facing pages. `/for-parties/` is the one
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page written to "you".
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---
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## The core positioning statement
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Reused, adapted, across the hero, the About page, and the PDF bio:
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> The dispute resolution practice of Pouya Lajevardi — a credentialed neutral
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> who is also close to live litigation and a practising machine-learning and
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> infrastructure engineer. Built for commercial, construction, energy,
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> technology, and cross-cultural disputes that turn on facts most neutrals take
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> on faith: the contract, the code, the engineering documents, and the
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> regulatory overlay around them.
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Every version of this must survive the §4 check. It does: each element is
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verified.
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## Approved headline options
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From the content brief; all three sit honestly with the practice.
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1. *A mediator who reads the contract, the code, and the room.* — **recommended.**
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The cleanest one-sentence statement of the moat, and rare because it is rare.
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2. *Engineered for the cases that don't fit a courtroom.*
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3. ~~*Disputes resolved by someone who has been on every side of one.*~~
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**Does not clear §4 as written** (flagged 2026-08-26). "Every side" asserts
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having acted as party, as counsel, and as neutral; §4 verifies the neutral
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role and *active litigation exposure*, not the other two. Left in place so
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the option is not silently re-invented — but it cannot be chosen without a §4
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row to choose it from.
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## The credential row
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Three slots, never counts:
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| Slot | Value | Label |
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|---|---|---|
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| 1 | **Q.Med** | ADRIC / ADRIO designation |
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| 2 | **JD + ML** | Legal training and engineering practice |
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| 3 | **EN · FA** | Bilingual practice |
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**Slot 2's label changed on 2026-08-27 (Pouya, `AGENTS.md` Q37).** It read
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*"Law and engineering"*. His reasoning: *"The parallel was doing the implying — a
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degree and a practice under one noun. The asymmetry is the honest part."* A JD is
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a degree; engineering is a practice, and a verified one. Setting them in parallel
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invited the reader to supply the symmetry, and for "Law" the missing half is a
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licence — which D13 bars by implication as hard as by assertion. The replacement
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is longer and deliberately lopsided. Do not tidy it back into a parallel.
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Fourth slot where the layout has one: **Q.Arb — commenced August 2026.** Use
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that wording, not "in progress": §4 pins it, and the weaker form drifts toward
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"nearly complete", which §4 Forbidden bars outright.
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**On the home page the fourth slot IS used, and it is not optional there.**
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`docs/01` §`/` says "Three slots"; §4's paired-disclosure condition is the higher
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authority and requires that wherever the site offers arbitration it "states
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plainly" the stage of the arc. `/` says *arbitrator* in its opening sentence, so
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the stage belongs on the same page rather than only in the footer. Rendered as
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value `Q.Arb` over label `Commenced August 2026` — the same wording, with the
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em-dash carried by the layout instead of by the string.
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The substitution principle (`AGENTS.md` §4): wherever the design wants a "how
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many", substitute a longer-arc credential. These are all true at launch and stay
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true; none grows by closing files.
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---
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## Per-page copy notes
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### Home
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Hero headline from the approved list. Positioning paragraph above. CTAs:
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*Request a consultation →* and *How I work*. The approach section makes the
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"two directions at once" argument — law and engineering converging on the same
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dispute — and keeps the infinity metaphor: *disputes are loops; the work is
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redrawing the loop into a line.* First person: "my mark", not "our mark".
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### About
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400–600 words of narrative, then structured credentials. Tell the three tracks
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as one arc, not three lists: a JD and active litigation exposure; a parallel
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career in machine learning and infrastructure engineering; a company run
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alongside both. The arc is the point — the credentialing pathway from Q.Med
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through Q.Arb to C.Med-Arb is stated openly as in progress. The brief treats
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that arc as part of the story rather than something to obscure.
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Omit any section that would be empty. No "Speaking" heading until there is a
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talk to list.
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### Mediation / Arbitration / Med-Arb
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Procedural, specific, unembellished. Name the rules. Describe the formats. State
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what a party should expect to do and when. On `/arbitration/`, state the Q.Arb
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position in plain terms — what is available now versus what follows designation.
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`/med-arb/` addresses the procedural-fairness objection directly: the same
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neutral who heard a party's confidential caucus later decides the matter. Do not
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elide it. Explain the consent mechanics and when the process is inappropriate.
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Meeting the strongest objection is what makes the page worth reading.
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### Practice areas
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Each page: dispute types, why this practice fits, what the process looks like,
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and the market context that makes the area live. Context comes from the strategy
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brief §III–IV — Ontario's megaproject pipeline, Bill 40 and grid connection, the
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2026 privacy statute, LAT volumes.
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**Frame as positioning, not as history.** "Built to facilitate procurement and
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subcontract disputes on Ontario's megaproject pipeline" — not "extensive
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experience resolving". The first is true and forward-looking. The second is
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neither.
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### Process
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Five steps with real timing. Say what happens if the matter does not settle —
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counsel want to know the downside shape before they commit a client's day.
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### Fees
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**Unblocked — Q4/Q14 answered, D14.** Build from the confirmed card in
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`docs/07-fees.md`. Plain table, no "starting from"
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evasions, no "contact for pricing" after promising a rate card.
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### For parties
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The one page in second person. Grade-9 reading level. Short sentences. Says
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explicitly: the mediator is not your lawyer and cannot give you legal advice; the
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mediator does not decide who is right. Answers what it costs and what happens if
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you do not settle.
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### Insights
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1,200–1,800 words, monthly cadence (brief §VIII). Territories from §VII:
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process explainers · regulatory commentary · industry dispute commentary ·
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anonymised reflections · technical explainers for lawyers · credentialing content.
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Every piece links to at least one practice-area page. Anonymised reflections must
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be genuinely unidentifiable — not merely name-stripped. If a matter could be
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recognised by the parties to it, it does not run.
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### Launch article slate (D9)
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Drafted by Claude, **every word reviewed by Pouya before publication**:
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1. *What the Ontario data-centre build-out means for dispute resolution* —
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technology + construction; the strongest single differentiator piece.
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2. *When Med-Arb is the right answer, and when it is not* — process explainer;
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feeds `/med-arb/`; high search intent, thin competition.
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3. *Bill 40 and grid connection: a dispute-resolution read* — regulatory
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commentary; establishes the energy niche.
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4. *What a System Impact Assessment actually evaluates* — technical explainer for
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lawyers; the clearest demonstration of the claim the whole brand rests on.
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5. *Choosing a neutral: what counsel should actually ask* — evergreen, useful,
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and it makes the case for this practice without arguing for it.
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---
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## Compliance checklist — before any page ships
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- [ ] Every factual claim appears in `AGENTS.md` §4 Verified
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- [ ] No matter counts, settlement rates, dollar figures, or time-to-award stats
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- [ ] No testimonials, endorsements, or third-party quotes
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- [ ] No superlatives and no guarantee language
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- [ ] No claim or implication of legal licensure anywhere (D13)
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- [ ] Q.Arb described as commenced August 2026, never as held or nearly complete
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- [ ] Nothing implies a firm, a team, or offices that do not exist
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- [ ] Contact page states that an inquiry creates no retainer and no
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mediator–party relationship
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- [ ] Any comparative claim is factual and verifiable
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