Case Center – FAQs

CIRO uses Case Center (formerly CaseLines) for document sharing and presentation in disciplinary hearings. Case Center is an online platform that provides secure and easy access to case materials during hearings. It allows users to share, mark-up and present documents — all from the same secure cloud location. For more information on Case Center, consult the Best Practices for the Use of Case Center.

In electronic and hybrid proceedings, Case Center is used alongside with a video conferencing platform, Webex. For more information on electronic and hybrid proceedings, see the Best Practices for Electronic Proceedings.

If you have been identified as a participant in a CIRO matter proceeding on Case Center, you will receive an email with a link providing instructions on how to register and access your matter on Case Center. You only need to register once. Make sure to add <[email protected]> to your safe senders list to ensure the email is not blocked.

You can also pre-register as a Case Center user by visiting canada.caselines.com. Once registered, you will have access to all your CIRO-related matters available on Case Center.

Your account details can be changed through the “Account Details” page. To access the settings, click on “Account Details” found on the top of the “Home” screen. You will be able to update your title, name, role, location, and choose whether you wish to display notifications when logged in.

You can see cases that you have access to in Case Center by clicking “View Hearings” at the top of the “Home” screen. This page provides a list of your upcoming hearings; if you have multiple cases, scroll down to select the case you wish to view. You can also search for the case by entering information into the “Hearing Date To/From” fields or “Case Name/Reference” and then clicking the “Apply Filter” button. You can also find your case by name if you “Search Cases” at the top of the “Home” screen.

Each hearing will have either a video (Webex) link for an electronic or hybrid hearing or a location and address for an in-person hearing, which can be found under “Update Case” and “View Hearings” tabs.

If you want to share the video (Webex) link with your counsel or client, click on the “Video Conference Link” button provided in the case, copy and paste the link into your communication. The link will provide access to the Webex hearing conference (if the hearing is open to the public), but not to the case documents on Case Center. If you want your client or counsel to also have access to the case documents, they will need to register on Case Center and request access to the case through the Hearing Office at [email protected].

You can open multiple documents in Case Center in the “Review” space by clicking “View” at the top of the screen to make additional buttons appear and then clicking on “Open in New Tab”. This will open another tab in your browser that will allow you to view other documents.

You can also open a second reading pane by clicking on the “Dual Panes” icon in the top right corner of the display screen (i.e., look for small overlapping rectangles ). This will split your screen in two sections allowing you to view two documents side-by-side.

You can highlight, underscore, use sticky notes, add, filter, and edit any notes you make in Case Center using “Notes” at the top of the display screen. Notes can be made on a case under “Add a Case Note” or a particular document under “Add a Page Note” .

Your annotations in Case Center by default are private. Sharing notes with others requires extra steps. When you create a note, you will receive a prompt with three options allowing you to (*) keep your note private, (*) widely share your note (i.e., everyone who has access to the case will see your note), or (*) share your note with a group (you must set up a “shared group” prior to sharing your note). For more information and a visual guide, see Case Center Resources under Notes.

Parties presenting evidence and making submissions at a hearing can effectively direct a hearing panel and/or their witnesses and other participants to a specific page by using a “Find” tab at the top of the “Review” screen and selecting “Direct Others to Page”. This will send a message to all participants offering to take them to the page. Participants can choose to accept the direction prompt or decline it.

Parties can also use a “Presentation“ mode to assist other participants to follow their presentation by going to “Present” at the top of the “Review” screen and selecting “Start Presentation”. This will display specific pages and areas of a document the presenter wants to highlight inviting all participants to follow the presentation. Participants must accept to “Follow Presenter” or “Auto Follow” the presentation.