CBA-FLSC Ethics Forum 2023

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The 2020 version of this annual conference was, for many, the last in-person professional event before the pandemic shutdown. It is wonderful to see it return in person. The 2023 conference happens in Toronto on Friday, March 31.

The panel sessions this year are titled “Lawyering in Times of Chaos and Controversy”, “Legal Ethics and Family Law: Do Unique Challenges Require New Approaches?” and “A Wake Up Call: What is the path forward for improving lawyer mental health?”. The keynote speaker is Katrina Ingram, founder of Ethically Aligned AI, who will discuss artificial intelligence and the practice of law. In addition, the CBA Ethics and Professional Responsibility Subcommittee will present Part II of its Business of Law toolkit which deals with marketing.

More information (including a list of all moderators and presenters and the opportunity to register) is available here.

Commitment to CPD on Indigenous Intercultural Competence

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CALE/ACEJ is aware that a motion has been brought by lawyers in Alberta challenging the basis on which continuing professional development (CPD) on Indigenous intercultural competency has been mandated by the Law Society of Alberta (or other specific CPD the LSA may mandate).

In November 2021, CALE/ACEJ responded to a consultation by the Law Society of Ontario about competency requirements, particularly those about general and mandatory CPD, including specific CPD requirements. In its submission, it advocated that to meet the obligations under Call to Action 27, the LSO should require that all of its licensees complete Indigenous intercultural competence training.

This remains CALE/ACEJ’s position, not only in respect of the LSO but also in respect of the regulators of the legal profession in all provinces and territories. All legal regulators should develop and adopt such a requirement.

More information about the importance of general and mandatory CPD, including mandatory Indigenous intercultural competency, can be found in CALE/ACEJ’s November 2021 submissions (available below).

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Two Recent Articles

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The new edition (December 2022; volume 100:3) of the Canadian Bar Review includes two articles with CALE/ACEJ connections:

One is “Legal Ethics and the Promotion of Substantive Equality” by Daniel Del Gobbo. An earlier version of this article won CALE/ACEJ’s best paper prize, awarded in October 2022.

The other is “A Mixed Bag: Critical Reflections on the Revised Ethical Principles for Judges” by five members of the CALE/ACEJ board of directors. Elements of this article were presented at ILEC at UCLA in August 2022.

Both articles are available here. Happy reading.

Submission to National Requirement Review Committee

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In September 2022 the National Requirement Review Committee of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada called for input at the outset of a review of the National Requirement (which specifies the competencies and skills graduates of Canadian law school programs and internationally trained graduates and lawyers must have acquired to be admitted to law society admission programs in the Canadian common law jurisdictions). The call for input is available here. CALE/ACEJ has responded to this call for input and its response is available below.

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Conference Recap 2022

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It was a great pleasure to return to an in-person conference this year. Our host was the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University and we are indebted to Dean Jula Hughes, Wendy Parkes and their team, including several faculty members, for running a terrific event. We met October 20-22, 2022.

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Annual Meeting 2022

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On October 22, 2022, CALE/ACEJ held its annual meeting of members at the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, Lakehead University. This was the first such meeting held in person since 2019. In her report, President Amy Salyzyn outlined CALE/ACEJ’s activities over the past year, including creating new guidelines for the listserv, updating the members list and drafting submissions to the Law Society of Ontario and the Federation of Law Societies of Canada on topics such as continuing legal education, compensation for articling students and competency requirements for NCA students. She also praised a strong Canadian showing at the recent International Legal Ethics Conference at UCLA.

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CALE/ACEJ Best Paper Award 2022

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At the CALE/ACEJ Annual Conference last week, this year’s recipient for the CALE/ACEJ Best Paper Award was announced. The CALE Best Paper Award is an award for the best paper in the field of legal ethics and professionalism by an emerging scholar who is a member of CALE. Submissions are evaluated on their originality, the thoroughness of their research and analysis, and the extent to which they advance thinking on topics of importance in the field, nationally or internationally. For more details, see here.

This year’s award winner is Daniel Del Gobbo for his paper “Legal Ethics and the Promotion of Substantive Equality”. Congratulations again, Daniel! 

This paper was supported by his OBA Foundation Chief Justice of Ontario Fellowship in Legal Ethics and Professionalism Studies and will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Canadian Bar Review. 

Notice of 2022 Annual General Meeting

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CALE/ACEJ’s Annual General Meeting will take place on Saturday, October 22, 2022 at 9:30am at the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario. All members of CALE/ACEJ are welcome to attend. The meeting is in-person only. Here is the agenda.

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We hope that many of our members are able to join us.

CALE/ACEJ Awards: Nominations Now Open

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Here’s the annual nominations call for CALE/ACEJ’s two fall awards, with a due date of August 12, 2022.

The two awards are:

  • the CALE/ACEJ Best Paper Award, which recognizes the best legal ethics and professionalism paper by an emerging scholar, and
  • the CALE/ACEJ Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes sustained accomplishments in legal ethics and professionalism.

More information about the awards, including previous winners and the awards’ full terms, is at https://ethicsincanada.com/cale-awards/.

For Best Paper nominations, submit an anonymized version of the paper to basil.alexander@unb.ca (can be your or someone else’s paper) by August 12, 2022. While we cannot ensure full blind review given the nature and size of the community, we will do the best we can.

For Lifetime Achievement nominations, complete and submit the nomination form (circulated in early June to the listserv and also available on request from Corporate Secretary Basil Alexander) and the required supporting letter(s) to basil.alexander@unb.ca by August 12, 2022. If it is easier for you, the form and the supporting letter(s) may be submitted separately.

If you have any questions, contact Basil Alexander.

The selection committee for this year’s awards is Brooke MacKenzie, Pooja Parmar and Stephen Pitel.

Law Society of Ontario Approves New Competence Framework

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At its May 2022 Convocation meeting, the Law Society of Ontario approved a new competence framework. As reported by the Law Society:

“The new Competency Framework includes the creation of a practice essentials course which will be mandatory for lawyers or paralegals within one year of setting up as a sole practitioner for the first time. This will take effect as of January 2024. The approximately 30-hour online course will set new sole practitioners up for long-term success by focusing on foundational practice and business management topics.

…

As part of the new framework the Rules of Professional Conduct and the Paralegal Professional Conduct Guidelines will be amended to adopt the Federation of Law Societies of Canada Model Code of Professional Conduct commentary (Section 3.1-2) regarding technological competence.

The Law Society requires licensees who are practising law or providing legal services to complete 12 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Hours each year. Currently, there is a six-hour limit on archived or recorded CPD programs that are eligible for credit each year. The new framework waives this limitation.

The new framework also calls for the wind-up of the Certified Specialist Program (CSP). Licensees who are currently Certified Specialists may use that designation until Dec. 31, 2022. The Indigenous Legal Issues specialization will be continued subject to any future recommendation made by the Equity and Indigenous Affairs Committee to Convocation regarding the specialization.”

In November 2021, CALE/ACEJ submitted feedback in the consultation for this new competence framework. In its submissions, CALE/ACEJ took the position that, among other things, mandatory CPD should be retained for licensees and that the Federation of Law Societies of Canadian Model Code of Professional Conduct commentary on technological competence should be adopted.