As the creator and the host of the Canadian Legal Ethics listserv, it is my pleasure to provide this year end report to the now more than 100 of you who are members of this listserv.  How did this happen?

The listserv was founded at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law in October 2010 after the 5th meeting of the group variously known as the Canadian Legal Ethics teachers network and other names.  Since we don’t have much in the way of competition, there is much risk in our using many names. Let me thank my Law School, the University of Ottawa, for hosting the listserv.

At that meeting in October, we also decided to formally create an organization – the Canadian Association for Legal Ethics (CALE) who had its founding corporate meeting at ILEC 5 in Banff in July 2012.  The CALE website can be found at https://ethicsincanada.com/ and is run by Chantal Morton an expatriate Canadian legal ethics teacher now teaching in Melbourne.  If you would like to post information on the CALE website please e-mail Chantal at Chantal.Morton@unimelb.edu.au  .  Chantal often posts articles that people post on this listserv to our public CALE website.

In 2013, the listserv grew from 75 members to over 100.  If we were a company, that would be double-digit growth and we might be rich!  But, alas, we are ethicists!   This listserv is not public.  However, with more than 100 people it is hard to consider things confidential and I would caution people appropriately.  The list is predominantly made up of full-time law teachers in Canada with some part-time law teachers/ full-time lawyers as well.  There are also regulators, several judges and some other lawyers who actively contribute to conversations.   When I mention listserv members in a post I try to identify them as as such so people know.

We had a great conference in Saskatoon in October – thank you Brent Cotter.  And we have much to look forward to in 2014: ILEC VI in London June 10-12, 2014 http://www.city.ac.uk/international-legal-ethics-conference  and the CALE Conference at Western October 23-25, 2014.

Let me invite all of you to share news of your publications and of those of others.  Let me send a special invitation to our graduate / post-graduate students to send me your work and your news to share with others.

As our listserv has grown over the year, I have no longer been able to welcome and introduce each new member of the listserv.  I am proud to say that we now have representatives from every Common Law law school in the country on the listserv.  Let me give a special welcome to Mariette Brennan and Frances Chapman from Lakehead – Canada`s newest Law School which opened its doors this past September.

For those who tweet, you can follow some of us on twitter: @franceschapman, @noelsemple @woolleylaw, @CLPatUofT, @sfodden @pavLAWich @LeeAkazaki @AmySalyzyn, @DeanSossin, @mmercertoronto, @micahrankin, @julahughes, @dwwiseman, @ADodek.  If you are on Twitter, let me know and I will circulate – Chantal will add links to our CALE website for all.

Finally, just a reminder – you can post directly to the listserv by e-mailing cmlethics-l@listserv.uottawa.ca or replying ALL to an old message (change the subject line).  Or send to me and I’ll post.  I love to share news about you with others.   We changed the settings on the listserv this year so if you reply to a message it is sent only to the person who sent it and not to the whole list.

I believe that it is ethical and appropriate to wish those celebrating Christmas a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holidays to everyone and all the best to everyone for a Happy and Ethical 2014.  May the Canadian Legal Ethics community continue to grow.

Adam Dodek

Moderator, Canadian Legal Ethics Listserv
Secretary and Treasurer, Canadian Association for Legal Ethics (CALE)
Vice-Dean Research & Associate Professor
Faculty of Law, Common Law Section
University of Ottawa