The annual conference was held on October 19-21, 2023, at the University of Victoria. Pooja Parmar, the Vice-President of CALE/ACEJ, was the conference coordinator. She was assisted by Alan Treleaven, Robert Tapper, Laura Hamilton and Tayana Simpson. They did a terrific job and made all attendees very welcome.

The conference was generously supported by the University of Victoria, the Federation of Law Societies of Canada and the Law Society of British Columbia. It featured introductory remarks and a land acknowledgement from Dr. Skip Dick (a Songhees Nation Elder with a long association with the university), Associate Dean Geoffrey Loomer and CALE/ACEJ President Stephen Pitel.

The conference featured two themed panels on regulation of the legal profession. The first explored the recent proposals in British Columbia to create a single regulator for lawyers, notaries and paralegals engaged in providing legal services. These proposals involve debates about access to justice and the preservation of self-regulation. The second looked at the impact of artificial intelligence on ethical lawyering and access to justice. In this area one step regulators might be advised to take is the development of best practice guides for licensees. There was also some interesting discussion about how lawyers might bill clients for work performed using generative artificial intelligence.

Highlights of the two teaching panels included discussion of whether and how to evaluate civility as a skill to be acquired by law students, the pros and cons of using generative artificial intelligence in learning the law, and the development of attendance and laptop use policies.

There were ten presentations of research in progress, covering a wide range of topics. These included the effects of neurotechnology on the practice of law, possible changes to the Model Code to address intimate partner violence, challenges posed by the regulation of tax service providers, ethical obligations of government lawyers in the face of a lack of adequate resources, and the potential for lawyers who are successful in discipline proceedings to recover incurred costs from the regulator.

The hospitality was warm and provided excellent opportunities to discuss and debate issues in legal ethics and professionalism, as well as to catch up with colleagues old and new. The formal conference dinner was held at the University Club at the University of Victoria.

The 2024 conference will be hosted by the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.