On October 21, 2023, CALE/ACEJ held its annual meeting of members at the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria. In his report, President Stephen Pitel outlined CALE/ACEJ’s activities over the past year, including: the transition of the Chief Information Officer role from Amy Salyzyn to Basil Alexander; transitioning the listserv from UOttawa to Google Groups; implementing a Travel Grant Program to support graduate students and post-doctoral fellows attending the conference; partnering with the CBA and FLSC for the 2023 Ethics Forum; submissions to the FLSC’s National Requirement Review Committee re: ethics and professionalism and to the FLSC’s Model Code Committee re: former judges returning to practice; and other director submissions and activities that build awareness of CALE/ACEJ.
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Second Submission to the National Requirement Review Committee
In June 2023 the National Requirement Review Committee of the FLSC invited feedback on options and preliminary proposals for amendments to the National Requirement described in a Discussion Paper available on the FLSC website. The National Requirement 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.
CALE/ACEJ had previously provided submissions (available here) at an earlier stage of the Review Committee’s work. It has now provided a response, available below, to the proposals in the Discussion Paper, focusing specifically on issues of legal ethics and professionalism.
Submission to National Requirement Review Committee
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.
A Duty of Technological Competence for Lawyers
Report on Conflicts of Interest from Standing Committee on the Model Code of Professional Conduct
RINTRODUCTION
1. The Standing Committee on the Model Code of Professional Conduct (the “Standing Committee”) was established by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada in September 2010 in recognition of the fact that the Model Code of Professional Conduct (the “Model Code”) must evolve over time in response to changes in the law and changes made by individual law societies as they implement the Model Code.
For the English version of the report, click Report to Council – Standing Committee – Conflicts – November 2011.
For the French version of the report, click Rapport sur les conflits d’intérêts novembre 2011
Federation of Law Societies of Canada: Conflicts of Interest
The Federation of Law Societies of Canada Advisory Commitee on Conflicts of Interest has posted its supplementary report on Conflicts of Interest.
It is available on the FLSC website by clicking HERE.
The introduction to the report explains:
Introduction
1. The Advisory Committee on Conflicts of Interest (the “Committee”) was originally mandated to make recommendations to the Council of the Federation on a rule governing conflicts of interest. After studying the relevant law, considering the report of the Canadian Bar Association Task Force on Conflicts of Interest (the “CBA Task Force”), meeting with members of the CBA Task Force, and reviewing the draft rule in the Model Code of Professional Conduct, the Committee issued its final report in June 2010 (the “Final Report”).
2. In August 2010, while voting on the Final Report by members of Council was underway, the Federation received a response to the Final Report from the Canadian Bar Association (the “CBA Response”). At the request of Council, the Committee was reconvened to consider the CBA Response, to conduct such consultations as the Committee saw fit and to report back to Council.
3. This is the report of the Committee’s further onsiderations, consultations and recommendations.
Canadian Association for Legal Ethics / Association canadienne pour l’éthique juridique 