Lack of articling placements an access-to-justice issue

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From: Canadian Lawyer Magazine

Panel says more opportunities needed in social justice lawyering

Written by Devanne O’Brien

Posted Date: October 31, 2011

A panel at the University of Ottawa’s law school said the Law Society of Upper Canada’s articling task force ought to focus on the lack of social justice articling opportunities available to recent law school graduates.

“The articling task force was set up in response to a perceived and actual shortage of articling positions in Ontario,” explained Suzanne Bouclin, who moderated the Oct. 26 panel discussion. “[T]he critical problem is less a shortage of articling positions, but specifically articling positions in career paths more oriented towards social justice.”

The shortage described by Bouclin was a key finding in a law society report published in May. It showed that 12.1 per cent of those seeking articles in the 2010-11 licensing year went unplaced, a big jump from a rate of 5.8 per cent three years ago.

University of Ottawa law professor David Wiseman said he sees the shortage as related to “the other crisis” in articling: a distribution of articling positions that is not conducive to social justice.

The task force, he suggested, is an opportunity to “put access to justice on the table.”

For the full story, click HERE.

For more on the panel from Adam Dodek, University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, commenting at http://www.slaw.ca on November 2, 2011, click HERE.

For more on articling from Jeff Gray, law reporter for the Globe and Mail, reporting on November 1, 2011, click HERE

For information on the consultation process and the Task Force Report, click HERE.

Selling pieces of law firms to investors

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From: The New York Times

By JOHN ELIGON

Published: October 28, 2011

Imagine an afternoon trip to a Wal-Mart: You pick up socks, a flat-screen television and a microwave meal. After checking out, you stop in the photo studio at the front of the store for a family portrait, and then shift one booth over to a lawyer, who drafts your will or real estate contract.

For the rest of the story, click HERE.

 

Regulatory Issues in a Global Context

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From The ABA Law Journal

Despite Globalization, Lawyers Find New Barriers to Practicing Abroad

Posted Nov 1, 2011 4:19 AM CST
By Anna Stolley Persky

For the full article, click HERE.

CHANGES ON THE WAY

The Ethics 20/20 Commission already has signaled its intention to recommend amendments to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct that would make it easier for lawyers from foreign countries to practice in U.S. jurisdictions, at least temporarily.

At the same time, however, the commission has indicated that, while it is considering the possibility of recommending some form of law firm operating structure that would involve nonlawyers, it does not intend to recommend that outside investment in law firms be permitted. The commission was expected to issue an initial draft recommendation on alternative business structures before the end of this year.

Alice Woolley: “Rhetoric and Realities … “

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Alice Woolley, “Rhetoric and Realities: What Independence of the Bar Requires of Lawyer Regulation”

For the full paper available on SSRN, click HERE.

Abstract:

The Canadian legal profession is largely self-regulating. Provincial law societies governed by lawyers elected by their peers set the standards for admission to the profession and for ethical conduct, and investigate, prosecute and adjudicate allegations of professional misconduct by lawyers. Advocates for this regulatory structure rely on the concept of “independence of the bar,” the idea that lawyers must be free from any external interference with their representation of clients. Critics of the regulatory structure, meanwhile, argue that independence has a broader meaning than the advocates suppose and that, in any event, the self-regulatory structure of the Canadian profession is not necessary to ensure independence. Continue reading →

Ethics, judges and mediation

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Ethics, judges and mediation

By Cristin Schmitz

September 02 2011 issue, Lawyers Weekly

As part of a planned update of its ethical guidelines, the Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) is poised to examine the thorny questions of whether, when and how judges may appropriately do court-based mediation, The Lawyers Weekly has learned.

For the full story in the Lawyers Weekly, click HERE.

Report from Common Law Degree Implementation Committee

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The Common Law Degree Implementation Committee has issued its final report, the full text can be found if you click HERE.

The Federation of Law Societies of Canada’s Common Law Degree Implementation Committee (the “Committee”) is pleased to provide this final report to the Council of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada (the “Federation”). In accordance with its mandate, the Committee has developed a proposal to implement the uniform national requirement (the “national requirement”) for entry to law society admission programs in Canadian common law jurisdictions.

Of particular interest to those teaching legal ethics and professionalism, are the recommendations in relation to the mandatory course. Continue reading →

Good Character: Can a person change?

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Decision from the Law Society of Upper Canada on Good Character.

Can a person who falls from a place of privilege through his deliberate breach of the public trust be redeemed, or is that person destined to repeat his misdeeds because of an innate character flaw?  Reasonable people may differ in their answer to this question depending on their view of human nature, but our jurisprudence on good character applications starts from the premise than an individual can change for the good, even an individual who has in the past admitted to reprehensible conduct involving breach of the public trust.  If such an individual establishes that, more likely than not, she or he is presently a person of good character, our jurisprudence compels the hearing panel to grant her or his application for a Class L1 licence.

For the full decision, click Good Character – Reasons for Decision – August 19 2011 (2).

Unauthorized practice and access to justice

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Great post by Alice Woolley on how regulating the unauthorized practice of law may lead to injustice on ABlawg.ca.  From the introduction:

Unauthorized practice and access to justice

Written by: Alice Woolley

Case considered: Lameman v Alberta, 2011 ABQB 396

The Beaver Lake Cree Nation have commenced an action against the federal and provincial Crowns claiming that their treaty rights have been infringed by the Crown “taking up so much of their traditional territory that [they] have no meaningful right to hunt, trap or fish” (Lameman v Alberta, 2011 ABQB 396, para 12). The Crown brought applications to strike the Nation’s actions, the hearings in respect of which were adjourned on the basis of the Nation’s impecuniosity.

The full post is available at ABlawg.ca and accessed if you click HERE.