The law society set the practice fee at $2,321 and the indemnity fee at $1,800, with part-time indemnity fees set at $900. Staff said this put B.C.’s rates at a lower level than they are in Alberta but higher than in Ontario.
Benchers also voted to amend rules to remove the mandatory publication of administrative penalties that identify respondents. Instead, the law society will publish anonymous summaries of the circumstances and amount of the penalties.
Jeevyn Dhaliwal, Law Society of British Columbia
Benchers also voted to tweak the LSBC’s external appointments policy and guidebook, which outlines the process by which external appointments are made and provides an overview of all external bodies to which the law society makes appointments. It was amended to include a section outlining the expectations for external bodies as well as an expansion on the appointment process overall.
Law society staff also updated benchers on the LSBC’s continuing response to the B.C. government’s Legal Professions Act, also known as Bill 21, which creates a new single regulator for lawyers, notaries public and some paralegals. The law society — and others — argue it is unconstitutional because it violates the independence of the legal profession and has launched a court challenge against it.
Law society CEO Don Avison said the law society was unsuccessful in its attempts to get an injunction against the province’s legislation but said the court “left the door open to the possibility we might return there at some point.”
“Over the course of the last several months, we have met with a number of the political parties to express our continuing concern about the nature and scope of the legislation and that will continue,” he said, noting B.C.’s upcoming provincial election. “So, we’re in that very interesting position where we’re planning for a transition [to the new regulator] while at the same time challenging the legislation. And as you would expect, that results in a great deal of work.”
And Avison also raised the law society’s concerns over the decision by Manitoba’s governing NDP to remove a member from its caucus because his law partner had accepted a retainer from disgraced fashion tycoon Peter Nygard, who was recently sentenced to 11 years in prison for sexual assault.
“This is a troubling development that I think ought to be of relevance to every single law society in the country and to every member of the profession,” he said. “This is chilling. There have been many examples over the course of the last several years of people at the political level showing either a misunderstanding of or a willingness to ignore the fundamentals of the administration of justice and the rule of law, and this, for me, is one of the more egregious examples of this that has taken place in quite some period of time.”
Benchers also heard from Lee Nevens, the president of the Canadian Bar Association, B.C. Branch (CBABC), who is both the first transgender and non-binary president in the branch’s history. Nevens said the law society and the CBABC have both been leaders in improving education for lawyers on trans issues and how to better serve trans clients but noted there is still a lack of trust in the justice system among many in the trans community.
“To me, there is a trans access to justice problem, because all of the challenges [in the justice system] impact trans folks more because we have to interact with the system more,” they said. “And this lack of trust isn’t unfounded, because there are people who are anti-trans and have a lot of animus towards the community, in the justice system and in our own profession.”
But the “doom and gloom” message also included a little bit of hope, said Nevens.
“I think the answer to a lot of this hate, as well as many of the problems that we face, is not to pull back and try to stem our losses but to actually lean into the challenges and lean into our diversity and to be bold in our approaches,” they said. “We need all hands on deck to face the incredible challenges that we face today that are far beyond just transphobia.”
The law society will also be holding its 2024 annual general meeting (AGM) on Sept. 24. More information can be found here.
The next bencher meeting is scheduled for Nov. 1.
If you have any information, story ideas or news tips for Law360 Canada, please contact Ian Burns at Ian.Burns@lexisnexis.ca or call 905-415-5906.