B.C.’s proposed Legal Professions Act cuts into lawyers’ lucrative turf and reduces their control over their own oversight. But the complaints go beyond that.
With no fewer than nine experts listed as validating and supporting a bill revamping the oversight of lawyers the day it dropped, it looked like the legislation would be warmly received.
“Welcome … gives us tools to better protect the public,” said a former Law Society president.
“Makes justice more accessible…,” said a law professor.
“Will enhance the diversity, number and affordability of legal services…,” said a King’s counsel and life bencher of the Law Society.
And so on.
But it turns out that upending the legal world won’t come without a few arguments, or, more accurately, vociferous criticisms and outright hostility.
It’s not quite the sunny greeting that was suggested when it was introduced last week.
The Legal Profession Act is being replaced by the Legal Professions Act. The pluralization refers to an increase in the number of subsets of people who work adjacent to lawyers and will soon be included in a new overarching regulatory framework for lawyers.
The idea is to give people more choices in how to get help solving legal problems. Notaries public will be brought into the fold and their scope of practice will be broadened. More day-to-day matters will be included in their responsibilities, such as helping clients through the probate process, or preparing wills that have a life estate component.
A new designation — registered paralegal — will be created to further widen the choices. They will handle some matters independently, without having to do so under supervision of a lawyer. Those matters have not yet been fully defined.
The bill obviously cuts into lawyers’ lucrative turf and reduces their control over their own oversight. So some objections
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