THE Law Society of British Columbia said on Wednesday that it is deeply concerned that Bill 21 – the Legal Professions Act, tabled by the Province will have detrimental effects on the ability of lawyers to represent the public.
The Law Society noted that it has a statutory mandate to protect the public interest in the administration of justice by preserving and protecting the rights and freedoms of all persons. It said the legislation tabled on Wednesday fails to protect the public’s interest in having access to independent legal professions governed by an independent regulator that are not constrained by unnecessary government direction and intrusion.
It said that as lawyers represent clients whose interests often diverge from those of government, lawyers must trust that the body that regulates them is independent of government influence. Any erosion of this principle in BC threatens our free and democratic society, and may have impacts nationally and internationally.
“The Bill will establish a single legal regulator for all legal professions in BC, including lawyers, notaries and licensed paralegals. While the Law Society generally supports the creation of a single legal regulator, we are of the view that, given the seismic shift contemplated by the Bill, greater transparency and meaningful engagement with the professions and with the public is essential,” the Law Society said.
It pointed out that in 1982, the year the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into force, Justice Willard Zebedee Estey of the Supreme Court of Canada articulated the essential importance of an independent bar:
“The independence of the bar from the state in all its pervasive manifestations is one of the hallmarks of a free society. Consequently, regulation of these members of the law profession by the state must, so far as by human ingenuity it
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