the SOCIETY RECORD - Nova Scotia Barristers' Society

International legal regulation
SUMMATION
Photo provided by United Way Halifax
Darrel I. Pink
Executive Director
The evolution of legal regulation
over my 20-plus years at the
Society has been profound.
In the 1990s, we were preoccupied by
local issues. The Society undertook two reviews of its operations as it
worked to ensure that it was as effective an organization as possible.
In the aftermath of the Marshall Inquiry, our focus was on addressing
diversity in the profession.
The first decade of this century saw greater focus on national issues.
The National Mobility Agreement gave rise to the need to address a
variety of matters that affect all Canadian law societies and lawyers
across the country. In the current decade, we now have a greater
emphasis on international issues and how lawyers are regulated in
other countries. We have come a long way.
What has led to this is the recognition that the challenges facing
clients, governments, the courts, and the profession are now global.
Whether the focus is on working to improve access to justice, the
impact of technology, differing client expectations, or new legal
services delivery models, we have realized that to regulate effectively
we have to understand what is happening abroad.
To that end a group of international legal regulators, from 19 countries
representing about 30 regulators, held its inaugural conference in
London last fall. Because so many of the changes we are seeing have
happened in England, it was an ideal location to become immersed in
the new forms of legal regulation there and to compare them to what
is going on around the globe.
In Canada, we have much to learn from the emergence of law
practices that are not owned by lawyers. When government identified
“consumer interest” as a paramount value in regulating legal service
delivery, it forced regulators to devise models that would allow
lawyers to practise in different structures ¾ in corporations owned
by non-lawyers, in banks that deliver legal services along with a wide
range of other products, and in law firms that are franchise operations
delivering legal services in a form developed by others. These are
only a small slice of new structures that are now regulated in a new
outcomes-focused regulation model that stresses the results of lawyer
practice rather than specifying particular rules for what lawyers can
and cannot do.
International discussions allow others to see the quality and integrity
of Canada’s law societies as well. In particular our discipline work,
which is likely the best in the world, in terms of both service to
complainants and quality of disposition, are noted. Our colleagues
want to better understand our processes so they can emulate what is
best among them.
Comparing what we do with American regulation raises difficult
issues to be considered. While we fiercely defend ourselves in Canada
from any form of government oversight, at the same time our U.S.
counterparts proudly assert the value of their regulation by the judicial
branch of government. As independent as judges are, the institutions
of the judiciary are dependent upon legislators for funding. The
indirect connection and impact this can have on lawyer regulation is
not lost on most observers.
Regardless of the model, international comparisons have allowed
us to share and discuss core values such as integrity, lawyer-client
privilege and independence ¾ one that is staunchly defended in every
jurisdiction. We have looked at admission programs, legal education
and continuing competence regimes. And we have only scratched the
surface. By learning from other ways of regulation, we are better able to
understand and articulate the reasons for much of what we do. More
importantly we are able to question long-held assumptions and the
biases that often come with doing things ‘as we have always done them’.
In Nova Scotia, the Society strives to be a regulator of world-class
quality. The public and lawyers in Nova Scotia should expect nothing
less. Achieving that goal becomes more likely when we invest the time
to understand what is happening elsewhere, to learn from others and
to then bring the best of what we see home with us.
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The Society Record