Law Times

Law Times • June 10, 2013 NEWS Page 3 Law society relaxes CPD requirements BY YAMRI TADDESE Law Times N ewly licenced lawyers will soon have to fulfil the same continuing professional development requirements as all other members of the Law Society of Upper Canada. A two-year review of the implementation of the law society's program found that in hindsight, it was wrong to require new licensees to complete 24 professional development hours in the first two years of their practice as opposed to 12 hours each year for all other lawyers. The current new-licensee requirement means fledgling lawyers can get away with completing no hours of professional development in their first year of practice, said Wendy Matheson, vice chairwoman of the law society's professional development and competence committee during Convocation on May 30. Law society benchers voted in favour of this and other changes to the continuing professional development program after a committee presented a report that considered feedback from lawyers. Other changes will include increased flexibility when it comes to determining who should have accreditation to provide professional development programs. The committee suggested creating an "accredited provider framework" through which certain organizations will be able to provide continuing professional development courses without requiring an application each time. Such a move would "dramatically decrease administrative time, not just for the law society but anyone applying," said Matheson. In 2012, the law society received more than 3,000 applications from organizations, law firms, and colleges and universities seeking accreditation to provide content. "While the substantial amount of professionalism programming has been a positive result, it has significantly driven up the number of applications for accreditation with a large variety of professionalism program opportunities available to licensees," the report says. "Processing applications for accreditation is a labour-intensive exercise that has required a dedicated team of four administrative staff to individually assess each agenda or session or activity against the criteria, perform necessary administrative tasks, and communicate with applicants. The majority of applications the law society receives are from established educational organizations, the report says in justifying the need for an accreditation system that would eliminate cumbersome paperwork. "Also, individual licensees would continue to submit applications for accreditation of non-program-based activities such as teaching, writing, "If a member comes and substantive changes to CPD says, 'I worked on this for administrative structures this many hours,' that's what and the portal," the report matters," said Matheson. states. "To ensure that sufAnother immediate ficient time is afforded to change will eliminate the enable the new administradistinction between legal tive structures to be properly writing for a third party and designed and implemented for a firm publication. and licensees to be properly Generally, the report said notified of the changes, the the implementation of the committees recommend program has been successthat the recommendation ful. But it noted a less-thancome into effect beginning enthusiastic response from with the 2014 CPD year." some senior practitioners Other changes to the who considered the requireprogram will be more immediate. When it comes to A rule requiring lawyers to have done their ment an insult to their years fulfilling the required 12 legal writing by themselves is unnecessary, of experience. The committee dishours of professional devel- says Wendy Matheson. agreed with those practitioopment, lawyers face difficult requirements that the law society should ners. "Committees respect the experience senior practitioners bring to practice whether it eliminate as soon as possible, said Matheson. Lawyers who have tried to have their le- be full-time, part-time or pro bono. There are gal writing experience count towards their many outstanding senior practitioners who continuing professional development hours continue to make invaluable contributions have faced difficulties due to a rule that re- to the profession and the public they serve. quires them to have done the work all by The CPD requirement is in no way intended themselves, she added. It's an unnecessary to minimize or challenge their career accomplishments," the report states. LT constraint, she suggested. mentoring, and so on." Another part of the report addresses a need for a simpler and more user-friendly portal to track continuing professional development hours. The suggestion got resounding approval from benchers who agreed the existing system is hard to navigate. "In the two years of implementation of the CPD requirement, one of the areas receiving substantial and ongoing questions and concerns has been the process of entering CPD hours using the portal," the report states. Despite the guidelines sent out to lawyers on how to navigate the web site, "lawyers and paralegals continue to express frustration with the process for logging CPD hours in the portal," it adds. According to the report, lawyers have sent messages to the law society describing the web site as "a mystery," "substandard," and "difficult." Calls to the law society's membership services have also increased by 82 per cent since the program began. The increase is primarily due to concerns with the portal. "The committee isn't asking the law society to create a whole new portal," said Matheson, noting the possibility of changes to the existing system. "This recommendation will require Sure, we could tell you that our client was awarded the largest personal injury judgment in Canadian history and that all our principal partners are past-presidents of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association. We could also mention that our firm was voted top five in its field in Canada and that we have a five out of five preeminent peer review rating from Martindale-Hubbell. All those achievements and honours don't just happen. They're the result of the way we work and the way we care for our clients. Don't take our word for it... ask around. When you know someone with a personal injury case, call the lawyers that lawyers recommend most. Ask about our competitive referral fees. ™ A Noticeable Difference TORONTO I BARRIE I HAMILTON I 1-866-685-3311 I www.mcleishorlando.com Untitled-5 1 www.lawtimesnews.com 13-02-06 1:45 PM

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