Law Times

LAW TIMES / MAY 12/19, 2008 PAGE 9 Large number of lawyers disturbed by changes Continued from page 1 offences prosecutor said she's been disturbed by a recent trend of justices of the peace refer- ring to paralegals as "officers of the court" or "friends of the court." "We are no longer a profession," she said. "I think it's a mistake." Paralegals also attended the meeting, and some spoke against the motion. Franz Hansen said the motion is pre- hopes to take its findings to the profession for debate before its final draft. Bencher Judith Potter said the law soci- ety and her fellow benchers did a poor job of consulting with lawyers about the way para- legals would be brought into the law society. "Nobody seems to clearly understand mature, and suggested paralegal regula- tion by the law society is about ethics. He said he embraces the standards he and his colleagues will have to live up to through law society regulation. Law society Bencher Heather Ross, who mit similar changes to their own oaths. "Neither engineers nor doctors would is part of a group looking into changes to the barristers' oath, invited lawyers to send com- ments to her on the issue. She said the group what we are and what we aren't," she said. Law society spokesman Roy Thomas says the organization uses the term "licensee" for regulatory purposes, but "from the business, corporate point of view, the term 'members' still applies to all lawyers and paralegals." Boyce, who has been practising since 1971, tells Law Times in an interview that she was disturbed by the "watering down" of access to justice aspects of the barristers' oath, and that "it's now a licensees' oath." She says other professions would not per- dream of changing the language so that tech- nicians and orderlies and the like could swear the same thing," says Boyce. She says she also was struck by chang- es to the use of the term "member" in law society bylaws. "It did, parenthetically, appear a bit weird that one could have a society without members," says Boyce. "It seemed to be a contradiction in terms." According to law society bylaws, motions made at the annual general meeting require the signature of at least 10 members in good standing. At the meeting, one of those 10 must bring the motion forward, and it must be seconded by another member of the group. Treasurer Gavin MacKenzie made an excep- tion at the meeting when none of the other 10 signatories were in attendance, and allowed an additional member to second the motion. Law society benchers, however, are not bound by the vote at the general meeting. The motion must be commu- nicated to Convocation and considered within six months. Boyce encouraged benchers to fol- low the instructions of those who voted at the AGM. "They should be listening to us mem- bers," she says. "The changes that have been made have come about without any con- sultation, and it's quite obvious that a large number of lawyers are very disturbed by these changes, and they've just been sprung on us. We've had no way to give any input. I think that will change." LT THINK BIG. WIN BIG. Analyze trends and patterns in the judge's rulings and opposing counsel's actions. Get the powerful competitive intelligence you need to create your winning strategy. www.litigatoronline.ca AUTHORITATIVE.INNOVATIVE.TRUSTED. Untitled-4 1 www.lawtimesnews.com 5/5/08 4:30:42 PM 11540(T4) MM2 04/08

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