Law Times

Page 12 August 7, 2017 • LAw times www.lawtimesnews.com PI boutiques battle non-lawyer ownership BY MICHAEL MCKIERNAN For Law Times P ersonal injury boutiques are keeping up the fight against non-lawyer own- ership of law firms after the Law Society of Upper Cana- da put the subject of Alternative Business Structures back on its agenda. Back in 2015, the regulator's ABS working group stopped studying a proposal to allow non-lawyers to take majority stakes in law firms, shelving the idea after a storm of protest from within the profession. However, the working group continued looking at other mod- els of non-licensee ownership and, in June, returned with a mo- tion to allow charities, non-prof- its and trade unions to offer legal services directly to their clients. Despite the harmless- sounding nature of the groups involved, Brian Cameron, a partner with Oatley Vigmond Personal Injury Lawyers LLP in Barrie, Ont., remains highly skeptical of the motion, claim- ing its passage would be the first step on a slippery slope. "My personal view is that this is no more than the first step to- wards non-lawyer ownership. If it passes, I guarantee within two years we'll be looking at non- lawyers with minority holdings," he says. "Nobody has a problem with the Red Cross having a law firm. My problem is with the unin- tended consequences of this and the erosion of the private bar, which are going to be disastrous. "You get the sense they couldn't do it all at once, so they are going incrementally," Cam- eron adds. And his suspicions weren't helped by the manner in which the LSUC proposal made it to the attention of the profession, appearing in public for the first time just ahead of the June Con- vocation when benchers would vote on it. "I was very concerned by the way it was scheduled," Cam- eron says, adding that interested stakeholders such as the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, one of the chief opponents of ABS in the province, should have been consulted ahead of time. "It doesn't say much for trans- parency and accountability," adds Brian Goldfinger, principal at Toronto's Goldfinger Personal Injury Law. "It looks like they're trying to pull a fast one and get something in under the rug." However, Bencher Malcolm Mercer, the co-chairman of the LSUC's ABS working group, says personal injury lawyers have nothing to worry about, pointing out that the motion re- fers only to certain "civil society organizations." In any case, the motion was withdrawn with a plan to return to Convocation later in the fall, in order to give the OTLA and others a chance to make their voices heard. "Frankly, it's a surprise to me that anyone could have concerns about charities and not-for-profits providing legal services to people whose needs are not currently being met," Mercer says. As the rules currently stand, lawyers employed by charities can provide legal services to the charity itself, but they are unable to act directly for its clients, leav- ing often-vulnerable people to seek out their own legal help. The working group's report notes that "the acute unmet legal needs in Ontario are well docu- mented. "Against this backdrop, the direct delivery of legal services by civil society groups, prop- erly structured, could have sev- eral access to justice benefits," it reads. Those benefits include pro- viding new entry points for vulnerable clients, reducing the number of referrals it takes to get them legal services and as- sessing their "multifaceted and interconnected" problems early before they cascade into a host of other issues, the report says. The working group consult- ed with management at Salvos Legal and Salvos Legal Humani- tarian, two law firms owned by the Salvation Army in Australia. The former operates like a conventional firm serving a wide array of public and private clients but funnels all its profits into the operation of the hu- manitarian arm, which provides free advice to those in need from "advice bureau" hubs located in Salvation Army buildings. The report says the charity is interested in expanding its mod- el to Ontario once regulatory changes allow it to proceed. The working group's pro- posed approach to let that hap- pen would see CSOs register with the LSUC to offer legal ser- vices via its embedded lawyers and paralegals in certain pre- scribed circumstances. The scope of the offering would be set by the LSUC, with PERSONAL INJURY What do your clients need? The means to move on. Guaranteed. ™ Baxter Structures customizes personal injury settlements into tax-free annuities that can help your clients be secure for life. » Pre- and post- settlement consultation and support » Caring professionalism for over 30 years » No fee to you or your clients Need more information? Contact us at 1 800 387 1686 or baxterstructures.com Kyla A. Baxter, CSSC PRESIDENT, BAXTER STRUCTURES Untitled-3 1 2016-10-12 10:02 AM Frankly, it's a surprise to me that anyone could have concerns about charities and not-for-profits providing legal services to people whose needs are not currently being met. Malcolm Mercer Brian Goldfinger says Ontario lawyers should heed warnings from other jurisdic- tions that have experienced Alternative Business Structures in action. See Alternative, page 13

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