Supporting Innovation in the Delivery of Legal Services

Transcription

1 Supporting Innovation in the Delivery of Legal Services Frequently Asked Questions Amending the Legal Profession Act 1. Why is the Law Society proposing amendments to the Legal Profession Act? While the Legal Profession Act has been amended a few times since 1907, many of its principles are outdated and do not reflect the current challenges facing the legal profession. We need a legal framework that fits our changing times because we are concerned about access to legal services for all Albertans. Modernizing the Legal Profession Act is key to allowing lawyers to be responsive, adaptive and more flexible in providing legal services. 2. What has the Law Society submitted to the Government regarding the proposed changes to the Legal Profession Act? The Law Society has submitted a key features document to the Government with the proposed amendments to the Legal Profession Act that can be grouped into four key areas: Innovation in legal service delivery Governance Model Adjudication Model Simplify and improve processes The Government will consider our proposal, but is the decision maker when it comes to the amendments to the Act. We will continue to have conversations with the Government and our ongoing engagement with the public and lawyers will continue to shape this conversation. 3. Why didn t the Law Society talk to lawyers about the proposed amendments to the Act before submitting a proposal to the Government? The government was initially uncertain about whether there would be space on the legislative agenda, so we did not want to create expectations. As a result, they asked us to hold back on our discussions. We are now embarking on a comprehensive discussion with the profession, across the province in October and November. 4. Why are you holding Open Houses across the province now? Isn t it too late? We are committed to holding discussions with both the public and lawyers about what the future of legal service delivery may look like. Government is fully aware of our discussions, and that we will want to incorporate what we learn into our ongoing conversations with them. We want to hear from you! 500, th AVE SW PHONE: CALGARY, ALBERTA T2R1P3 TOLL FREE:

2 5. What are the key areas of the Act that the Law Society is proposing to amend? The proposed amendments fall into four key categories: Innovation in legal service delivery Governance Model Adjudication Model Simplify and improve processes 6. Why did the Law Society choose these areas of the Act to amend? These amendments will allow us to modernize the structure and work of the Law Society, giving us the ability to enable other legal service delivery models, strengthen our governance and adjudicative processes and improve the diversity of our Board. The amendments will not bind us to specific models, but will allow the future Board tables to develop rules to address key issues over time and be responsive to an evolving legal marketplace. 7. Will the amendments tie the Law Society to specific regulatory models? The amendments will not bind us to specific models, but will allow the future Board tables to develop rules to address key issues over time and be responsive to an evolving legal marketplace. 8. Have other law societies in Canada made similar amendments to their Acts? Yes. British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia have all made these types of legislative provisions. 9. Are these amendments to the Act enough to support the strategies of the Law Society over the long term or will you continue to pursue other amendments? The proposed amendments will, we expect, give us a few years of time for development. In the longer term we need a new Act to replace a statute that contains many of the elements of the original 1907 legislation.

3 Innovation in the Delivery of Legal Services 10. Why do we need innovation in the delivery of legal services? The legal landscape in Canada, and in Alberta, looks much different today than it did a century ago. Yet the way law is practiced remains largely the same. As the world around us keeps changing, legal services are becoming increasingly inaccessible for most Canadians. We are seeing pressure to make changes. Some of the drivers for change are new technologies, new business models, access to justice concerns, and a growing public demand for affordable legal services. More and more lawyers and other legal service providers who want to innovate are also emerging. We want to make it easier for these legal innovators to try new ideas and deliver legal services in creative ways that could benefit all Albertans. 11. Why can t lawyers just innovate now using the current Act? Under the current Act, we do not have the means to properly regulate creative legal service delivery models. Only conventional law firm partnership models are permitted. A new framework would allow lawyers to be responsive, adaptive and more flexible in providing legal services. 12. Why does the Law Society need to expand the scope of legal service delivery provided by lawyers? The amendments will allow the Law Society, after engagement with the public and lawyers, to incrementally permit the development of non-traditional legal service delivery models by lawyers over time. This will allow for innovation, creativity and modernization in legal service delivery that will hopefully address unmet legal needs and increase access to legal services for underserved populations. 13. Aren t you also proposing entity regulation? Yes, one of the proposed amendments would allow us to regulate entities, which is an important precursor to innovating regulation and the delivery of legal services. Entity regulation means we would regulate the business unit through which legal services are delivered by lawyers, in addition to regulating the individual lawyers operating within the entity. This can mean regulating traditional law firms or, possibly, other organizations that provide legal services through lawyers.

4 14. Can other provinces regulate entities? British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia already have the legislative authority to regulate entities; however, Alberta s Legal Profession Act requires changes before entity regulation can be implemented. 15. Why does the Law Society need to regulate entities if the organization already regulates individual lawyers? The environment in which a lawyer practises can play a significant role in determining professional conduct. Law firms and other practice settings can influence behaviours and create firm cultures that align with ethical standards set by law societies. By regulating entities, we can support lawyers in upholding the values of the legal profession. 16. What is an alternative business structure? The term alternative business structures refers to business organizations that deliver legal services and may be owned, funded, and operated differently from conventional legal partnerships. 17. How does the Law Society plan to manage the potential impact that alternate business structures could have on how lawyers operate? This is an important question for the future. Permitting Alternative Business Structures is a question for the future. The proposed amendments may permit ABSs, but whether to do so is not an issue currently up for decision. The Law Society will have the ability to make that decision in the future, after consultation and discussion. Alternative business structures could create a structure that encourages lawyers to innovate and increase the public s access to legal services. For example, it would permit a non-profit organization to provide more affordable legal services. Changes to the Law Society Governance Model 18. What does the current Governance Model look like at the Law Society? The Law Society is governed by a 24-member Board of Directors, also known as Benchers. Of the 24 Board members, 20 are lawyers elected by the profession, and four are public representatives appointed by the Minister of Justice and Solicitor General. The Board provides strategic direction, focusing on goals that demonstrate our values and help achieve our vision and mission. The current Board also adjudicates a variety of issues relating to individuals: admissions, CPLED, trust safety, practice review and conduct.

5 19. What are you changing within the Law Society Governance Model? The current governance model dates to the origins of the Law Society 1907 and establishes a Board of mostly elected lawyers. Amendments to the current governance model, including reducing Board size, will move us towards best practices in board governance and create efficiencies in the day-to-day operation of the Law Society. 20. How is the Board going to change under the proposed amendments? The Board will be reduced in size to a maximum of 16 members. 21. Why do you need to reduce the number of Board members? Is there an issue? Governance best practices recommends that a smaller Board will operate more efficiently and effectively. Quite simply, it s much easier to have effective discussions in a smaller group. And it s logistically much easier to bring together a small group. A strategic Board will concentrate on governance of the Law Society. And fewer Board members are needed as we move the adjudication function to a new Tribunal Office. 22. With reduced numbers on the Board, will this impact representation from across the province? Even with fewer Board members, all areas of the province will be represented. We are committed to ongoing engagement with what is now a very diverse profession that includes close to 10,000 lawyers. That engagement will keep the Board informed about what is happening in the many different parts of the profession. 23. Will Board members still be elected by the profession? The model will retain the current process to elect lawyer Board members alongside four public appointments made by the Minister. 24. Will the number of non-lawyer Board members change? Public representatives will comprise 25 per cent of the Board. This is up from the current number of roughly 16 per cent.

6 25. Why the proposal to change the term Bencher to Board Member? The term Benchers or Bencher is confusing to those outside the organization and the legal profession. We are recommending that the term Benchers be changed to Board of Directors or Board of Governors to align with best practices. Changes to the Law Society of Alberta Adjudication Model 26. What changes will the proposed amendments make to the Law Society s current adjudication process? Under the proposed amendments, all adjudication matters will fall under one centralized adjudication tribunal and not the current multiple committee structure. Under this change, adjudicative duties will be removed from the Board so they can focus on governance of the Law Society, while trained adjudicators focus on adjudication. 27. Why does Governance and Adjudication need to be separated? There are three reasons: The current model creates more work than we can handle. Benchers currently provide 600+ unpaid volunteer hours per year. That acts as a barrier for many practitioners, what simply can t give up that much time in their lives and their practices. We need a Board that can focus on the important strategic issues in a world in which expectations of the profession are quickly changing. The legal expectations of adjudicators are increasing, which increases the time they need to spend in this important work. We ve introduced a mandatory training program for our adjudicators, in line with best practices, and it too increases the time commitment. 28. How will the new Tribunal Office be set up? The office will be headed by a Tribunal Chair, who will be appointed by the Board. The Board will be empowered to make rules for the appointment of adjudicators, both lawyer and public. The appointment process will ensure adjudicators are independent of the Board and meet required competencies. The Tribunal Office will deal with various types of proceedings, including conduct hearings, credentials and competency hearings, practice review, trust safety and other matters that the Law Society adjudicates.

7 Changes that Simplify Complexity and Improve Processes at the Law Society 29. Why does the Law Society need to change its processes? The Act currently contains many outdated and complex sections that we would like removed, transitioned to the Rules or amended to improve the overall efficiency and operation of the organization. This should allow us to better regulate in the public interest. 30. How will you simplify the discipline process for lawyers? To simplify our processes, improvements will be made so that we can resolve discipline and competency matters through non-adjudicative processes, when possible. We also plan to expand our informal resolution processes, which now include Early Intervention and Practice Management. These informal resolution processes will, when appropriate, allow the lawyer to address underlying practice issues instead of being the subject of discipline. The Act will permit us to establish additional informal resolution processes that can be adapted over time to better protect the public interest. These resolution processes will be for the regulation of lawyers, law firms and other legal service providers that do not meet regulatory requirements and expectations. 31. Why has the primary mission of the Law Society become the protection of the public as opposed to protecting the best interests of members of the Law Society? Since 1995, the mission of the Law Society of Alberta has been to serve the public interest by promoting a high standard of legal services and professional conduct through the governance and regulation of an independent legal profession. This is consistent with the Legal Profession Act and with the regulation of lawyers across the country.