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Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/1161314
www.canadianlawyermag.com 17 make lawyers into collaborators, as dangerous as those they represent? There are powerful arguments on both sides of this debate. Some argue that those who recklessly engage in behaviour that threatens society or are accused of the most odious crimes or who hold gross and unacceptable opinions are entitled to full and vigorous legal representation. The justice system requires it, they say. Lawyers cannot pick and choose clients and causes. There is no place in the justice system for political ideology, personal preference or moral judgment. There is no ethical requirement that lawyers refrain from helping those who damage the environment. Others take an opposite view. The law, they say, is not value free. Lawyers are social warriors. Their job is to fight the good fight in everything they do. They must not aid and abet wrongdoing of any kind, including commercial wrongdoing. Just as pension funds should not invest in tobacco stocks, lawyers must not collaborate with those who are indifferent to the future of our children. Can these opposite points of view be reconciled? To some extent they can be, although it is not easy. One useful three-part distinction is before, during and after the fact. Before: A lawyer should not "Can these opposite points of view be reconciled? To some extent they can be, although it is not easy." help structure, initiate or promote activities incompatible with society's clearly accepted values or dangerous to its future. During: They should not help promote or protect those activities while they are underway. After: But if these activities are ex post facto attacked legally, it is acceptable to provide the transgressor with whatever protection and defence our system of justice offers. This analysis insists that lawyers place the values of our society front and centre and do nothing to assist anything that clearly jeopardizes the future of our children, while at the same time recognizing that even transgressors must be treated fairly under law as it exists. Philip Slayton was the dean of law at the University of Western Ontario, a Bay Street lawyer, president of PEN Canada and is now a best-selling author. His latest book, Nothing Left to Lose: Freedom in Canada, is forthcoming. Containing contact information for more than 66,000 judges and legal professionals, more than 27,500 law offices, government departments, and law related offices, canadianlawlist.com attracts more than 325,000 page views a month and 110,000 unique visitors! Enhance your presence on AVAILABLE ONLINE AND IN PRINT Canada's largest legal directory Book your enhanced listing today! Contact Colleen Austin at 416.644.8740 ext 314 or colleen.austin@habpress.ca www.canadianlawlist.com CLL-enhanced listing print ad-185.726 mm x h123.951 mm.indd 1 14/08/2019 7:51:23 AM