Canadian Lawyer

Law Office Management The 'insidious fog' As the bar ages, lawyers and law societies are having to come to grips with how to deal with practitioners suffering from various forms of dementia. D ementia is beginning to creep into the legal profession in the same insidious manner it does in other aspects of people's lives, sneaking in and leaving hints before constraining regulators and law firms alike to make heart-wrenching decisions. The Barreau du Québec's disciplinary committee dealt with the issue in the spring when it had to decide the professional fate of a Montreal lawyer with more than 50 years of experience. The lawyer, diagnosed with Alzheimer's three years ago, faced three counts of breaching the Code of Ethics of Advocates and the Professional Code. "Perhaps Alzheimer's disease explains [his] conduct," wrote the three-chair disciplinary panel. "It seems clear the Council must take that into account when sanctioning him." Though 22 October 2013 www.CANADIAN found guilty, all charges were stayed. A Law Society of Upper Canada's hearing panel was put in a similar bind early this year when it allowed a Toronto lawyer afflicted with the mind-robbing disease to surrender his licence to practise law. These heart-rending scenarios will likely play out more frequently in coming years. Almost 15 per cent of Canadians over the age of 65 are living with cognitive impairment, including dementia, according to a 2012 study by the Alzheimer Society of Canada. The risk for dementia, a catch-all phrase that refers to a variety of brain disorders, doubles every five years after the age of 65. With the profession greying and more and more senior lawyers putting off retirement, it is becoming clear the legal profession is going to have to come to grips with the sensitive issue of age-related cognitive impairment. "It is L a w ye r m a g . c o m high time given the aging of the population that we all begin to look at this very carefully," says Tim Daley, past president of the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society. The numbers cannot be ignored. In Ontario there are more than 5,250 lawyers over the age of 65 or 11.7 per cent of the bar, and 14,000 between the ages of 50 and 65, representing a staggering 31 per cent. In British Columbia it's much the same story with more than seven per cent of its lawyers reaching retirement age while 20 per cent are between the ages of 55 and 64. In Alberta it is projected that nearly 25 per cent of its lawyers will be seniors in the not-too-distant future. "The good news is that an aging lawyer population means that there is a greater number of lawyers with tremendous experience that have insight and wisdom that could be shared with newer members of the bar," notes Jeremy Bruneel By Luis Millán

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