Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5 23 hospitals and soliciting people who are extremely vulnerable at the time," he says, adding advertising is a firm activity that should be regulated as such. "I would have to say that in my part of the profes- sion, the behaviour of some lawyers is dragging the reputation of the entire pro- fession into the gutter and the regulation of firms cannot happen soon enough." Entity regulation is not only about ABS Despite some lawyers' positive view of entity regulation, there are also uncertain- ties, especially when it comes to what this form of regulation will mean for alternative business structures, a topic that tends to generate a lot of fear and resistance from many in the profession. The NSBS' reform initiative has been set out in principle but not yet in detail, says Latimer, who wonders if entities other than those owned by lawyers will be regu- lated. "This initiative seems to contemplate authorizing entities other than law partner- ships to practise law, which might include corporations or other entities, which are not controlled by lawyers," says Latimer. "This may increase access to legal ser- vices, but will undoubtedly raise new issues about effective regulation of the profession. The society is going to have to balance these issues carefully in the public interest." In Ontario, the bias against ABS is so strong within the personal injury bar that the Ontario Trial Lawyers Asso- ciation classified candidates in the recent law society bencher election as pro- or anti-ABS on its web site and encouraged its members to vote for the latter. As far as there is resistance toward entity regu- lation, it lies in its association with ABS, says Dodek. Legal consultant Jordan Furlong, a proponent of both ABS and entity regu- lation, says the consideration of entity regulation is indeed "a recognition that legal services will be provided by more than just lawyers and more than just law firms. If we are going to define our mandate as regulators as the regulation of legal services by anybody, not just by lawyers, then entity regulation is a step in the right direction." But law societies in Canada are reluc- tant to draw a link between ABS and entity regulation. "I see [ABS] as a sepa- rate consideration," says Minor. "Com- pliance-based regulation is something that could be . . . introduced whether or not further steps are taken with respect to alternate business structures." The NSBS says it is not currently consider- ing ABS. "Our view is that any move to approve this model ought to occur with a national initiative or in a larger jurisdic- tion, but certainly not Nova Scotia," says executive director Darrel Pink. In the United Kingdom and Aus- tralia, rules have now changed so the providers of legal services — law firms and, in some cases, alternative business structures — not just individual lawyers are regulated. Dodek, for his part, puts it like this: "If you have ABS, you abso- lutely need entity regulation, but you can and should have entity regulation without ABS." Even in Australia, where law firms are allowed to welcome outside investment, entity regulation existed without ABS for a long time, said Andrew Grech, group At DW 2 , we pride ourselves on helping your clients simplify their IP/IT issues. Whether it's technology, pharma or copyright, you can count on green to shepherd them to success. DWW.com Lawyers, Patent & Trademark Agents Turn red tape into Green. Untitled-2 1 2015-09-15 1:05 PM

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