The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers
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BY PHILIP SLAYTON LEGAL ETHICS The handmaiden of the powerful The biggest ethical issue facing the legal profession is access to justice for the average Canadian. While this chitchat is going on, the legal profession is being undermined by a huge ethical problem that is largely ignored. We lawyers all believe that the justice system is an essential part of a fair and democratic way of government (or so we say). But we also know that the average Canadian cannot afford to use it. According to Statistics Canada, the 2009 median after-tax income for Canadian families of two or more was $63,800. For senior families, it was $46,800. After-tax income for "unattached individuals" was $25,500. These are medians; there are many about ethical and professional issues. It was an honour to be asked, and I was happy to accept, but I wondered, what should I talk about? Often a discussion of "ethical and pro- fessional issues" is a dry dissection of T he Saskatchewan Crown Counsel Association recently invited me to come to Regina and speak to government lawyers the latest on solicitor-client privilege, or conflicts of interest, or some other quo- tidian problem that faces the individual lawyer. Sometimes it strays into the more sensational — if and when a lawyer can have sex with a client, for example, or lawyer-assisted corporate fraud — and everyone wakes up. Sometimes it's tedious and trivial, dwelling on issues like a law- yer's responsibility to return telephone calls promptly. 18 A PRIL 2012 www. CANADIAN Lawyermag.com Canadians who receive less. With this kind of income, you won't get legal aid (available only to those who are really poor, and of very limited scope anyway), and will almost certainly be denied the pro bono legal services that a handful of socially concerned lawyers occasionally offer. If you need a lawyer, you'll have to dig into your own pocket. In the cities, where most Canadians live, even a junior lawyer charges $200 or more for an hour's work. Fees like these are beyond almost everybody's ability to pay. The result is that the legal profession has become the handmaiden of the powerful: government, corpora- tions, and wealthy individuals. We lawyers have a big problem. Our beliefs cannot be reconciled with what we know. We believe in equal access to justice (or do we?), but we know it ANTHONy TREMMAgLIA