Canadian Lawyer

16 A P R I L 2 0 1 6 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m The good: Lawyers protect us from the state The best thing about the legal pro- fession is the way it can, and some- times does, protect the individual from the terrifying power of the state. In Canada, the ability of lawyers to safe- guard the citizenry from abuse of exec- utive power was enhanced enormously by the 1982 Charter of Rights and Free- doms. The Charter has been embraced by Canadian lawyers and judges to the country's benefit. I feel good, very good, about that. A special tip of the hat to criminal defence lawyers who are essen- tial to freedom and are often subject to ignorant criticism. The bad: weak self-regulation by the profession The legal profession has made a mess of self-regulation. For one thing, we've forgotten that lawyers judging other lawyers is contrary to the basic pre- cepts of justice; it's a system that should be repudiated. Discipline of lawyers is weak and capricious. Law socities are widely and justifiably seen as legal trade unions, protecting their own and proceeding opaquely, rather than trans- parent organizations that promote the public interest. This has been the case throughout my half-century legal career and shows no sign of changing. The answer? Lawyer regulation should be removed from lawyers and given to a body independent of both the legal profession and the state. Pre- posterous, you say? Exactly that prepos- terous thing happened in England in 2007. Since then, the legal profession in England and Wales has been overseen by something called the Legal Services Board, which has a lay majority chaired by a non-lawyer and is accountable not to the government but directly to Parliament. The world of English lawyers did not come to an end in 2007. Almost all constituencies — including lawyers themselves — have proclaimed them- selves comfortable with the new regime. You'd think such a reform, in a country that has given us much of our law and many of our legal traditions, would have attracted a lot of attention and dis- cussion in Canada. Sadly, that was not the case. The Canadian organized legal profession has continued merrily on its antediluvian way, and the Canadian L E G A L E T H I C S O P I N I O N @philipslayton DUSHAN MILIC Ethics in the last half century started law school 50 years ago. That's half a century studying, teaching, practis- ing, and writing about the law (including a column in this magazine for 15 years). God, that sounds awful! But maybe the passage of time has given me, if nothing else, some perspective (cranky old guy?) on legal issues, particularly broad ethical and structural questions that never seem to go away. As I look out there, I see the good, the bad, and the ugly. After 50 years, the profession still has some way to go. By Philip Slayton I

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