BarTalk February 2000
Volume 12, Number 1

Your professional resource, every day

by Barry Cavanaugh

CBABC is for lawyers first, and for the legitimate self-interest of members of the legal profession.

The CBA in BC is an active, visible part of every lawyer’s professional life. With the strength and collegiality of universal membership, CBABC is heard on a wide range of matters by government, by business, by the national organization, and by the public. And CBABC as a vital professional organization is always seeking to deliver new services and programs to lawyers.

At the moment for example, we’re looking actively at pension programs for lawyers, and a technology survey we’ll publish based on lawyers’ real experiences with equipment and software, to inform purchasing decisions. We’re developing for publication the Client Relations Kit, and a broadly based public information campaign about the role and value of lawyers in every aspect of life.

We’re aggressively examining how we can improve our continuing legal education services to lawyers through our Sections programs, and offering two major President’s Forums on current issues of significance to the profession–in Kelowna and in Vancouver. Recently, we’ve expanded and improved the Practice Advisory Panel, to assist lawyers in getting advice from experienced “mentors” in a given field, (including Law Society disciplinary matters). We want to see how we can be involved in mediation between lawyers in disputes, and between lawyers and clients in disputes over services.

CBABC is “out there” for lawyers on the Legal Aid issue, on legislative changes which would impact lawyers or clients, on electronic filing, on privacy in BC Online. We’re also bringing real issues to the fore, and providing both information and leadership to the profession (not just in BC–CBABC is a national leader in cutting edge legal issues, such as Multi-Disciplinary Partnerships, Limited Liability Partnerships, and the effects of globalization and specialization on lawyers).

CBABC actively supports and assists the Lawyers’ Assistance Program, providing the financial backing for the training of volunteer lawyers to help other lawyers in crisis, and operating a joint program, “Options For Lawyers”, that provides lawyers with a chance to review their current options to traditional practice. CBABC leaders were among the founders of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice, and CBABC continues to support the forum’s promotion of reform and improvement of civil justice in Canada.

The activities and relevance of CBABC fill the pages of BarTalk in every issue, and I could go on a great length. My point is this–that CBABC is for lawyers first, and for the legitimate self-interest of members of the legal profession. CBABC is yours – your professional organization.

I would like to encourage you to take an active part in the life of the organization, by volunteering when we call, by standing for elected office, by actively participating in Sections. In this BarTalk, we include a list (probably far from complete) of the volunteer contributors in the past year. It’s a long list, and we can be justly proud that ours is a profession that “steps up” and takes responsibility, that in its own organization as well as in the life of the community, is in the forefront.

If you would like to know more about how CBABC operates, how it fits into the CBA National picture, or if you would like more information on how to get involved in something that interests or matters to you, if you have ideas that can better the way CBABC delivers services to members, call me, write me, or email me because that’s why I’m here.

This article was published in the February 2000 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2005, all rights reserved.