How Will New Amendments to B.C. Legislation Affect Lawyers?

By the time the B.C. Legislature has wrapped up for the summer, the Attorney General Statutes Amendment Act, 2007 (Bill 33) is expected to have been signed into law. The Bill includes sections that amend the Legal Profession Act and the Legal Services Society Act in ways that will boost the powers of the Law Society of British Columbia (LSBC), and expand the mandate of the Legal Services Society of British Columbia (LSS). Once implemented, these wide-ranging amendments will affect both legal professionals and members of the public requiring legal services.

Legal Profession Act
Sections 38 to 43 of Bill 33 enhance the LSBC’s existing regulatory powers while providing the LSBC with new tools to achieve its primary mandate to protect the public interest. The Bill empowers the practice standards committee of the LSBC to make compulsory orders, with prior notice to a lawyer, that impose conditions and limitations on a lawyer’s practice, including the imposition of remedial programs. Under the proposed amendments, the LSBC may now also be appointed as a custodian of a lawyer’s practice if the lawyer is unable to continue practising.

Other amendments include the sanctioning of five benchers to Act in respect of a bencher review if the seven-bencher quorum required under the act is lost. The LSBC will also be permitted to apply to, and empower, the Supreme Court to issue a letter of request to another jurisdiction for the purpose of obtaining evidence regarding LSBC investigations or hearings. Such a request relies on the notion of reciprocal cooperation and while formal, would not be binding.

Legal Services Society Act
Section 44 of Bill 33 amends section 9 of the Legal Services Society Act to broaden the mandate of the LSS by removing references to low-income individuals from its objects. Bill 33 changes the objects of the LSS, so that its role is expanded to:

• assist individuals to resolve their legal problems and facilitate their access to justice;
• provide advice to the Attorney General, respecting legal aid and access to justice for individuals in British Columbia.

Bill 33 also makes amendments regarding the provision which requires the LSS to be guided by the following principles:

• give priority to identifying and assessing the legal needs of low-income individuals in British Columbia; and
• be flexible and innovative in the manner in which it carries out its objects.

How the LSS will apply its broadened mandate is not yet clear, however the LSS will have the latitude to deliver a wider range of services to all British Columbians, no longer being limited to serving people who have low income.

This article was published in the June 2007 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2007, all rights reserved.