BarTalk August 2000
Volume 12, Number 4

CBA Lobby Successful

BC Attorney General Petter, responding to what he acknowledged were “issues of great concern” to the CBA, has recently made three announcements of significance to the Bar. Enduring power of attorney will now remain a legal option until September 5, 2001 (a one-year extension). The Legal Services Society will receive an extra $1.4 million for the provision of duty counsel and arraignment court services. The Crown Counsel Association (CCA) will become the formal bargaining agent for crown counsel, and a new working agreement will include incentives to help attract and retain good lawyers in the public service. “We are very pleased that the Attorney General has responded so positively and quickly to our concerns, and we look forward to working with him on these and other issues in the future,” said Mr. Mayland McKimm, CBABC President.

BarTalk Design Gets Updated

As you may have noticed, BarTalk has a new “look” as part of a redesign of all CBABC materials. There have been very few changes to BarTalk’s design over the past years, and it was felt that it was time to update it to fit the look of the upcoming Web site, Directory and other publications being launched this Fall. The old stylized scales of justice have been modernized in design and humanized with the addition of a real hand, symbolic of the CBABC as a collective of people, not just an institution. This more realistic version of our old scales of justice design is based on the sculpture of the statue of justice at the Vancouver Law Courts, an image that has been featured on the cover of both the 2000 and 2001 Directories.

Freedom of Information and Privacy Law Section

The Freedom of Information and Privacy Law Section was approved at the June 24, 2000 Provincial Council meeting bringing the number of active CBABC Sections to 71. The mandate of this Section is to provide a forum for the exchange of information, networking and education of lawyers practicing or interested in the area of freedom of information and privacy law. The current Section Chair is Allan A. Macdonald of MacLeod & Company. To enroll and participate in this new Section complete the 2000/2001 enrollment form mailed to you in July.

Important Notice Re: Enduring Power of Attorney

Enduring power of attorney will remain a legal option available to British Columbians until September 5, 2001 (a one-year extension). The CBABC is continuing to lobby the government to ensure that enduring power of attorney remains in the “toolkit” of options available to the public and businesses of BC.

These articles were published in the August 2000 issue of BarTalk and are subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2005, all rights reserved.