For Immediate Release
August 16, 2004
OTTAWA – The new President of the Canadian Bar Association says that the country’s lawyers must be ready to respond to threats to Canadians’ fundamental rights.
Susan McGrath of Iroquois Falls, Ontario, who receives the chain of office at the CBA Canadian Legal Conference in Winnipeg on Aug. 17, points to the legal aid crisis, the erosion of solicitor-client privilege, and threats to the independence of the profession and the judiciary as some of the issues now facing Canada’s lawyers. “These problems have become much more acute over time,” she says. “We must continue to be vigilant in defence of rights that are fundamental to our profession and to democracy.”
A sole practitioner with an emphasis on family law, McGrath also intends to focus her resources on the plight of small-firm lawyers and sole practitioners, especially those outside the major cities. “The majority of Canadians live in these smaller centers, and so the lawyers who serve them must have all the necessary resources available,” she says. “Otherwise, the principle of access to justice could become mere lip service.”
Susan McGrath brings a wealth of experience to her new role, having served as OBA President in 1999-2000 and occupying countless other leadership positions within the OBA and CBA over the past 25 years. She was called to the Bar in 1979, after graduating from Osgoode Hall Law School two years earlier.
Susan McGrath receives the CBA Presidential Chain of Office from outgoing President F. William Johnson, Q.C. at the Young Lawyers Luncheon on Tuesday, Aug. 17 in the Winnipeg Convention Center, Rooms 2 E-F on the 2nd Floor, during the Canadian Legal Conference in Winnipeg, Aug. 14-17. The event is open to accredited media who have registered with the CBA Media Centre.
The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 38,000 lawyers, notaries, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.
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CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association, Tel: (613) 237-2925, ext. 146; E-mail: hannahb@cba.org; Aug. 13-17, Winnipeg Convention Centre, Meeting Room 16, (204) 957-4375..
