SR Vol 27 No 3, July 2009 - Nova Scotia Barristers' Society

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society news Admissions & Professional Development Finance & Administration Many opinions are expressed about the need for continuing professional development and mandatory legal education; the issues have been exhaustively studied throughout the world. The Society has a responsibility to ensure that lawyers are competent. We exercise it in the most effective and appropriate way possible, making every effort to consider both the public interest and the needs of the profession, and avoiding heavyhanded or bureaucratic approaches that have failed elsewhere. The Continuing Competency Task Force has determined that our jurisdiction is best served by a combination of educational initiatives to ensure and enhance member competence. In order to satisfy the public interest, we track what lawyers are doing in terms of education and we create mandatory education from time to time, especially when an area of practice is changing substantially as in the implementation of the Land Registration Act or new Civil Procedure Rules. The Society also institutes mandatory education or testing (when the need arises) in the area of practice management; most recently by implementing a mandatory testing requirement for anyone wanting to open a new trust account. To date, we have not seen the need to or the benefit of requiring lawyers to prove they have taken a number of hours of approved education. All lawyers in Nova Scotia are asked to report their educational efforts in their Annual Members Report, and the Society has a recommended number of hours of self-study and formal education for maintaining competence. One of the key privileges of a career in law is the opportunity for lifelong learning. As we all know, each case and every client pose new questions and challenges. The law and legal practice are always changing and part of our responsibility as lawyers is to keep up. We must constantly challenge ourselves to see change, including new information and technology, as opportunity and embrace it to strengthen our knowledge and abilities. It is the Society’s responsibility to ensure lawyers are meeting the high standards we create and promote, which are always directed towards enhancing competence, thereby improving career satisfaction and service to the public and the profession as a whole. Across Canada, the public is beginning to demand that lawyers, like other professionals, continue engaging in formal education throughout their careers. Our job, and our passion, is around making that education as useful, interactive and enjoyable as we possibly can. The Society’s 2009 Annual Report is now posted on our website at www.nsbs.org/annualReport.php, with detailed financial reports and department and committee updates. The Society ended fiscal 2009 with a surplus (before budgeted transfers) of $59,099 in the unrestricted General Fund and a deficit of $227,283 in the Restricted Lawyers’ Fund for Client Compensation, for a combined deficit of $168,184. Of the net surplus in the General Fund, $26,119 was the result of normal operations and $32,980 was the result of Discipline repayments received during the year. Total revenue was $17,104 greater than budget and total operating expenses were $168,011 greater than budget for the year. The total unrestricted reserves of the General Fund were $327,482 at April 30, 2009. Revenue Fees revenue for practising and nonpractising members exceeded the budget by $9,921, as a result of more membership growth than budgeted. Revenue for Admissions and Professional Development (A&PD) was $108,059 more than plan. Total Library Revenue was below budget by $29,517. Draws from deferred grant funds were $22,871 less than plan. Realized Investment Income at $81,986 was below the budget by $21,192. The rate of return was lower than budgeted. Expenditures Professional Responsibility expenses at $1,362,089 were $375,311 higher than budget and $447,130 higher than last year. One significant file arguably created the bulk of this budgetary variance, with costs incurred in Investigations and Spot Audits. Reported A&PD expenses were $73,014 less than budget. The Futures Project, a new program in 2009, was budgeted to $100,000 but only $58,187 was spent, with the remainder ($41,813) set aside to fund this initiative in fiscal 2010. Standards Development, a new program for 2008, was also budgeted at $100,000. In 2008 and 2009, a total of $33,709 was spent and the balance is in an internally restricted reserve to continue funding this initiative. Interim staff changes for summer Executive Director Darrel Pink is on leave from July until September, and again from February to April 2010, to be a consultant to the Tanganyika Law Society in Tanzania. Professional Responsibility Director Victoria Rees, a 20-year employee of the Society with a broad range of skills and experience, serves as acting executive director during both leaves of absence. The Society will be fully reimbursed for Mr. Pink’s salary and benefits for the time that he is away. Building a relationship between the two law societies is expected to have long-term benefits for both organizations. 12 The Society Record
society news Library & Information Services Professional Responsibility In legal research parlance, secondary sources are those tools – including textbooks, encyclopedias, digests and periodical articles – that provide commentary or act as a finding aid to the primary sources of law. Secondary Sources is also the name given to the online tool created by the staff at Library & Information Services (L&IS) to provide members with access to a wide range of Society-related material. Our Secondary Sources tool is available to members and the public through the “Library” section of the Society’s website. The material in Secondary Sources includes papers presented at conferences organized by the Admissions & Professional Development department and the now-defunct Continuing Legal Education Society of Nova Scotia. Secondary Sources also includes articles published in The Society Record, the Nova Scotia Law News, InForum and some unpublished material written by members of the profession. Interestingly, the Secondary Sources tool was created because of numerous requests for the late Arthur Fordham’s paper on easements, presented at the Society’s real property conference in 1987. Posting this type of information online makes it accessible with just a few clicks of the mouse, in keeping with L&IS’s efforts to deliver as much information as possible directly to members at their desktops. Other benefits to posting this information online include the ability to search for material by author, title, subject, date, conference program name and/or keywords appearing in the full text of the article. Also, searches of Secondary Sources can be limited by type of publication, which is particularly helpful for members who only want to search for articles appearing in The Society Record or perhaps just those papers presented at conferences organized by the Admissions & Professional Development department. L&IS has created a special search screen for members who simply want to browse for papers and articles by practice area. Accessible through the “Professional Development” section of the Society’s website, this search screen lists papers and articles by practice area and includes sections for corporate/commercial law, criminal law, family law, real estate law, and wills and estates law. L&IS staff post the articles and papers online in PDF format as soon as possible after the Society-sponsored conference is held or the publication is released. To learn more about Secondary Sources or any of the other online tools created by L&IS, contact staff by telephoning 1-866-219-1202 (toll-free) or 425-BOOK (2665), or by sending an email to nsbslib@nsbs.org. The Professional Responsibility Department regularly receives calls from members seeking guidance with regard to ethical dilemmas they have encountered. In some cases, the issues raised are of such a nature that staff determines input from the chair of the Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee will be of value. Staff then summarizes the inquiry on a no-names basis. The chair considers it and may convene a quorum of the committee via email or teleconference to provide guidance. In those circumstances, staff circulates the summary with a request for the committee’s input. One committee member likened the process to a fast food drivethrough – place your ethics inquiry at the order window, then pull up to receive your advice at the pick-up window! While this service is, we hope, of better quality than some of our favourite fast food, the analogy seems to fit. We do our best to provide the most efficient and thorough advice possible in an effort to assist our members in exercising their professional judgment on a given issue. The calls we receive cover many topics, such as optional versus obligatory withdrawal, protection of a client’s property and confidentiality. The most frequent type of call involves potential conflict of interest, either between clients or lawyer and client. These are rarely straightforward questions, as conflicts are generally fraught with shades of gray, which is why the committee’s guidance can be so helpful. We also assist members with such serious conundrums as how to deal with threatening or harassing clients or opposing parties, disputes over funds held in trust, theft of client files and records, and conflicting duties respecting in-house counsel. Very often if members are uncertain about their obligations in a particular situation, the committee will respond quite strongly in a unified position. While not binding on a member, who is still expected to exercise his or her own professional judgment, their opinion can be very instructional. Members have indicated they appreciate receiving guidance from the committee as a whole, as well as the committee’s thoughtful and timely responses to each inquiry. The department also disseminates highlights of staff and EPRC ethics advice for the benefit of educating all members. We encourage members to call the Society’s Professional Responsibility counsel with any ethics questions or concerns. We are very fortunate to have access to an excellent resource library and committee members who provide valuable insight, experience and skill in considering ethical dilemmas. July 2009 13
Page 1 and 2: the SOCIETY RECORD VOLUME 27 | NO.
Page 3 and 4: Contents VOLUME 27 | NO.3 | July 20
Page 5 and 6: the president’s view This is my f
Page 7 and 8: BRIEFS Annual Meeting 2009 - June 1
Page 9 and 10: BRIEFS Cocktails & Conversations wi
Page 11: BRIEFS Steeves’ ensuing critical
Page 15 and 16: ACCOLADES Brenda Pate, Janet Steven
Page 17 and 18: Children: Our future leaders and ed
Page 19 and 20: “Young people need an avenue to f
Page 21 and 22: LIANS Tips from the RISk & Practice
Page 23 and 24: eyond a reasonable doubt or beyond
Page 25 and 26: A meeting of minds Students and law
Page 27 and 28: Total Practice Solutions Succeed wi
Page 29 and 30: Youth Work that works Including you
Page 31 and 32: schools and other community organiz
Page 33 and 34: You be the judge A :Youth crime in
Page 35 and 36: to subject youth to an adult senten
Page 37 and 38: Restorative practices at work in th
Page 39 and 40: July 2009 39

SR Vol 27 No 3, July 2009 - Nova Scotia Barristers' Society

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