of self regulation? - The Law Society of Upper Canada

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list, remains in the hands of the Law Society. The Society sets standards of ethical behaviour and competence, it governs the rules for admission and stipulates the preadmission educational requirements, it sets the program of articling or apprenticeship and any professional training, including bar courses and exams. The rule enforcement side of regulation, or Hurlburt’s policing and punishment, is removed from the hands of the Law Society. An independent body is created with the responsibility for hearing and determining complaints against practicing lawyers, and for administering discipline. 50
Looking to reforms in other parts of the world (as briefly outlined above in Section II, above), this fairly basic change to the structure of professional regulation is common. In England and Wales, pending reforms will take responsibility for complaints and discipline away from the Law Society, while also introducing more comprehensive oversight and more effective lay participation into the system, 175 two changes which we will consider shortly. The reforms recently completed or underway in most Australian states are similar. The states of New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria all provide for an independent body to administer complaints against lawyers, while the Law Society retains varying degrees of authority to set the standards of practice and ethical rules against which those lawyers will be judged. 176 The problem of a conflict of interest – real or perceived – is at the heart of this reform, and in a large measure is why it is so common. Whether accurate or not, there is an appearance of a conflict of interest in lawyers judging their own for compliance with ethical and competency standards they have set. Transferring the judging function to another body eliminates this conflict. This particular division has the additional advantage of allowing the Law Societies to continue to set rules and standards of practice, a task which arguably requires a great deal of experience with the practice of law and its ethical potholes and deadfalls. Some argue that allowing the profession to retain this function is not enough, however. 177 They claim that this same experience is a necessary prerequisite to determining whether lawyers have complied with the ethical standards, or demonstrated an appropriate level of competence. The following coregulatory compromise in some measure addresses this claim. 175 See supra, note 82 and text. 176 See supra, note 81. 177 See Section III, above, for a full exposition of the various arguments for and against self-regulation. 51
Page 1 and 2: THE END(S) OF SELF REGULATION 1 RIC
Page 3 and 4: INTRODUCTION There is something cur
Page 5 and 6: alternative regulatory structures i
Page 7 and 8: submitted to the bar council and th
Page 9 and 10: fee. 20 In some jurisdictions, then
Page 11 and 12: wellbeing of his children. 25 Nine
Page 13 and 14: 5. Discipline in the Protection of
Page 15 and 16: Disciplinary issues aside, many hav
Page 17 and 18: Very little has been done to make c
Page 19 and 20: as do self-help mechanisms for thos
Page 21 and 22: important in reducing the problem,
Page 23 and 24: unwilling or unable to undertake en
Page 25 and 26: process, usually with some supervis
Page 27 and 28: eforms which established the office
Page 29 and 30: It is often argued that the indepen
Page 31 and 32: 2. Independence of the Judiciary Th
Page 33 and 34: sensitivity to the conditions of pr
Page 35 and 36: 1. Conflict of interest. The key co
Page 37 and 38: societies have done little to try t
Page 39 and 40: The uniqueness of position of the b
Page 41 and 42: imperialism.” 144 The concern tha
Page 43 and 44: From a slightly different perspecti
Page 45 and 46: IV ENLARGING THE REGULATORY IMAGINA
Page 47 and 48: cartography of seventeen various an
Page 49: unfettered and unsupervised regulat
Page 53 and 54: civil complaints, including both fe
Page 55 and 56: for example where the complaint is
Page 57 and 58: A number of countries have introduc
Page 59 and 60: Whatever the role of the lay partic
Page 61 and 62: In Devlin’s interviews with infor
Page 63 and 64: jurisdictions, for example New Sout
Page 65 and 66: discipline processes more transpare
Page 67 and 68: interest in fair and efficient capi
Page 69 and 70: VII CONCLUSION: THE SPONSORS’ TAB
Page 71 and 72: liss and accountable leadership req
Page 73 and 74: from the recently created Sponsors

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