Women in law
More women (than men) in law force now, but they still face discrimination
Measures of Eligibility for Law School Admission
LSAT and (usually) personal statement
- Most Canadian law schools admit a small number of “mature”, First Nations, and other differently qualified students in addition to those admitted on the basis of traditional entrance requirements
- Indigenous & disadvantaged applicants are common
Diversity in Law School
- Law schools are very diverse, but in the US, this often is seen as “reverse discrimination”, denying equality before the law to applicants who are not First Nations (or Black in the US)
- Black and First Nations people are still underrepresented, and they are evaluated by the same standards as other students
Section 15(2) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
do not preclude any law, program, or activity that has disadvantaged individuals or groups based on sex, race, etc
LSAT Criticism
- US oriented aptitude test should not determine admissions to Canadian law schools
- Test is biased toward the language of a white middle-class culture
- No evidence that LSAT tests determine success in law school
Law Practice
Declining rates of private practices because of increasing demand for lawyers in government and business, and lawyers finding employment in non-legal fields
Law school curriculum
- First year JD (LLB) program remained in tact - torts, real property, personal property, criminal law, jurisprudence, constitutional law, and contracts
- Second and third year - wide range
- After the JD program, apply for articles and register for the bar where they want to practice, every province has different requirements
- Most provinces, 18 months after articling and examinations, a lawyer can be called to the bar
Why is it important to distinguish between a lawyer’s duty of confidentiality and the principle of solicitor-client privilege?
- Confidentiality extends to all the information you learn working for your client
- Does not matter if it’s the information you found out before you became the lawyer of the client
- Exists in common law as well
Solicitor-client privilege
- Only applies to communications between the lawyer and the client
- Supreme Court stated, in the Canadian Criminal Lawyers’ Association case concerning the Charter and access to information, that “the only exceptions recognized to the solicitor-client privilege are the narrowly guarded public safety and right to make full answer and defence exceptions
- Clients may consent to disclosure of information
Exception to the solicitor-client privilege
Public safety - if someone is at the risk of harm
Smith v Jones (1999)
- Psychiatrist (acts as lawyer) who wished to break solicitor-client confidentiality based on concern for public safety
- Psychiatrist is released from his duty of confidentiality on account of public safety exception; the psychiatrist’s affidavit will be unsealed and the ban on its publication removed
Obligations of Canadian Lawyers
- Fulfill responsibilities to their clients
- Their professional societies
- The criminal and civil courts
- Their communities
Code of Professional Conduct
- Issues of competence
- Confidentiality
- Conflicts on interest
- Preservation of clients’ property
- Fees and disbursements
- Withdrawal from representation of a client
- Marketing and advising of legal services
- Assists in defining ethical practice and in identifying what is questionable ethically
- General application and ethical guidance
- Reliable and instructive guide for lawyers that establishes only the minimum standards of professional conduct expected of members of the profession
Infringements of the code of professional conduct
- Lack of communication
- Fees
- Improper instruction/analysis
Paralegals/Legal Assistants
- Small claims court
- In Ontario, can give legal advice with respect to proceedings, draft or assist with drafting documents for proceedings, or negotiate on behalf of a person who is a party to a proceeding
