THE ADVOCATE 433
VOL. 80 PART 3 MAY 2022
THE ATTORNEY
GE NERAL’S PAGE
By the Honourable David Eby, Q.C.*
MODERNIZING REGULATION FOR LAWYERS, NOTARIES AND PARALEGALS
In December 2021, Christmas came early for the Law Society of British
Columbia as it received its much-anticipated report evaluating its existing
governance structures. Authored by professional regulatory governance
expert Harry Cayton, the “Cayton Report” lauded the Law Society for governance
that “meets or partially meets seven of the nine Standards of Good
Governance”, and went on to identify additional opportunities to improve
governance structures and practices, and to reduce conflicts of interest for
lawyers.
Lawyers are not alone in seeking opportunities for governance reform in
relation to legal services in our province. Back in 2012, the Society of Notaries
Public of British Columbia joined the Law Society in writing to the provincial
government supporting reform to governance, ultimately entering into a
memorandum of understanding with the Law Society to advance discussions
on that front. Unfortunately, that combined effort did not result in the outcomes
the government of the day, lawyers or notaries were seeking.
In addition to lawyers and notaries, in a submission to the Law Society in
2018, the BC Paralegal Association endorsed the concept of legal services
being provided by non-lawyers (including paralegals) as one component of
a solution to the access to justice problem. However, provincial amendments
made by our government at the request of the Law Society to enable
licensed paralegal regulation in the province were put on hold for further
study following a membership resolution related to family practice. And
although the Law Society’s “sandbox” system to trial areas for alternate legal
service provision has shown some promise, there continues to be a persist-
* The Honourable David Eby, Q.C., is British Columbia’s Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Housing.