Lawyers take B.C. government to court over province’s decision to replace the Law Society

British Columbia’s trial lawyers and its self-regulating law society have launched constitutional challenges to the provincial government’s move to combine oversight of their profession with notaries and paralegals, a move they contend violates their institutional independence.

The new regulator’s board will shrink to 17 directors: nine lawyers, two other positions for both notaries and paralegals, three appointed by the province . However, the lawsuits note that only five of these directors will be elected by their peers in the legal profession, with the remaining four lawyers to be appointed along with one other director as part of a merit-based process voted on by all the other directors.

B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma was unavailable for an interview this week, but her office sent a statement saying she was reviewing the legal claims and her government still hopes to continue to work with the Law Society on a “smooth and effective transition.” Ron Usher, who spent nearly nine years working for the Law Society before becoming general counsel for the Society of Notaries Public of B.C., said he was surprised by the “moral panic” the regulatory change created among many of his legal colleagues. He estimated the lawsuits could delay the policy shift by two years or more.

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