B. C. chief justice calls on legal profession to be proactive in face of change
B. C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Bauman has urged the legal profession to be more proactive in the face of looming change and an “unfortunately incredulous and misinformed public.”
In a rare statement that he also posted on the court’s website, Justice Bauman said the crisis in the legal system has reached the point that politicians and people are turning away from the courts.
“The willingness of government and the public to abandon lawyers and the courts as the dispute resolvers of choice is startling and disturbing,” the head of the province’s top trial court said.
“As a profession, if we are not accessible and accountable and importantly, seen to be, we risk the possibility of losing all relevance.”
He said lawyers face significant challenges — “access to justice issues are daunting and potentially fatal to our profession as we know it. “Similarly, public confidence in our profession and in its institutions, especially the courts, is a continuing challenge,” he added.
He said the title of U. K. legal expert, Robert Susskind’s book, The End of Lawyers? — is the question litigators should be asking.
Susskind says the British legal system will undergo greater change over the next two decades than it has in the past two centuries — and neither Grisham nor Rumpole will recognize it.
In the U. K., as in Canada and the U. S., high legal fees have forced more and more people to represent themselves, gumming up the works, increasing costs and exacerbating other systemic failures that are breeding injustice and anger.
The British have responded with changes that include more mediation and arbitration, changes to court hours, community panels and more restorative justice approaches.
The similar basket of solutions is required here.
“Now is the time, I suggest, for all of us to wake up, speak up, and shake up,” Justice Bauman insisted in his remarks to the Trial Lawyers Association of B. C. after receiving an award for his service to the province on April 5.
“Wake up to the realities of these challenges; speak up about our value and our critical relevance in the lives of ordinary Canadians; and shake up our attitudes toward lawyering.”
Still, the chief justice acknowledged, as in Britain, the province and legal stakeholders recognize the issues.
The Canadian Bar Association B. C. Branch has scheduled an Envisioning Equal Justice Summit for later this month; the Law Society has initiated a paralegal pilot project, expanded the scope of practice for articling students and begun unbundling legal services; and the judiciary recently signed a peace pact with Justice Minister Shirley Bond in which each side agreed to respect the other’s Constitutional role.
With a wry nod to a proverbial Chinese curse, Justice Bauman said “the courts of our province are doing their best to navigate these interesting times.”
The memorandum of understanding with the attorney general seeks to define the responsibilities of the executive and the judiciary in managing the justice system.
It follows a year of open warfare in which more than 100 provincial court judges sued Victoria over the manner in which it handled negotiations over their most recent pay package.
The memo clarifies the structure for how the attorney and the judiciary will work collaboratively to meet their individual and collective responsibilities.
The move is part of the strategy envisioned by the recently passed Justice Reform and Transparency Act, which created a framework for collaboration among justice leaders who have promised widespread reforms.
As Justice Bauman said: “It is an important document and we hope that it will form a strong foundation on which to build a better justice system; a justice system which will serve the public interest and earn the confidence of all British Columbians.”
He said he didn’t have answers for the profession, only suggestions — that lawyers renew their dedication to serving the public, embrace the possibility of change while preserving important and relevant traditions, participate in developing the critical mass blossoming around the “access to justice” initiative nationally and “by never letting an opportunity pass to explain ourselves and our profession to an unfortunately incredulous and misinformed public.”
“Now is a time for all of us to pull together; to remind our neighbours and our greater neighbourhoods that we are lawyers, members of a proud and caring profession,” Justice Bauman said. “We are a critical profession in our respective communities.”