Canada

The View From Up North: Law Society Of Upper Canada's Newest Treasurer Wants To Tackle Some Tough Issues

He wants to improve access to justice and update the Ontario licensing process. Will he be able to do both?

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Canada View From Up North Last week, Paul Schabas was elected as the 66th Treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Congratulations to Paul.

In case you don’t know, the Treasurer is the highest elected official of the Law Society. He presides over a convocation of forty elected Benchers. In case you also don’t know, Benchers are the lawyers chosen by their peers to govern the Law Society.

If you’re baffled by these old school terms (as I was until ten years into my legal career):

Treasurer = Chair

Convocation = Board of Directors

Benchers = Directors

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Law Society = governing body of Ontario’s lawyers and paralegals (I knew that one from the beginning)

Every June, the Benchers choose one of their own to take on the role of Treasurer. I imagine it’s a lot like electing the Pope, only no smoke involved — and no need for a bullet proof Treasurer-mobile. Treasurers usually sit for two terms.

It is obviously a terrific honor for Paul and sign of tremendous faith that a group of forty leading lawyers think he has the stuff to lead the Law Society. And, that’s important because the Treasurer is quite a powerful role. He sets the agenda for all meetings of the Benchers. He establishes committees. He is the face of the Law Society, and has a prominent pulpit from which to advocate for change.

With that in mind, I reached out to Paul for an understanding of what he hopes to accomplish during his term as Treasurer. Here are the areas I probed:

  1. Issues he wants to focus on.

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I got the sense there are number of initiatives he wants to undertake, but the two he mentioned are access to justice and updating the Ontario licensing process.

Access to justice has been and continues to be a prominent topic of interest for the Law Society. Paul says he thinks the governing body must continue to lead on this issue. There are too many unrepresented litigants entering the legal system because retaining a lawyer is so expensive. There are language barriers that prevent new immigrants from being able to get proper legal help. Additionally, people who live in rural or remote areas can find it more difficult to access justice than city dwellers. And, of course, our indigenous population continues to struggle with retaining competent legal assistance.

Paul has long been an advocate for increasing access to justice. This is not new to him. He is the Chair of the Law Foundation of Ontario and past president of Pro Bono Law Ontario, both of which are dedicated to opening the legal system to all.

Now, as Treasurer, he has an even more prominent position from which to carry on this important battle.

I was not surprised Paul wants to focus on access to justice. I was surprised by his other focus: updating the licensing process. The licensing process is a very important part of protecting the public, right? It is the process by which the Law Society says you are competent to provide legal services to often vulnerable citizens. Thus, when he mentioned the licensing process, I immediately thought, “What’s wrong with the licensing process?” Paul was quick to alleviate my concerns. He doesn’t feel the current system endangers the public. It is, however, an older system that needs updating.

We have a lot more lawyers coming to Ontario from other jurisdictions looking to practice law. We don’t have enough articling positions for the students who want to start their careers in Ontario. The Law Society has been innovative in that regard by providing the Law Practice Program as an alternative to articling, but that program is coming up for assessment in the near future to determine its effectiveness.

I think it’s fair to characterize Paul’s position as, we are facing different licensing challenges today than we did twenty years ago and the licensing process needs updating to reflect a changing legal profession.  He told me, “We have to ensure that our licensing process is both fair, accessible and protects the public.” With that in mind, Paul aims to carry out a complete review of the current system so it can be updated with best practices.

  1. Why he wanted the job.

I was curious as to why Paul would want the Treasurer’s role. It bet it’s a tough job wrangling forty lawyers, each of whom thinks she/he is the smartest person in the room. It’s a public job — the whole world is watching your miscues. I suspect it can be thankless at times. I’m not sure I would want that role (which is good because I am completely unqualified).

Thus, I asked him: Why, Paul, why?

He didn’t answer me directly (i.e., speak about his personal ambitions), but this is what he said: “I think the Law Society and the legal profession has a critical role in bettering society. Law is a tool for enhancing freedom and enhancing our society.”

That’s pretty lofty. Thus, although he did not speak to his personal ambitions, I think we can safely theorize this is a guy who has always been active and engaged in service to the legal profession. If you review his resume you can see his progression: Joining many influential legal bodies (e.g., Pro Bono Law Ontario), running for Bencher on three different occasions, sitting on many influential Law Society committees, etc.

Plus, as I noted above, he has some strong ideas on what he feels are important initiatives. Thus, the chance to be Treasurer — the chance to lead important initiatives — seems to be a logical career progression.

  1. Is there anything interesting about the Law Society the general public might not know about?

Paul said he thinks the Law Society does a lot of things that the public needs to be aware of. For example, he recently attended a kick-off event for the Law Society’s annual Pride Month celebration. The public might not know about the Law Society’s support in this area. But, supporting Pride Month goes to the heart of promoting equity within our society and making the legal practice more diverse.

He also noted that the Law Society speaks out against human rights violations and promotes rule of law worldwide. It goes without saying, societies without rule of law are prime candidates for human rights catastrophes. I agree that our regulatory body should be a leading voice for democracy and human rights.

I had never met Paul before spending a few minutes on the phone with him. I left the conversation thinking he’s soft-spoken, passionate and humble. His resume of public service to the legal profession is impeccable. Forty of his colleagues have put their faith in him.

Based on that I am hopeful he’s going to accomplish a lot of good things during his tenure.

Bonne chance, Mr. Treasurer.

That’s the View From Up North: Happy Canada Day!

Steve Dykstra is a Canadian-trained lawyer and legal recruiter. He is the President of Steven Dykstra Law Professional Corporation, a boutique corporate/commercial law firm located in the greater Toronto area. You can contact Steve at steve@stevendykstralaw.ca. You can also read his blog at stevendykstra.wordpress.com, follow him on Twitter (@Law_Think), or connect on LinkedIn (ca.linkedin.com/in/stevedykstra/).

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