Cunningham decision
means court can require
counsel to continue to
represent an accused
JEREMY HAINSWORTH VANCOUVER
The Law Society of B.C. will
amend its Professional Conduct
Handbook to reflect a Supreme
Court of Canada decision that a
court may exercise its discretion
to refuse counsel applications to
withdraw from criminal cases
for nonpayment of fees.
In a case from the Yukon, R.
v. Cunningham, [2010] S.C.J.
No. 10, the Supreme Court ruled
a court has the authority to
require counsel to continue to
represent an accused.
The decision reverses the
B.C. Supreme Court’s decision
in Leask v. Cronin. That case
determined if a lawyer decides
to withdraw as counsel, the
court has no jurisdiction to pre-
vent them from doing so subject
to the court’s authority to cite
them for contempt if there is
evidence that the withdrawal
was done for some improper
purpose.
Competency standards
A final report for the Federation of
Law Societies of Canada on national
competency standards for admission
to the Bar is due by the end of 2011,
Law Society of B.C. benchers were
told Sept. 2.
“Every province and territory has a
standard of competency they’ve
developed,” law society CEO
Timothy McGee told benchers.
“They’re not all the same.”
Further, he said, good character
standards for lawyers also differ
across the country.
Once the issues of competency
and character standards have been
dealt with, the next issue is that of
assessment. “A national exam of
some form or shape that would test
competency is the likely outcome of
this project,” he explained. Experts
would need to be retained to create
such a test, he said.
Prosecutions up
CONTENTS
NEWS
A ‘HARDBALL’ auto insurer is hit
with $40,000 for a ‘remedial costs
penalty’ by Ontario’s top court.....1
UNCITRAL ARBITRATION rules
keep up with the times .............. 13
Law society for public, not just members
THE QUEBEC Court of Appeal
nixes children’s access to English
public schools ..............................1
Intellectual Property
COURT TURNS DOWN levy on
Internet service providers........... 14
JEREMY HAINSWORTH VANCOUVER
PRIVILEGE CONTINUES to evade
patent agents............................. 15
B.C.’S LAW society updates its
rules on when a lawyer can
withdraw from a case..................2
BUSINESS & CAREERS
THE LSBC will identify itself first
and foremost as a public-interest
regulatory body ............................2
ADDING A little oomph to your
workday ..................................... 21
OVERCOME SELF-PROMOTION
angst in four easy steps............. 22
THE SPECIAL prosecutor selection
should be same as for judges, says
B.C.’s law society......................... 3
THE ART of networking made
simple by Gary Mitchell.............. 24
TORONTO SHOULD be a ‘global
centre for commercial arbitration,’
says Ontario’s top judge............... 3
AFTER-THE-EVENT insurance big
in the U.K., but can it make
headway in Canada? .................. 25
LAWYER CREATES venue for
jazz lovers ................................ 4
THE MANITOBA Bar slams the
CBC for its ‘salacious’ coverage
affecting a local judge.................. 5
The Law Society of B.C.
(LSBC) has given its blessing to
an amendment to the Legal Profession Act that would ensure
that the LSBC is able to identify
itself first and foremost as a public-interest regulatory body,
rather than a member-interest
body.
The recommendation put to
benchers would see the removal
from the legislation that set out
the society’s object and duty as
being the upholding and protecting the interests of its members, subject to upholding and
protecting the public interest in
the administration of justice.
The proposal was the subject
of spirited debate between
benchers before it passed.
Gregory Petrisor said the
change seemed to have been pro-
moted by the fact that the public
interest and members’ interest
were mutually exclusive.
The Public Prosecution Service
of Canada (PPSC) prosecuted near-
ly 56,000 drug cases in 2009-
2010 — up more than 1,200 from
the year before, says the agency’s
annual report tabled last month in
Parliament.
Regulatory prosecutions— includ-
ing fisheries, immigration and environ-
mental files —rose to 9,620 cases in
the fiscal year ending March 31,
2010— nearly 1,000 more cases
than in 2008-2009.
The PPSC also concluded 212 tax
and other revenue-related prosecu-
tions in 2009-2010, with the courts
imposing $11.6 million in fines.
PPSC prosecutors participated in
two significant economic prosecu-
tions flowing from the work of the
integrated market enforcement
teams that also include police and
forensic accountants.
The PPSC also advised on 66 com-
petition-offence-related investiga-
tions, and assisted with 20 prosecu-
tions, primarily related to alleged
price- and market-fixing conspiracies,
bid-rigging, deceptive telemarketing
and aggravated situations of false or
misleading advertising.
Proceeds of crime
OPINION
JEFFREY MILLER....................... 5
Correction
FOCUS
Alternative Dispute Resolution
UNDERSTANDING THE dark art of
cross-examination ........................ 9
Incorrect information appeared in the article “Greening the law
office” in the Sept. 3, 2010 edition of The Lawyers Weekly. Stikeman
Elliott LLP saved over 6 million sheets of paper in 2009 alone by simply
setting the printers’ defaults to print double-sided.
DEPARTMENTS
HOW IMPROVISATIONAL theatre
trains lawyers to negotiate ........ 10
COURT DENIES a union a “second
kick at the can” .......................... 10
Announcements. . . . . . . . . . . 25
Careers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Classified Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Lawddities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Legal Briefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Names in the News. . . . . . . . . 4
Weekly Digest. . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Subscribe!
IS IT time to arbitrate class
proceedings? .............................. 11
Subscribe to The Lawyers Weekly online
at www.lawyersweekly.ca/subscribe
More than $37 million in mostly
drug-related proceeds of crime, or
property used to commit such
crimes, was forfeited to the federal
Crown in 2009-2010, the Public
Prosecution Service of Canada says.
In the year ending March 31,
2010, the prosecution service han-
dled 2,316 cases involving either
proceeds of crime or offence-related
property. That was down from 4,039
cases in 2008-2009 — which led to
the forfeiture of almost $30 million.
Proceeds of crime and offence-relat-
ed property include such things as
money used to buy drugs from an
undercover officer and real estate
bought with the proceeds of crime
or used to produce drugs.
