Adapting to the Times Anti-Racism as Part of CPD

CBA NATIONAL MAGAZINE

Prior to COVID-19, the legal industry was going through significant changes. A growing number of clients sought to be more in control of their files and billing. Meanwhile, external lawyers increasingly provided legal coaching to their in-house counterparts, instead of on the record representation.

Indeed, Big Law has been downsizing for years, with many corporate clients growing their legal departments. The lucrative days of law in the 1980s seems to be over. Many lawyers have been offering flat fees and unbundled packages to attract clients.

Then COVID-19 came along and blindsided the legal industry. Government relief measures have become critical for many people, law firms and businesses to pay their bills. However, the government cannot afford to keep the economy on life support indefinitely. Lawyers are going to have a tough few years ahead of them.

A further squeeze on the legal market is that there are too many lawyers and not enough clients. Universities like Bond University in Australia doesn’t require an LSAT. Many law students are going abroad to law school, and then returning to the US and Canada to practice law.

Many of these students graduated in a few years, come back to North America, and complete their exams to get licensed. They eventually become sole practitioners and compete with lawyers that went to law school locally.

The straw that broke the lawyer’s back — COVID-19 was the final straw for many law firms. With tight margins, staff on payroll, and rent in central areas, they could not afford to continue with their practice.

Since the coronavirus spread, lawyers and their firms — of all sizes — are increasingly desperate for leads. Managing partners are just trying to meet their payroll obligations and rent while waiting to see how long it will take the economy to recover.

Racial disparities exist in the law: in its application and its impacts, as an access to justice issue and in the experiences of legal professionals. Continuing professional development — an essential part of ensuring professional competence among legal professionals — must address this reality. It is all the more pressing that this be done, given the anti-racism and diversity issues that have come to the surface in recent years.

There’s more to competency than getting training in anti-racism, beyond merely diversity, and developing the cultural competency to address client needs. Lawyers must have the knowledge and understanding if they are to take part in changing and disrupting systemic racism and racial disparities.

Follow this URL (bit.ly/29903973) to see an excerpt from LGBTQ2+ Law: Practice Issues and Analysis (2020). We also have seven print copies in our collection. The chapters cover intersections between sexuality and the law, and include 20 personal stories of LGBTQ2+ individuals’ who’ve fought to reform the Canadian legal system. Harvey Brownstone, Canada’s first openly gay judge, tells his story of a conversation with another judge who said “Well, Harvey, getting to know and becoming friends with a gay colleague like you helped me to understand the implications of the legal issue I was required to resolve.” The issue was a same-sex couple’s right to adopt children, which was granted. The lesson from the exchange was something larger: the “moral opprobrium” against non-heteronormative sexuality will not detach itself from the legal system on its own accord. It requires the aid of drivers and catalysts — diversity in the legal profession being one of them. “That comment,” notes Judge Brownstone, “made me realize in a very profound way the importance for judges themselves of having diversity on the bench.”

Another driver and catalyst is the role of public law intervenors. There are few textbooks directly on the subject of intervenors and intervention law, however there’s a free resource through our Irwin Law collection on the Remote Access Subscription Database (see courthouselibrary.ca) called “Five More Minutes: Representing Public Interest Interveners Thirty-Five Years After the Charter” under the Special Lectures 2017 title.

Ensuring the health and safety of our valued customers, contributors, and employees, and moving to an online platform for all our courses has been CLEBC’s highest priority since COVID-19 began six months ago. Due to the hard work of our CLEBC team and our contributors from across BC, all of CLEBC’s CPD courses are now offered online through Zoom.

To further support the legal community, the “CLEBC Lawyer Wellness and WellBeing Resources” web page offers seven hours of free online wellness and well-being courses (in short one-hour modules) and other helpful resources (cle.bc.ca/wellness). Course topics include “Wellness in the Practice of Law” and “Increasing Productivity Through Happiness” and many others. We are also offering reduced course pricing. For more details on these initiatives, please visit: cle.bc.ca/covid19update.

Additionally, if you are experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19, you may be eligible for further reductions in our course prices. Please contact our Customer Service department for more information.

We greatly appreciate the trust and confidence you have placed in CLEBC and welcome your feedback on how we can best support you during this challenging time (cle.bc.ca/ask-ceo-linda).

Please stay safe and healthy,

Linda W. Russell, CEO, CLEBC and the CLEBC Team.