Lawyers Gone Bad – The Controversy - My Turn

Well, it’s been a month since, "Lawyers Gone Bad" by Philip Slayton was published. I am amazed by the controversy generated by Mr. Slayton’s book. Much of it started when Macleans magazine featured an interview with Mr. Slayton on its front cover. The front cover read “Lawyers Are Rats”.

The reality is that neither  the Maclean’s cover, article nor the interview with Mr. Slayton was an accurate portrayal of the book. The book is an entertaining read and does NOT (as the Ontario Bar Association, The Canadian Bar Association, and The Law Society of Upper Canada would have you believe), smear the profession. It strikes me that, some of the critics may not have read the book – but only the Macleans article. (A practice analagous to reading the headnote, instead of the actual case.)

"Lawyers Gone Bad" is a book about human weakness. Never forget that lawyers are human beings. It’s like this:

1. People are imperfect and are prone to lapses of judgment and weakness of character.
2. Lawyers are people.

Therefore, lawyers are imperfect, are prone to lapses of judgment and weakness of character.

In the case of lawyers, because of the responsibilities they carry, their weaknesses of character, can cause greater harm to people.

The Making Of A Lawyer - From Law School To The Legal Profession

One gets the impression that, Mr. Slayton may believe,  that the external environment in which lawyers are trained (the law schools) and the profession in which they practise (the legal profession) do not model and encourage appropriate standards of behaviour. Both the law schools and the profession should be working harder to teach, model and encourage appropriate standards of behaviour and accountability. This would assist in  mitigating the damage caused by the weaknesses of character that are part of  (to use the words of Philip Roth) the "Human Stain".

Are Lawyers Fit To Regulate Themselves?

In another insightful article, which recently appeared in the Globe, Mr. Slayton questioned whether Canadian lawyers should be allowed to regulate themselves. Historically Canadian lawyers have been a self-governing profession. As Justice McRuer said in 1968 as part of his Royal Commission into rights:

The question is whether it is in the interest of the public that lawyers regulate themselves!

The stories  in “Lawyer Gone Bad” may provide evidence bearing on this question. Mr. Slayton’s article may be found at:

http://www.lawschoolbound.ca/blog/_archives/2007/9/2/3201788.html

Lawyers as individuals and the profession as a whole must be regulated according to the "law of the land". The "law of the land" includes the Canadian Charter of Rights. Rules governing lawyers have been found to violate the Charter of Rights in a number of instances. These include:

- striking down restrictions on lawyers' advertising

- restrictions on the inter-provincial practise of law

- citizenship requirements to practise law

In each case, the provincial law society in question defended its rule. In most cases the relevant law society argued that the  section of the charter did not apply. In each case a court of competent jurisdiction held that the rule defended by the Law Society violated the Charter Of Rights.

Recently the Law Society of Upper Canada sought an exemption form the provisions of Ontario's "Fair Access To Regulated Professions Act". The fact of  the request, suggests that the Law Society may equate the public interest with its own interest.

Is it in the public interest that lawyers be governed by  provincial law societies?

Perhaps the time has come to follow the lead of the United States and England and put Canadian lawyers under the direct supervision of the courts (preferable) or government agencies.

One Example Of Law Students And Character

We live in a culture of blame. People rarely take responsibility for their behaviour and actions. Some of you may recall in the early 2000s when a number of U of T law students falsified grades on applications for summer jobs. Once caught,  many of them justified their actions on the basis that   - they were forced to falsify those  grades because of the competitive environment at U of T law school! Notwithstanding that they,  they alone, and nobody else, submitted the false grades to the law firms, their position was:

It wasn’t our fault!

Could it, just could it be time, to consider character at the point of admission to law school? This issue has been raised in the past, with at least one dean stating that the law schools have no responsibility for considering character. Why should grades and LSAT scores be the primary factors? (Or has a recent Mcleans article suggests, is cheating so rampant that nothing can be one about it?)

So ....

There will always be lawyers who demonstrate weakness of character. But, the specific individuals in Mr. Slayton's book are indicative of a deeper problem. A failure to make good character a priority, is a  problem that begins with the law admissions process, accelerates through law school and becomes entrenched in the legal profession!

Given this environment, it is amazing that Mr. Slayton's book does not contain many more examples.  On the other hand, maybe, he can be persuaded to write a sequel!

Perhaps something like (to follow the style of the Chicken Soup series):

"Lawyers Gone Bad - A Second Group"

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You may find the following links interesting. See particularly the links to legal professional organizations.

Links To Macleans Article
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20070726_161005_9580

http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20070801_174709_7160

http://www.macleans.ca/homepage/magazine/article.jsp?content=20070806_108073_108073
Lawyers Weekly – In My Opinion The Best Commentary
http://www.lawyersweekly.ca/index.php?section=article&articleid=516

http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/2007/07/30/lawyers-are-not-rats-says-lawyer/

The Legal Profession Responds

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=024e3498-5ebc-46eb-bc9f-dc3341122e70

http://www.oba.org/en/main/home_en/Newsdetails.aspx?no=NEWS07302007-152-1E

http://www.lsuc.on.ca/media/jul3007_macleans_article.pdf

http://www.cba.org/CBA/News/2007_releases/2007-08-03_response.aspx

http://cba.org/CBA/News/pdf/thetruthaboutlawyers.pdf

Other Odds And Ends

http://www.canadianjusticereviewcouncil.ca/books-Lawyers_Gone_Bad.htm

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/242353

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/46548

http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/2007/08/08/macleans-vs-lawyers-round-2/

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/books/story/4021243p-4633478c.html

http://westallen.typepad.com/idealawg/2007/08/bad-boys-bad-bo.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_zolf/20070808.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/08/06/lawyers-are-rats-eh/

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=8f16f192-dc0c-4933-be31-a9432100a26c

http://www.progressivebloggers.ca/blog/tag.php?tag=Law

http://www.canadianlawyermag.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=145

http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/?p=1404&akst_action=share-this

http://thoughtfullaw.com/?p=15

http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx

http://canadianmags.blogspot.com/2007/07/macleans-cheeses-off-lawyers-by-calling.html

http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20070815080300379

http://www.cbc.ca/metromorning/index.xml

http://westernstandard.blogs.com/shotgun/2007/08/public-service-.html


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