Self-governing Profession

The Law Society is a self-governing profession.  This means the Legal Profession Act, being a statute of the province of Saskatchewan, has delegated to the Law Society the responsibility to govern the legal profession.  The Law Society recognized that this responsibility must be exercised in the public interest.  In practice, self government means the Law Society sets standards for admission, standards of professional conduct for practicing lawyers, and disciplines lawyers who violate those standards.  In more recent times, the Law Society requires all lawyers to maintain minimum levels of insurance to protect the public from professional errors or omissions and secondly, requires all lawyers to contribute to the Indemnity Fund to protect members of the public where monies are misappropriated or converted by a lawyer.

Historically, self-government is rooted in the notion that a lawyer cannot serve two masters.  A lawyer representing a client must have one allegiance and that is the client's best interests.  Independence is not for the benefit of the lawyer but for the benefit of the client and the public.