News Archives
2012
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May 8, 2012
On May 4, 2012, the Government of Saskatchewan announced that
Darin Clayton Chow
has been appointed a judge of the Provincial Court for
Yorkton.
May 7, 2012
The Law Society of Saskatchewan issued a
notice of interim suspension in the discipline matter
of Kristian Eggum.
The Queen's Bench Bar Judicial Council is a form for members of
the Bar to bring forward any concerns to the Bench. A meeting
of the committee is scheduled for the end of May and members are
invited to bring forward any items for the Agenda. Members
are not required to participate in the meeting, however, your
issues or concerns will be discussed by committee members.
Please email your Agenda items by May 22nd to Liz
at llynchuk@lawsociety.sk.ca.
Professional liability insurance for Saskatchewan lawyers is
provided through a reciprocal insurance exchange known as Canadian
Lawyers Insurance Association (CLIA). The Law Society has
representation on the CLIA board through appointment of a board
member and an alternate. There is currently a position
open for the alternate.
May 4, 2012
Wireless
Internet Available In Select Court Facilities - Effective
immediately wireless internet is available in Regina, Saskatoon and
La Ronge Provincial Courts as well as in the Regina Court House on
Victoria Avenue. Wireless internet is available within the court
houses to the general public, although visitor guidelines continue
to prohibit the use of electronic devices in the courtrooms by
members of the public. An enhanced wireless internet service
(faster speed and no restrictions as to content) is available for
lawyers only. The purpose of the enhanced wireless service is to
facilitate legal research. Lawyers may access the service by using
the password located in the Members' Section of the Law Society
website. It is anticipated that this password will change
a few times a year. When the password is changed the new
password will be posted on the Members' Section of the Law Society
website.
ISC is making changes in
response to new debt enforcement legislation expected to come
into effect on May 28, 2012.
May 3, 2012
The Law Society of Saskatchewan Hearing Committee issued
notice of hearing in the discipline matter of Rodney
Charles Simaluk.
April 25, 2012
The Law Reform
Commission of Saskatchewan has recently released the following
final reports, which are forwarded to the Minister of Justice as
proposals:
April 13, 2012
ISC's Corporate Registry: Share Structures - As the legal
community may be aware, share structures have become lengthier and
more complex over time. ISC is continually looking for ways to
improve efficiencies and ensure greater consistency in the way
documents are being reviewed and processed.
Please be reminded that ISC only reviews the following portions
of share structure submissions:
- Class of shares
- Maximum number of shares the corporation is authorized to
issue
- Voting rights for each class of share
Please ensure that all statutory requirements are met prior to
submitting documents to ISC for processing.
April 12, 2012
The Court of Appeal has implemented mandatory electronic filing
of documents on April 2, 2012. The move to mandatory e-filing
will result in changes to existing Civil Practice Directive No. 3
and No. 6. The Court is presently finalizing the new practice
directives and will provide further notification to Law Society
members once that process is complete. Any questions about
mandatory e-filing and/or the practice directives should be
addressed to the Court's Registrar at mbaldwin@sasklawcourts.ca.
April 5, 2012
The Law Society of Saskatchewan
has released written reasons on penalty in relation to Daniel
Tapp.
April 2, 2012
The Law Society of Saskatchewan is seeking a volunteer who will
represent the Society by being a member on
the Senate of the University of Regina.
Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region and the Public Guardian And
Trustee are holding a conference on assessing for capacity on April
16th and 17th , 2012 in Regina. The conference, "Your Capacity Assessment
Tool Kit", will deal with substitute decision-making,
powers of attorney, guardianship, advanced care directives the
Health Information and Protection of Privacy Act, financial abuse
and assessing capacity. This conference will give you 13.5 CPD
credit hours. For more information and to register
contact South Sask ABI Outreach Team, Blaine.Katzberg@rqhealth.ca,
1 866 766-5617.
March 29, 2012
Members of Saskatchewan's legal community are invited to attend
the Swearing-in Ceremony of Judge Inez Cardinal. The ceremony will
be held at 3 p.m. on Friday, March 30, at the Saskatoon Provincial
Court House.
The Canadian Federal Government released
its 2012 budget.
March 27, 2012
Mandatory Code of Professional Conduct Training
- The Law Society of Saskatchewan has approved a new Code of
Professional Conduct, which will come into effect on July 1,
2012. The Code is based on the "Model Code" drafted by the
Federation of Law Societies of Canada.
Since the Code is fundamental to our members' conduct and the
Law Society's function as regulator, it is essential that all
lawyers become familiar with the new Code and the changes that have
been approved. Accordingly, the Benchers have directed
that Law Society training related to the new Code be mandatory and
be provided to our members at no cost. All active
members are required to attend a mandatory training session by
December 31, 2012.
The training will be offered via fourteen live sessions
throughout the province. The sessions are two-hours in length
and will be instructed by Brent Cotter, Q.C. The sessions
offered in Saskatoon and Regina will be limited to 200 attendees
per session so please register early to ensure you get your
preferred date.
The sessions qualify for two (2) CPD hours (both of which
qualify for ethics hours) under the Continuing Professional
Development Policy that came into effect January 1, 2010.
Following attendance at a Code training session, members are
responsible for reporting their CPD hours in the usual manner
through their Member Profile on the Law Society website.
For more details and to register for a Code training session, print off the registration
form.
The training will be available via recorded webinar for active
members of the Law Society who do not reside in Saskatchewan.
Additional information related to the recorded webinar will be
available at a later date.
Questions related to the Code training sessions can be directed
to Andrea Johnston, Director of Admissions and Education, at andrea@lawsociety.sk.ca
or 306.569.8242.
March 22, 2012
(Please see updated announcement on April 11, 2012) The Court of
Appeal will be implementing mandatory electronic filing of
documents effective April 2, 2012. The move
to mandatory e-filing will result in changes to existing Civil
Practice Directive No. 3 and to the creation of a new criminal
practice directive on electronic filing. The English versions
of these new practice directives are now available for
review:
The Court is presently
finalizing the new practice directives and will provide further
notification to Law Society members once that process is
complete. Any questions about mandatory e-filing and/or the
practice directives should be addressed to the Court's Registrar at
mbaldwin@sasklawcourts.ca.
(Added April 11, 2012)
March 13, 2012
The Law Society of Saskatchewan has released further detail in
relation to the Evatt Francis Anthony (Tony) Merchant Q.C.
discipline matter.
A case summary is now available to supplement the publication note previously
released.
March 7, 2012
Law Society of Saskatchewan has received a notice
of undertaking not to practice law from Kristian
Albert Eggum, Q.C.
ISC has announced that as of March 5, they will no longer allow
a mineral title to be split beyond a 1/20th tenant in common share
of the title.
March 1, 2012
Law societies across Canada are adopting a national set of
ethical rules for lawyers, with minor provincial variations.
The Benchers of the Law Society of Saskatchewan, along with the Law
Society staff, have been working with the "Model Code" drafted by
the Federation of Law Societies of Canada since 2004, and have
undertaken a line-by-line comparison of the Model Code to
Saskatchewan's current Code of Professional Conduct. The
Benchers approved the "Model Code" as the new Code of Professional
Conduct on February 10, 2012, which will come into effect on
July 1, 2012, replacing the current Code that has
guided lawyers in the province since 1991.
While the Code has a new format, there are only a few
substantive changes to the rules of ethics. The amendments
focus largely on better overall organization of the rules, with
improved "best practice guidance" in the commentaries to the
rules. Each province retains the legislative responsibility
for its own code of conduct. The Saskatchewan Code has
retained certain 'colloquial' ethical quirks, and has done away
with others in the spirit of adopting a national Code.
Since the Code is fundamental to our members' conduct and the
Law Society's function as regulator, it is essential that all
lawyers become familiar with the new Code and the changes that have
been approved. Training related to the new Code will be
mandatory and will be provided to our members at no cost. The
training will be offered in several different centres across the
province and must be completed by all members by December 31,
2012. Members will be entitled to report this free training
as CPD hours, which will also qualify as ethics hours.
Tables of concordance, which can be cross-referenced to locate
the equivalent of any section from one version of the Code to the
other, have been provided, along with the full version of the new
Code. Please review these documents at your convenience in
anticipation of the July 1, 2012 effective date. More details
regarding the mandatory training will be provided as it becomes
available.
Table of Concordance, from 2012 Code
to 1991 Code
Table of Concordance, from 1991 Code
to 2012 Code
February 21, 2012
According to Equifax Canada's
recent report on fraud incidents in Canada, mortgage
application fraud accounted for more than $400 million
dollars in 2011. "
Mortgage Fraud on the Rise", an article by Nicolas Van
Praet, discusses reasons why this type of fraud is growing in
today's real estate market. (Financial Post,
February 21, 2012, online)
The Law Society of Saskatchewan Hearing Committee issued
a ruling in the discipline matter of Member A.
A Hearing Committee of the
Law Society of Saskatchewan has reached
a decision in the discipline matter of Evatt Francis Anthony
(Tony) Merchant Q.C. It has been determined that Mr. Merchant
is guilty of conduct unbecoming a lawyer in that he did:
- Breach an Order of the Court of Queen's Bench that required his
firm to pay certain settlement proceeds due to his client, "Client
X", into court pending determination of a related family property
issue; and
- Counsel and/or assist his client, "Client X", to act in
defiance of an Order of the Court of Queen's Bench.
The Law Society of Saskatchewan has the responsibility for
investigating complaints of lawyer conduct. These
investigations often require clients to provide confidential
information about communications with their lawyer.
Communications between a lawyer and client must be in the utmost
confidence and such communications are protected by
solicitor-client privilege. The Supreme Court of Canada has
commented that solicitor-client privilege is a right that must be
as close to absolute as possible. The governing legislation
for the Law Society of Saskatchewan (The Legal Profession Act)
provides a limited exception to solicitor-client privilege for the
purposes of investigating and disciplining lawyers. The Legal
Profession Act also provides protection for clients to ensure that
communications with lawyers that are subject to solicitor-client
privilege remain confidential to the greatest extent
possible. The entitlement to solicitor-client privilege
belongs to the client rather than the lawyer and the maintenance of
privilege is done solely in the interests of protecting the
client's rights.
In the current matter, much of the evidence called at the
hearing was subject to solicitor-client privilege. As such
the hearing in this matter was closed to the public at the request
of the client. In order to maintain the solicitor-client
privilege that exists in relation to the evidence called at the
hearing, the client has requested that the full decision in this
matter not be published in its original form. The Law Society
of Saskatchewan, in keeping with the requirements of The Legal
Profession Act, is, at this time, refraining from publishing the
findings of the Hearing Committee to prevent, to the greatest
extent possible, any disclosure of information that is subject to
solicitor-client privilege.
February 17, 2012
The Standing Committee on Public Accounts is seeking a member of
the Law Society, with a preferred area of practice involving
financial dealings, to serve as a member of the Audit
Committee. For more information on the Committee, please see
the attached
correspondence dated January 17, 2012. Anyone wanting to
be considered for nomination can submit a resume and letter of
interest to the attention of Thomas Schonhoffer, Q.C. at the Law
Society, care of his assistant Liz, at llynchuk@lawsociety.sk.ca.
Deadline for applications is March 1, 2012.
February 15, 2012
The following Bills will be before the Legislature in early
March:
-
The Enforcement of Canadian Judgments Amendment Act, 2011, Bill No.
31
-
The Enforcement of Maintenance Orders Amendment Act, 2011, Bill No.
29
-
The Inter-jurisdictional Support Orders Amendments Act, 2011, Bill
No. 32
-
The Commissioners for Oaths Act, 2011, Bill No. 21
Members who wish to comment on any or all of the Bills may
direct their comments to either the Office of the Official
Opposition, at caucus@ndpcaucus.sk.ca or
to the Office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General at minister.jus@gov.sk.ca, or
both. The subject line should state "Comment on Legislation"
and comments should be delivered by March 1, 2012.
February 7, 2012
The Law Society of Saskatchewan Hearing Committee issued a
notice of suspension in the discipline matter of
Sterling Gilbert McLean. The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal
released its decision, Law Society of Saskatchewan v. McLean, 2012
SKCA 7.
Policy Options magazine, published by the Institute for
Research on Public Policy (IRPP), is asking for submissions to the
annual Constitutional Affairs Essay
Competition (Concours de dissertations sur les
questions constitutionnelles). The competition's organizers aim
to promote debate on constitutional affairs in Canada by publishing
the best student essays on the topic and compensating their
authors. Deadline for submissions is May 31, 2012.
February 6, 2012
The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench has released its
decision on Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v. Saskatchewan, 2012 SKQB 62.
February 1, 2012
Canadian Bankers Association has issued an updated list of bank
officials to contact in the case of delays in the discharge of
mortgages. This list, in English and French, contains two changes (Manulife Bank
and Laurentian Bank) and replaces all earlier versions.
January 26, 2012
The Law Society of Saskatchewan Hearing Committee issued
notice of hearing in the discipline matter of Russell Milton
Peet.
The Court of Appeal will be implementing
mandatory electronic filing of documents relating to appeals
through eCourt effective April 2, 2012.
January 20, 2012
CBA Saskatchewan Branch is offering the "
Retaining Women in Law: A Sound Business Strategy"
seminar in Saskatoon on March 5, 2012 and in Regina on March 6,
2012. This seminar will appeal not only to women who want to
be successful in the legal profession, but also to male partners
and firm leaders who want to understand what firms can do to make
the practice of law more attractive to women on a long term
basis.
January 17, 2012
The Rules of the Court of Queen's Bench for Saskatchewan
were amended, effective the January 13, 2012. Rule 745 and
Schedule I "C" (Tariff of Costs in Probate and Administration of
Estate Matters) were repealed and replaced.
The Saskatchewan government is
seeking feedback on 57 recommendations for changes to the
workers' compensation system in Saskatchewan detailed in the
Workers' Compensation Act Committee of Review report.
January 12, 2012
The Court of Queen's Bench has approved the Protocol for the
Management of Multi-Jurisdictional Actions.
January 10, 2012
The Law Reform Commission of Saskatchewan has issued a
consultation paper on the topic of "
Access to Justice: Needy Person Certificates and Waiver of
Fees." The Commission is seeking input in the form of comments
and suggestions from people with experience and knowledge in the
field, as well as members of the public. This consultation paper
describes Needy Person Certificates and other fee waiver policies
in Saskatchewan courts and tribunals. Problems in the present
system are identified and discussed. The Law Reform Commission
hopes that discussion of the questions raised about fee waivers in
this paper will provide the foundation for reforms that will
contribute to wider access to justice for the less advantaged
members of our community. Responses may be sent to the Commission before April 20,
2012.
January 9, 2012
The E.M. Culliton Scholarship Endowment is now accepting
applications for 2012. Up to two scholarships may be
awarded in any one year. The deadline date for receipt of
applications is May 4th, 2012.
January 5, 2012
The Law Society of Saskatchewan Discipline Committee
issued its decisions in the discipline matters of Anne
Elizabeth Hardy, William T. Johnston and Steven J. Wilson.
ISC Taking Steps to Limit Mineral Ownership Shares - In 2012,
Information Services Corporation (ISC) will be taking steps to
limit fractional ownership shares of mineral titles. No
longer will a mineral title be split beyond a 1/20th tenant in
common share of the title.
To do this, ISC will be implementing system, process and policy
changes. ISC has been actively working with stakeholders in
the resource sector, the legal community and our partners in
government to limit fractional ownership of minerals in
Saskatchewan to help ensure that our province remains as
competitive as possible with neighbouring jurisdictions. We
expect that certain regulatory amendments that will effectively
restrict mineral ownership shares will come into effect in early
2012.
January 3, 2012
The Law Society of Saskatchewan, at its December Convocation,
elected Gregory Walen, Q.C. as President and Heather Laing as
Vice-President for the upcoming 2012 year.
Gregory Walen, Q.C. is a partner with Scharfstein Gibbings Walen
Fisher LLP in Saskatoon, practicing exclusively in the area of
family law. He is a lecturer in family law at the College of
Law, University of Saskatchewan. Mr. Walen is the Chair of
the Victims of Crimes Compensation Appeal Committee for the
Province of Saskatchewan and has been a Bencher of the Law Society
of Saskatchewan since 2005.
Heather Laing is a partner with the law firm McDougall Gauley
LLP, in its Saskatoon office. Ms. Laing practices primarily
in the area of insurance law and civil litigation. She was
elected a Bencher of the Law Society of Saskatchewan in 2010 and is
currently the Chair of the Professional Standards Committee for the
Law Society.
