Code of Professional Conduct Chapter 15

The lawyer should assist in maintaining the integrity of the profession and should participate in its activities.¹

1. Unless the lawyer who tends to depart from proper professional conduct is checked at an early stage, loss or damage to clients or others may ensue. Evidence of minor breaches may, on investigation, disclose a more serious situation or may indicate the beginning of a course of conduct that would lead to serious breaches in the future. It is, therefore, proper (unless it be privileged or otherwise unlawful) for a lawyer to report to The Law Society of Saskatchewan any occurrences involving a breach of this Code. Where, however, there is a reasonable likelihood that someone will suffer serious damage as a consequence of an apparent breach, for example where a shortage of trust funds is involved, the lawyer has an obligation to the profession to report the matter unless it is privileged or otherwise unlawful to do so. In all cases, the report must be made bona fide without malice or ulterior motive.² Further, the lawyer must not act on a client's instructions to recover from another lawyer funds allegedly misappropriated by that other lawyer unless the client authorizes disclosure to The Law Society of Saskatchewan and the lawyer makes such disclosure. The lawyer has an obligation to advise the client in writing that failure to report the facts to The Law Society of Saskatchewan may negatively affect the amount recoverable by the client pursuant to a claim which the client may have against the Indemnity Fund. The lawyer has an obligation to inform the client of the provision of The Criminal Code of Canada dealing with the concealment of an indictable offence in return for an agreement to obtain valuable consideration.

2. The lawyer has a duty to reply promptly to any communication from The Law Society of Saskatchewan.³

3. The lawyer should not in the course of a professional practice write letters, whether to a client, another lawyer or any other person, that are abusive, offensive or otherwise inconsistent with the proper tone of a professional communication from a lawyer.⁴

4. A lawyer in his or her professional capacity shall not discriminate on the grounds of race, creed, colour, national origin, disability, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital or family status in the employment of lawyers, articled students or support staff or in any relations between the lawyer and members of the profession or any other person.⁵

Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination and may broadly be defined as "unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that detrimentally affects the work environment or leads to adverse job related consequences for the victims of the harassment".⁶ The lack of an intent to produce feelings of harassment in the complainant is irrelevant.

5. In order that the profession may discharge its public responsibility of providing independent and competent legal services, lawyers should do their part to assist the profession to function properly and effectively. In this regard, participation in such activities as law reform, continuing legal education, tutorials, legal aid programs, community legal services, professional conduct and discipline, liaison with other professions and other activities of the governing body or local, provincial or national associations, although often time-consuming and without tangible reward, is essential to the maintenance of a strong, independent and useful profession.⁷

6. Often instances of improper conduct arise from emotional, mental or family disturbances or substance abuse. Lawyers who suffer from such problems should be encouraged to seek assistance as early as possible. The Law Society of Saskatchewan supports Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers in its commitment to the provision of counselling on a confidential basis. Therefore, subject to the qualification below, it is not required that lawyers acting in the capacity of counsellors for Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers disclose information received in that capacity to the Discipline Committee of the Law Society, its agents, investigators or employees. Such lawyer/counsellor will not be called by the Law Society or by any investigation committee to testify at any discipline or competency hearing without the consent of the lawyer from whom the information was received.

Notwithstanding the above, a lawyer/counsellor has an ethical obligation to report to the Law Society representations from a lawyer that indicate he/she may engage in future conduct which is unethical or criminal. Such conduct includes, without limitation, perjury, theft and fraud. The Law Society cannot countenance the continuation of such conduct regardless of a lawyer's attempts at rehabilitation".

NOTES

Cf. CBA-COD 14; CBA 5(1); ABA-MR 8; ABA Canon 1.
"The legal profession...has emerged over the centuries in order to fill a pressing public need for protection...under the law of the rights and liberties of the individual, however humble, if necessary against the state itself.", IBA introductory.

"Public confidence in the profession would be shaken if such conduct were tolerated...no solicitor could escape [striking off] simply by showing that there had been no dishonesty and no concealment, and that no client had suffered...", per Parker, L.C.J. in re a Solicitor (1959), 193 Sol. Jour. 875 (Q.B.D.). (Return to Rule)
Cf. CBA 5(1); Ont. 13; B.C. F-3; ABA DR 1-103, EC 1-4. Alta. 22: "It is conduct unbecoming...not to [report instances] when they clearly involve a shortage of trust funds or a breach of an undertaking." (Return to Commentary 1)
Cf. Ont. 13(3); Alta. 18; N.B. D-1; Sask. 12. "The reprehensible thing about the solicitor's conduct is his indefensible ignoring of the communications of the Law Society...", per Walsh, J. in In re X., a Solicitor (1920), 16 Alta. L.R. 542 at 543. (Return to Commentary 2)
Cf. IBA D-6. (Return to Commentary 3)
This commentary does not preclude any program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups. (Return to Commentary 4)
[Footnote 5 added Dec. 9, 1993]
Per the Supreme Court of Canada in Janzen v. Platty Enterprises Ltd., [1989] 1 SCR 1252 at page 1284. The Chief Justice also said:
"Common to all of these descriptions of sexual harassment is the concept of using a position of power to import sexual requirements into the workplace thereby negatively altering the working conditions of employees who are forced to contend with sexual demands. (at p.1281)

Sexual harassment is not limited to demands for sexual favours made under threats of adverse job consequences should the employee refuse to comply with the demands...Sexual harassment also encompasses situations in which sexual demands are foisted upon unwilling employees or in which employees must endure sexual groping, propositions, and inappropriate comments, but where no tangible economic rewards are attached to involvement in the behaviour". (at p.1282)

See also: Herman v. Rodin [1989] 2 W.W.R. 769, 56 D.L.R. (4th) 109 (Sask. Q.B.).

"The proposition that sexual harassment is the product of individual attraction and it is not based on gender ignores the factual realities. A woman is sexually harassed not because of who she is, but because she has a woman's body and therefore is identified and treated differently because of her gender." Per McLellan J. at page 712. (Return to Commentary 4)

[Footnote 6 added Dec. 9, 1993]
Cf. ABA ECs 1-4, 2-25, 6-2, 8-1, 8-2, 8-3, 8-9, 9-6. (Return to Commentary 5)