The CBA, BC Branch membership shuffle
I just read in BarTalk that (1) the Law Society has indicated it will recognize participating in CBA, B.C. Branch Sections (receiving and reading the material non-specifically) toward lawyer continuing legal education and (2) the CBA, B.C. Branch will not allow non-members to participate in the Sections after January 2005.

Nice squeeze play!

Did some serious dialogue occur that was aimed at overcoming the vote for voluntary CBA membership? I thought Section membership was pay as you go, not a funded “perk” paid for by the CBA? Is the CBA prepared to deprive the 75 per cent B.C. lawyers who either didn’t vote in the referendum or who voted against compulsory membership, of the collegiality and information provided by Section membership?

Parochial indeed. Perhaps the concepts need a little work.

James Garrett-Rempel

[Editorial Board Note: The referendum gave us all a choice, not a fee reduction. Continuing legal education is not a choice, only the manner in which we choose to pursue it. When you consider the cost of CBA membership against even one CLE or TLA course per year, CBA and Section enrolments are a bargain. For more, see page 5. David Dundee, BarTalk Editorial Board Chair]

Happy Whatever (Vol. 16, No.6)
Tony, thank you for saying publicly what so many of us would like to say but don’t have the intestinal fortitude to do so – and for getting the message across so effectively with humour and absurd but true examples!

Merry Christmas!

Gordon Mamen Chelsea, QC (formerly of Cranbrook, B.C.)

From the President (Vol. 16, No. 6)
Regarding “From the President” in the December 2004 BarTalk...all vignettes are, by definition, small!

Richard P. Harnetty

Send your "Letters to the Editor" to bartalk@bccba.org.

These letters were published in the February 2005 issue of BarTalk.