CBABC Appointments
The following people were recently appointed to serve as CBABC representatives for three-year terms:

• Timothy Schober was re-appointed to the Continuing Legal Education Society of B.C. Board of Directors.
• Alex Sweezey was appointed to the B.C. Courthouse Library Society Board of Directors.
• John Waddell, QC was appointed to the Law Foundation of B.C. Board of Governors.

CBABC Women Lawyers Forum Mentoring Project
The Women Lawyers Forum Mentoring Committee has nearly completed the first year of its successful Mentoring Project and is now accepting applications from both mentors and mentees for the upcoming year. The Mentoring Project facilitates mentoring relationships for women in the legal profession. They are looking for:

• experienced women lawyers who would like to mentor;
• women lawyers at any level who would like to be mentored; and
• women lawyers who would like to participate in peer mentoring.

If you are interested, please complete the enrolment form, which can be downloaded from www.cba.org/bc (it’s located in the “Professional Development” area).


Civil Justice Reform Working Group
Submitted by Chief Justice Donald Brenner and Allan Seckel, QC, Co-Chairs of the Civil Justice Reform Working Group

The objective of the B.C. Supreme Court Rules “is to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every proceeding on its merits.” The pursuit of civil claims, however, has become so costly, time-consuming and complex that most citizens cannot contemplate litigation in our Supreme Court. These problems of cost, delay and complexity have become endemic in civil justice systems around the world.

In order to find solutions to these issues, the Law Society of B.C., in March 2002, formed the Justice Review Task Force (JRTF). In addition to the working groups established to review issues concerning family law, street crime and large criminal cases, the JRTF recently formed the Civil Justice Reform Working Group (“Working Group”). The Working Group will need to reconcile two fundamental but competing interests: comprehensive due process and affordable dispute resolution. Access to the court and the trial system is fundamental to our society. Our courts promote social order and public confidence by deciding the tough cases, establishing legal precedent, and protecting the vulnerable. The reality, however, is that very few cases go to trial; the system is overwhelmingly a dispute resolution system, not a litigation system. The Working Group will therefore review the B.C. justice system, research reforms in other jurisdictions and consider how our system can perform better:

• resolve the bulk of disputes fairly, quickly and efficiently;
• for those cases that need to go to trial, reduce cost, increase efficiency and maintain fairness;
• ensure that procedures and cost are proportional to the matters in issue; and
• maintain public confidence.

This important work will be done in consultation with key stakeholders including the B.C. legal profession. Your input is essential to ensure the proposed changes are workable. The Working Group will submit its report and recommendations to the JRTF by December 2005.

Working Group Members

• Chief Justice Donald Brenner, Supreme Court of B.C. (Co-Chair)
• Allan Seckel, QC, Deputy Attorney General (Co-Chair)
• Madam Justice Laura Gerow, Supreme Court of B.C.
• Judge Dennis Schmidt, Provincial Court of B.C.
• Master William McCallum, Rules Revision Committee
• Richard Margetts, QC, representing the Law Society of B.C.
• Jim Vilvang QC, representing the CBABC
• Helen Pedneault, Assistant Deputy Minister, Court Services Branch
• George Macintosh, QC, Member at Large
• Barbara M. Young, Member at Large

Working Group Online
Interested parties may visit the Justice Review Task Force’s website (www.bcjusticereview.org) to view Working Group activities, Terms of Reference, media releases and discussion papers or to submit comments and suggestions.


Vancouver Lawyer Is A Curling Champ
Good luck to Vancouver lawyer Tom Lutes, as he competes in provincial curling “zone play downs” this month and next. In February 2004 Tom and his curling team qualified to compete at the Annual International Bonspiel in Nagano, Japan – and took home the gold! Tom is the only lawyer on his team and we think his curling rocks!


BC Courthouse Library Society Appoints New Executive Director
The Board of Directors of the B.C. Courthouse Library Society (BCCLS) has announced the appointment of Johanne A.C. Blenkin as Executive Director of the BCCLS, effective November 1, 2004.

Ms. Blenkin has practised law on Vancouver Island since 1994. From 1990 to 1994, she was Chief Librarian at Russell & DuMoulin where her responsibilities included management of the main library and three satellites. Ms. Blenkin was one of two CBABC representatives on the BCCLS Board of Directors from 2000.


UBC Mentorship Program Successful Again
CBA lawyers and UBC law students gathered in October at UBC’s Cecil Green for the annual UBC/CBA Mentorship Reception. The reception was the best-attended mentorship event in the program’s history.

The program, which offers UBC law students the opportunity to foster interaction with professionals in the legal community, matched 147 UBC law students with lawyers for the 2004-2005 academic year. Program organizers commend CBA members for their incredible commitment to the program. This year, there were more lawyers committed to volunteering than UBC law students available, and this situation enabled, for the first time, some UVic law students to be matched with Vancouver-based lawyers.

For more information about the current program or to volunteer for next year, please e-mail ubc_cba_mentorship_program@yahoo.ca.

These articles were published in the December 2004 issue of BarTalk. © 2004 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.