Richard Susskind Named Special Adviser to CBA
Author and legal futurist Richard Susskind is bringing his new and challenging ideas about the future of the legal profession in Canada to the CBA in the newly-created role of special adviser to the Association.

“We welcome Richard Susskind as a special adviser and look forward to his unique contribution. His insight is particularly useful as law firms face the challenge of delivering the best possible services to clients in a changing world,” says CBA President Guy Joubert of Winnipeg, in announcing the agreement.

Richard Susskind’s latest book The End of Lawyers?: Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services was released in Canada in February at a launch co-sponsored by the CBA and Oxford University Press. The book predicts significant new pressures on the legal marketplace and great change in the world of legal services. The author suggests that the legal profession will be driven by two forces in the coming decade: a market pull toward the commoditization of legal services, and the pervasive development and uptake of new legal technologies.

News release: www.cba.org/CBA/News/2009_Releases/2009-02-06.aspx

Excerpts from the first chapter: www.cba.org/CBA/Events/pdf/susskind_endoflawyers_chapter1.pdf

To order the book email: customer.service.ca@oup.com


Conflicts of Interest – Toolkit
Successfully managing conflicting interests and ensuring that a client’s confidential information is protected need to be a part of every lawyer’s practice, and the CBA Conflicts of Interest Toolkit was designed to help you achieve this objective. It complements and supplements the task force’s final report and recommendations that were adopted in 2008, and the amendments to the CBA Code of Professional Conduct that were adopted at the 2009 Mid-Winter Meeting of Council.

CBA Conflicts of Interest Toolkit: www.cba.org/CBA/groups/conflicts


Mid-Winter Meeting 2009 Highlights
Lake Louise and the spectacular Victoria Glacier served as the backdrop for this year’s Mid-Winter Meeting of Council. The event attracted more than 200 people to Chateau Lake Louise from across the country where delegates dealt with a full program of debates and resolutions.

The roll-out of the CBA’s new brand was the culmination of a process of formal market research and broad consultations with members that began in 2007.

In his mid-year report, President Guy Joubert spoke of the four most critical developments: the retention of author Richard Susskind as special advisor to the CBA; increased efforts to continue universality among law firm members; the report of the Working Group on Barriers to Leadership within the CBA; and the launch of the CBA’s rebranding campaign.

In a resolution carried by an overwhelming majority of delegates, the CBA is now urging the Canadian and U.S. governments to negotiate the terms of Omar Khadr’s repatriation to Canada in recognition of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, due process and the rule of law. The CBA is also urging the U.S. government to transfer all evidence respecting Mr. Khadr’s conduct to the Canadian government.

Other resolutions addressed changes to the conflict of interest provisions of the Code of Professional Conduct, and the call for CBA to become a signatory to the Nairobi Declaration on Women and Girls’ Right to Remedy and Reparation.

Delegates also had a chance to hear from the two national Second Vice-Presidential candidates, Trinda L. Ernst, QC and Robert G. Patzelt, QC, both hailing from Nova Scotia. An online vote, was open to members of Council, and closed March 25. The results will be announced on CBA.org.

These articles were published in the April 2009 issue of BarTalk. © 2009 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.