Lawyer

:For information on the type of fish called Lawyer, see the article on Burbot.

Licensing and Discipline

Bar Associations

All jurisdictions have a bar association (or equivalent), being an organization of which members of the bar in that jurisdiction may (or must) be members.

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Traditionally, the bar association issues a magazine or journal, forms committees to deal with issues relating to the bar such as fee disputes, rules, and the like, and promotes the greater good of the profession.

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Many jurisdictions, particularly in the West, have so-called an integrated bar, meaning that the state's bar association is the body which licenses, regulates, and disciplines lawyers, and membership therein is mandatory.

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In other jurisdictions, membership in the state bar association is voluntary, and the bar association has no official power, except those which may be conferred upon it by the state's highest court.

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In some jurisdictions, there also exist county or local bar associations, which normally deal with the same issues, except on a more localized basis. There are also bar associations organized by and for members of a particular ethnic group (often based on gender, race, religion, or national heritage) or whose members share common legal interests or practices (such as bankruptcy lawyers or in-house counsel).

Related Topics:
County - Ethnic group - Gender - Race - Religion - National - Bankruptcy

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Canada

Canada in common with the United Kingdom is a country where the licensing and disciplining of lawyers is not done by the courts but by non-judicial licensing and regulatory bodies, called Law Societies (or Barristers' Society in the province of Nova Scotia), which are composed of lawyers and law professors instead of judges.

Related Topics:
Canada - United Kingdom - Law Societies - Nova Scotia

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A person must be admitted as a member of the Law Society of his/her province or territory in order to practice law. Each Law Society, as created and incorporated by provincial or territorial legislation, is headed by a President (or Treasurer in the province of Ontario) and a group of individuals called Benchers.

Related Topics:
Law Society - Ontario

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The President is elected by the Benchers from among their own while most (but not all) Benchers are elected from among the membership by lawyers, law professors and other members of the Law Society through local district elections. The few Benchers who are not elected are appointed by the provincial or territorial government's attorney-general and are drawn from members of the general public so they could provide a "non-lawyer" perspective and represent symbolically the general public interest. It is the Benchers who conduct disciplinary hearings and mete out punishment. Despite the fact that such a system of "self-regulation" has its critics, there is nothing suggesting that it has failed to hold unethical or incompetent lawyers accountable and to maintain public confidence in the legal profession.

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The Law Societies also administer the bar examinations written by law school graduates, keep track of which law school graduate is articling (i.e. apprenticing) with which experienced lawyer (called a principal), and provide educational seminars and materials (under the label "Continuing Education") to practicing lawyers.

Related Topics:
Law Societies - Bar examination - Law school - Graduate

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In addition to the Law Societies there is the Canadian Bar Association which is a voluntary association and lobbying organization that seeks to further the interests of legal justice, civil liberty and the legal profession itself. Membership in the Association is not mandatory for lawyers, and the Association offers educational seminars and materials to practicing lawyers.

Related Topics:
Law Societies - Canadian Bar Association - Voluntary association

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