It’s my pleasure, as the Society’s President, to introduce this plan on behalf of the Society and your 2019-2020 Council.
Introducing the 2019-2022 Strategic Plan
In August, Council approved the Society’s three-year 2019-2022 Strategic Plan after many months of consultation, discussion and collaboration. It’s my pleasure, as the Society’s President, to introduce this plan on behalf of the Society and your 2019-2020 Council.
Consultation & Collaboration: How we got here
To draft our new strategic plan, we first established a strategic plan steering committee to guide the strategic planning process.
This committee set out to consult and collaborate with the Society’s members, community groups and other stakeholder organizations.
The committee started by hosting three focus groups with representatives from community and stakeholder organizations, law firm managing partners, past Society presidents, county bars, small firms and sole practitioners. Key themes emerged from these focus groups. We used these key themes to guide our consultation with members.
We sought feedback from members in a short survey and asked respondents to prioritize and comment on the themes. This was the Society’s first time consulting directly with members on the strategic plan and over 300 members responded.
All of this feedback laid the foundation for Council’s discussions over two days of facilitated strategic planning. From these sessions, we identified key goals and objectives related to the identified themes.
The 2019-2022 Strategic Plan
With the help of Society staff and the Steering Committee, Council then finalized and approved the Society’s 2019-2022 Strategic Plan.
The 2019-2022 Strategic Plan outlines three goals and each goal has measurable objectives. Our strategic goals are as follows:
- The Society regulates the legal profession in the public interest in a proactive, principled and proportionate manner
- More Nova Scotians will have access to ethical and competent legal services.
- Nova Scotians will be served by a legal profession that is diverse, inclusive and culturally competent
Review the full 2019-2022 Strategic Plan with goals & objectives
Council’s key activities this year include:
- approving changes to the bar admission program;
- re-establishing the Society’s solo and rural practice committee;
- collaborating with our TRC Working Group to deliver educational programming related to the Mi’kmaq, their inherent Aboriginal and Treaty rights, our shared history and other related issues;
- providing guidance and tools to lawyers and law firms related to succession planning and applying an equity lens.
Communication, Engagement & Moving Forward
It is critical that we continue to increase member and community engagement. Council is developing an engagement strategy that will roll out in 2020. A key component of this strategy is the major changes to the nsbs.org website to improve public and lawyer user experience and access to Society resources.
Engagement is a two-way relationship. I hope you will continue to stay connected as we move forward with this new strategic plan.
Stay connected with the Society by:
- Visiting the Society’s new website (coming late fall 2019) at nsbs.org
- Reading InForum – Council will also highlight its work in monthly blogs featured in InForum and on the Society’s new website
- Attending Society events
- Following our updates on Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn
We continue to hold Council meetings to listen and engage with communities including our upcoming Council in the Community meeting on November 22 with reachAbility.
I hope to connect with many of you directly over the next year and I invite you to contact me any time at [email protected].
We appreciate everyone who participated in the strategic plan consultation process. The feedback we received was key to developing this plan. I hope that members and stakeholders will see their needs and interests reflected in the goals and objectives.
Please continue to provide us with your thoughts and feedback, including on these goals and objectives. We welcome your comments and questions at [email protected].
Carrie Ricker
NSBS Council President
