February InForum: Elections & Acclamations, King’s Counsel Appointees, and more
- Society News
- Your Practice
- Lawyers’ Insurance Association of Nova Scotia
- News From the NS Courts
- Professional Responsibility
- Changes in Category
- For Your Information
- Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia: Join LISNS’ Lawyer Referral Service
- FACL: A Conversation with Asian-Canadian Legal Trailblazers
- CanLII: No User Left Behind – We Need Your Help
- Call for Research Participants Mediation Empirical Study at Schulich School of Law
- CBA-NS Bench & Bar Reception and Dinner
- Provincial Court of Nova Scotia Notice to the Profession: January 2023 to June 2023 Intake Date
- Call for Participants—Osgoode Hall Law School: Invitation to take user experience survey for Canadian lawyers
- Free Presentations on Impact of Family Law Amendments in Nova Scotia funded by Justice Canada
- Missing Wills
- Career Opportunities
- Upcoming Events
Society News
2023 Council: District Elections and Acclamations
Halifax District Election
A Council Election will be held in Halifax District from March 6 to March 20, 2023. Five practising lawyers will be vying for the four Halifax District seats on Council.
The Halifax District candidates are:
- Desireé Jones-Matthias — African Nova Scotian Justice Institute
- Robert Kennedy — Public Prosecution Service
- D. Fraser MacFadyen — Stewart McKelvey
- Jane O’Neill KC — McInnes Cooper
- Terry Sheppard KC — BOYNECLARKE LLP
Cape Breton District Election
A Council Election will be held in Halifax District from March 6 to March 20, 2023. Three practising lawyers will be vying for the two Cape Breton District seats on Council.
The Cape Breton District candidates are:
- Jennifer C. MacDonald — Portside Law LLP
- Shannon Mason — Nova Scotia Legal Aid
- Andrea Rizzato — Sheldon Nathanson Barristers and Solicitors Inc.
Voting is conducted online and starts on Monday, March 6th at 8:30 AM and closes Monday, March 20th at 4:30 PM. Details about the electronic voting procedure, candidate biographies, and election platforms will soon be posted to the website.
Acclamations in Central District and Southwestern District
The following nominees are acclaimed as Council members for the 2023-2025 term:
Central District
- J. Patrick Young – Public Prosecution Service
- Jamie MacGillivray — MacGillivray Law Office
Southwestern District
- Jamie Vacon — Nova Scotia Legal Aid
There is a vacancy in the Southwestern District. This vacancy will be filled by a process to be determined by Council, once the At-Large elections are complete.
Questions about the Election? Please contact the Society’s Communications Advisor, John MacGillis via email at [email protected]. Your message will be returned within two business days.
Congratulations to the 14 King’s Counsel Appointees
Justice Minister and Attorney General Brad Johns announced the appointment of 14 lawyers in Nova Scotia to the King’s Counsel. The criteria to receive this designation includes having been a member of the Nova Scotia bar for a minimum of 15 years and demonstrating professional integrity and good character. An independent advisory committee makes recommendations to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General to determine who will receive the appointment each year.
Congratulations to the following 14 lawyers who received the King’s Counsel designation:
The appointees are:
- Karen Kinley, Halifax
- Patrick C. Lamey, Port Hawkesbury
- Stephen McGrath, Halifax
- J. Philip Leefe, Bridgewater
- Deanne MacLeod, Halifax
- Janice Maloney, Millbrook
- Eric Ralph (Rick) Woodburn, Halifax
- Robert J. Currie, Halifax
- Wilfred Dean Smith, Halifax
- Sarah Campbell, Halifax
- Helen Jane Anderson, Halifax
- Jason Cooke, Halifax
- Timothy A. McLaughlin, Halifax
- Angela Anne Walker, Halifax
A formal ceremony to honour the King’s Counsel appointees will be held this spring, according to the Province of Nova Scotia.
“On behalf of the Society, I extend congratulations to the newly appointed King’s Counsels. The integrity and character you have demonstrated in your career and your contributions to the legal profession have made you all very well deserving of this recognition. Thank you for your continued service to our profession.”
— Cheryl Hodder KC, ICD.D, Chief Executive Officer
NSBS Announces New Director and Advisor of Equity and Access Office
We are pleased to announce that the Society will welcome a new Director and Advisor to our Equity and Access Office in the coming weeks. The selection of the incoming Director and Advisor is the product of a months-long and nationwide recruitment process. I want to thank the Society’s Equity Committees for their invaluable contributions during the recruitment and interviewing process.
Below is a brief background about our incoming Equity and Access Director and Advisor:
Marla Brown will be joining us as our Director of Equity and Access. Marla previously worked for McMaster University as a Senior Human Rights Officer. Before that, Marla worked as a Staff Lawyer at two organizations focusing on advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in different communities. Marla received a J.D. from the Schulich School of Law in 2011 and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from York University.
Vanessa Fells will join the Society as our Advisor of Equity and Access. Vanessa previously worked for the African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition as their Director of Operations. Before that, Vanessa worked in several other roles for organizations serving equity-deserving communities. Vanessa holds two bachelor’s degrees, one in Sociology and Legal Studies, the other in Criminology, and a Master of Education in Leadership, Lifelong Learning and Policy Development. Vanessa also completed the United Nations Human Rights Fellowship Program for People of African Descent in Geneva, Switzerland.
Marla and Vanessa will begin working with the Society over the next few weeks. I, along with the rest of the Society, look forward to having them join our team as we strive to champion equity, diversity, and inclusion in our province’s legal profession.
— Cheryl Hodder KC, ICD.D, Chief Executive Officer
Contribute to your profession on a Society Committee: 2023-2024 Committee Expressions of Interest
The Society is seeking new members for a variety of committees. At present we have vacancies on the following committees:
- Family Standards
- Distinguished Service Award
- Complaints Investigation Committee
- Hearing Committee
- Complaints Review Committee
- Fitness to Practice Committee
- Lawyers Fund for Client Compensation
- Code of Professional Conduct Committee
- Professional Responsibility Policies and Procedures Committee
Below is a description of the work of the various committees of the Society for your reference.
If you are interested in joining a committee please send along the following things to Jane Willwerth at [email protected]. We will review your materials and refer your application to the Nominating Committee for review and recommendation to Council.
- A brief expression of interest (max. 1 page) – please describe why you’re interested in a particular committee and the skills, attributes and experience you could bring to that committee’s work.
- A brief resume (1-2 pages)
- A completed Skills Matrix
We value diversity on committees and welcome applications from all employment equity groups. We also have the technology required for volunteers to attend meetings online via video conferencing.
Questions or assistance? Please contact Jackie Mullenger at [email protected].
January Council Meeting Documents
The Society’s Council met Friday January 27, 2023, at 9:00 a.m.
The January Council Documents will be posted here once they are available.
Your Practice
Amendments to the Code of Professional Conduct in effect
On January 27th, 2023 the Society’s Council approved amendments to the Code of Professional Conduct. The amendments relate to discrimination, harassment, and ex parte communication.
The amendments to our Code of Professional Conduct reflect amendments made by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to the Model Code of Conduct, which seeks to harmonize, as much as possible, the ethical and professional conduct standards for the legal profession in Canada.
The Society’s Code of Professional Conduct Committee (CPCC) provided feedback from our members to the Federation of Law Societies during consultations in 2020 and 2021. At the recommendation of the CPCC, Council approved these amendments during their January meeting, together with adjustments to terminology informed by the recommendations of the Gender Equity Committee.
Members are advised to familiarize themselves with these amendments. Resource materials to assist the membership in understanding their obligations are being prepared. The Society will provide an update when they are available.
Deadline Reminder: Trust Account Report and Accountant’s Report on Trust Account
Members are reminded that the Trust Account Report (Regulation 4.11.2) and Accountant’s Report on the Trust Account (Regulation 4.11.4) are both due March 31, 2023. The Society also advises members to review the changes that have been made to the Accountant’s Report.
We do not anticipate a material change in the amount of work involved in preparing the report, however we encourage all lawyers operating a trust account to contact their accountant to discuss any implications this change may have on the engagement.
If you have any questions regarding these changes, please contact [email protected].
New Wills, Powers of Attorney, and Personal Directives Professional Standard Now In Effect
At their January meeting, Council approved a new professional standard brought forward by the Wills, Power of Attorney, and Personal Directives Professional Standards Committee. The Society asks members to review these standards. Below are the four most recent standards related to Wills, Power of Attorney, and Personal Directives. The footnotes and commentaries related to these standards are available in full here.
If you have any questions about how these standards impact your practice, please reach out to our Legal Services Support team at [email protected].
Planning for Assets in Multiple Jurisdictions
A lawyer must consider whether a client would benefit in having multiple wills or powers of attorney to deal with assets in other jurisdictions. The Nova Scotia will or power of attorney may or may not be effective outside the province.
If the lawyer does not practise law in the other jurisdiction, the lawyer should consult with or refer the client to another lawyer licensed to practise in the other jurisdiction, and collaborate with that other lawyer to accomplish the client’s objectives.
Capacity
A lawyer must assess the capacity of the client when the client gives instructions and when the client executes a Will, Power of Attorney or Personal Directive.
Executing Estate Planning Documents
Wills/Codicils
When attending to the execution of a will/codicil a lawyer must ensure:
- The client has capacity, is free of undue influence, and has reviewed, understood, and approved the document (see Capacity Standard);
- The will/codicil is signed by the client at the end of the document;
- The client (or another individual at the client’s direction and in the presence of the client) signs in the presence of two witnesses who are both present at the time of signing;
- The witnesses attest and subscribe the will/codicil also in the presence of the client;
- The witnesses are not a beneficiary named in the document or the spouse of a beneficiary named in the document.
In circumstances where the lawyer cannot be personally present at the time of execution of the document, the lawyer must provide the client with written instructions on how to properly execute the document and take steps to review the executed document to ensure compliance with the formal requirements.
Power of Attorney
When attending to the execution of a power of attorney a lawyer must ensure:
- The client is capable of understanding and appreciating the nature and effects of granting a power of attorney;
- The power of attorney is signed by the client and dated;
- The client (or another individual at the client’s direction and in the presence of the client) signs in the presence of two witnesses who are both present at the time of signing;
- The witnesses are of the age of majority and are not the attorney or the spouse, registered domestic partner, common-law partner or a child of the attorney.
Personal Directive
When attending to the execution of a personal directive a lawyer must ensure:
- The client has capacity to sign a personal directive;
- The personal directive is signed by the client and dated;
- The client (or another individual at the client’s direction and in the presence of the client) signs in the presence of at least one witness who is present at the time of signing;
- The witness is someone other than the named delegate, the spouse of the delegate, the person who signed on behalf of the client, or the spouse of the person who signed on behalf of the client.
Beneficiary Designations
When taking instructions for an estate plan and drafting estate planning documents, a lawyer must make inquiries of the client’s existing beneficiary designations including life insurance designations in the client’s estate plan and must confirm the client’s understanding of same before drafting the will.¹
When advising a client about their estate plan the lawyer must inquire whether it is the client’s intention to make a gift to the beneficiary when designating a beneficiary inside or outside the Will, and to document that intention.
When drafting a change or confirmation of beneficiary designation by Will, the lawyer must advise the client of the effect of revocation or confirmation of such current policy, plan or account using the Will as the revocation or confirmation document.
When taking instructions for an estate plan, the lawyer must advise of the effect of future changes to beneficiary designations the client may make outside the Will in such policy, plan or account after the Will is executed.
Lawyers’ Insurance Association of Nova Scotia
- FRAUD ALERT: Phony Email Requests from Boss/Colleague
- NSLAP WELLNESS: Thriving in Hybrid Work Environments
- LIANS Seeking Candidates for its Board of Directors
- Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association (CLIA) – Board of Directors Vacancy
News From the NS Courts
Professional Responsibility
Changes in Category
In every issue of our newsletter InForum, we provide updates on category changes. These are the Changes in Category from January 25, 2023 to February 23, 2023.
These members have changed to Practising status:
- Jacqueline Renee Ruck
- Kathleen Rebecca Short
- Angela Eva Hope Simmonds
- Bernard James Thibault
These members have changed to Non-Practising status:
- Adedoyin Anuoluwapo Adeniji
- Wayne Andre Bacchus
- Robert Leslie Barnes, KC
- Jennifer Johanne Brown
- Kathleen Anne Conrad
- Anjana Ravindran
These individuals have resigned:
- Chase William Arnesen
- Peter David Taaffe Osmond
These members were elevated to the Bench
- Jillian Cecilia Barrington
- Bronwyn Kate Duffy
- Jill Cynthia Hartlen
- Bryna Dawn Hatt
- Thomas P. S. Laughlin
For Your Information
Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia: Join LISNS’ Lawyer Referral Service
Thousands of Nova Scotians rely on the Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia’s Lawyer Referral Service to find the legal help they need. If you are a lawyer in private practice, you should join.
Among its many benefits, the Lawyer Referral Service is:
- a practice-building tool;
- an invaluable legal information resource;
- a great way to raise your professional profile;
- a rewarding way to give back to your community;
- free to join!
We need lawyers from all over the province to join the Lawyer Referral Service. To find out more or to sign up right now online go to legalinfo.org/lawyers/lawyer-referral-service
The Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia (or LISNS) is a public legal information and education charity. We’ve been providing Nova Scotians with easy to understand information and resources about the law since 1982.
FACL: A Conversation with Asian-Canadian Legal Trailblazers
The new year brings new opportunities to connect and develop relationships in the Asian Canadian legal community. Over the last year, the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers – Atlantic Canada Chapter (FACL Atlantic) has engaged a renewed group of volunteers and organized initiatives to reopen conversations with Asian Canadian legal professionals and students, including co-hosting events and a mentorship program with the Dalhousie Asian Law Students Association (DALSA) and conducting a survey and focus group meeting to provide input to the Independent External Review of Systemic Discrimination in the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society. We are pleased to continue and advance this engagement as we re-launch FACL Atlantic.
Organized in partnership with DALSA, the re-launch event will provide a terrific opportunity for our members, supporters, and partners to attend a panel discussion and have meaningful discussions with Asian Canadian lawyers, judiciary and students. Discussion topics will include equity, diversity, inclusion and access, trailblazers, legal career paths and advice, as well as mentorship.
We look forward to hearing from former Nova Scotia Court of Appeal Justice Linda Lee Oland at this event, who has kindly agreed to share her experiences as an Asian Canadian lawyer and member of the judiciary. She will be joined by panel members from private practice, in-house counsel and the public sector.
Date: Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Time:
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm Reception
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm Panel Discussion
Location:
Weldon Law Building
Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University
6061 University Ave, Halifax, NS
All are welcome, whether you self-identify as Asian Canadian or not.
Please RSVP by February 27, 2023 by email to [email protected]. Updates will be provided leading up to the event on our website and social media channels.
CanLII: No User Left Behind – We Need Your Help
CanLII is starting a major project aimed at making the site’s use by people with disabilities easier and more efficient. We believe that no user should be left behind.
Context
It has always been our goal to offer the fastest, most intuitive, and simplest access to legal information worldwide. This is a guiding objective of all our development and design efforts. A very important part of this work is the effort to make the site accessible to people with disabilities. Referred to as WCAG, this design requirement is materialized in a set of guidelines devised by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Compliance with said guidelines aims to make a website more adapted to people with disabilities, who often use specialized tools to consult web content. Over the past few years, we have conducted several pinpoint projects to improve our navigation and search pages in this regard. We are now turning our attention towards the entirety of CanLII’s content, and our objective is to achieve a significant accessibility overhaul over the next five years.
We are looking for volunteers
We are kicking off this initiative with a study of the real-world hurdles that people with disabilities experience when accessing CanLII. We are reaching out to users with vision-related or mobility-related disabilities who are willing to participate in the study to help us understand the main limitations currently posed by the CanLII site. If you are such a user, or if you know someone who is, your assistance will be greatly appreciated.
One hour of your time by videoconference
Participants will join us for a one-hour chat by videoconference. One-on-one, we will ask them to show us a few examples of their day-to-day use of CanLII, the specialized browsers or other tools they use, and to highlight the limitations they encounter when searching and accessing content on the site. In the second part of the interview, we may ask participants to perform certain tasks on CanLII. Our discoveries will inform our roadmap on the most important fixes that need to be made to the site.
If you want to be part of this very important initiative, please write to us at [email protected].
Call for Research Participants Mediation Empirical Study at Schulich School of Law
Dear Members,
We are writing to inform you of a study titled “Empirical Assessment of Nova Scotia Judicial Settlement Conferences” that will soon be conducted by Dr. Nayha Acharya at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, along with collaborator Dr. Crystal Dieleman, from the school of Occupational Therapy, Dalhousie University. The study is a pilot project that seeks to understand the experience of individuals who have recently (in the last five years) taken part in a judicial settlement conference in Nova Scotia pertaining to a personal injury matter. Participation of plaintiff and defense counsel is being sought, as well as participation of litigants themselves.
Participants will be asked to engage in an approximately one-hour long interview conducted via MS Teams. The interview will be guided by several open-ended questions about the JSC process. All steps will be taken to ensure the confidentiality of the interviews and the anonymity of the participants.
If you have taken part in a JSC in the last 5 years and would be willing to participate in the study, please contact Dominique Shephard, one of the Research Assistants assisting with the project, at [email protected] for further information. If you know a client (either plaintiff or defendant, represented by an employee of an insurance company) that may be willing to participate in the study, please forward them the below script on our behalf. Please note that the client’s litigation must be fully complete for them to participate. For non-institutional participants (i.e., those for whom participation in the litigation that gave rise to the JSC is not part of their employment) we will be providing an honorarium of $25.00 to thank them for their participation in the study.
CBA-NS Bench & Bar Reception and Dinner
Join us on Thursday, June 8, 2023 for Bench & Bar Reception and Dinner. For the first time since 2019, the Bench & Bar will bring together members of the legal community in Nova Scotia (CBA Members and non-members alike), including distinguished members of the Bench. We are excited to get together again and celebrate the achievements of our legal community, including retirements and appointments to the Bench, and the presentation of several CBA-NS awards.
Tables and individual tickets are available for purchase on a first-come first-served basis. This event is open to both CBA members and non-members.
Provincial Court of Nova Scotia Notice to the Profession: January 2023 to June 2023 Intake Date
Courtroom #6 Long Trial (Halifax) – Spring Garden Road
January 2023 to June 2023 Intake Dates
The January to June 2023 Intake Dates for Provincial Court matters in CR#6 are:
- March 14, 28, 2023
- April 11, 25, 2023
- May 9, 23, 2023
- June 13, 2023
ALL INTAKE IS AT 9 A.M.
To qualify for dates in CR#6 a Provincial Court matter must require four days or more. All cases will be pre-trialed and time requirements will have to be justified.
CR#6 will continue to provide relief to CR#5 by hearing Youth Court matters requiring four (4) days or more. These longer youth cases will be sent to CR#6 on CR#6’s regular intake dates for docketing. Generally speaking, CR#5 will not be scheduling youth cases in the CR#6 docket.
The clerk for CR#6 (Hilary Rankeillor) can be reached at (902) 424-8772.
Call for Participants—Osgoode Hall Law School: Invitation to take user experience survey for Canadian lawyers
Invitation to take user experience survey for Canadian lawyers from Jonathan Khan, Ph.D. candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School:
My Ph.D. research explores ways to improve Canada’s legal system. To find out more about me or my research, please visit my research webpage or contact me.
So far, my research suggests that a possible way to improve Canada’s legal system is by better understanding the experience of individuals in it—including lawyers like yourself.
To better understand your experience, I am asking you to take an anonymous survey. It takes 13-15 minutes and covers three subjects:
- judicial decisions & judicial decision-making;
- accessing information about what occurs in Canadian courts and about Canadian judges; and
- keeping up with jurisprudence and preparing for litigation.
Your insight is essential to my research.
Click here to take the survey.
Free Presentations on Impact of Family Law Amendments in Nova Scotia funded by Justice Canada
The Access to Justice & Law Reform Institute is offering free one-hour webinars for legal professionals on recent case law updates around family violence in the wake of amendments to the Divorce Act and Parenting and Support Act. This presentation has been made possible by Justice Canada.
The presentation will cover the following topics:
- A brief overview of recent family law amendments and concurrence between the Divorce Act and Parenting and Support Act
- Case law updates in Nova Scotia and beyond: How are the courts interpreting these changes?
- Focus on evidence of family violence and impact on children
- Further resources and community referrals
To register, please select your preferred date below or email [email protected] indicating the date and time you wish to attend. Presentations will take place via Zoom on the following dates:
If you cannot attend any of the listed dates or would like to arrange another date or time for your firm or organization, please contact Emily Tallon at [email protected] to schedule a presentation.
Missing Wills
Name on will: Mabel Siefert
Last known residence: Martin’s Point, Nova Scotia
Any lawyers with information please contact Shannon Siefert at [email protected] or (778) 882-7004
Career Opportunities
- Staff Lawyer
- Specialist, Real Property Management
- Director, Real Property Management
- Secretary 2 (Legal Assistant)
- Legal Assistant – Patterson Law, Downtown Halifax
- Executive Director, Legal Services
- Legal Research Officer – Manitoba Court of Appeal
- Participant for Study on Judicial Settlement Conferences
- Senior Solicitor
- Associate Lawyer
- PARALEGAL POSITION – WAGNERS
- Paralegal – Propert & Wills & Estates
- Summer Law Student
- Family Law Laywer
- Property Paralegal
- Legal Assistant / Paralegal
- Paralegal – Family & Criminal Law
- Crown Attorney
- Associate – Family Law
- Solicitor
- Legal Assistant / Paralegal
- Article Clerk
- Governance Secretary and General Counsel
- Lunenburg Firm Seeking Experienced Legal Assistant
- ASSOCIATE LAWYER, PROPERTY, PROBATE & ESTATE PLANNING – PATTERSON LAW, BRIDGEWATER
- Legal Research and Writing (LRW) Assessor (Contract Position)
- Associate Lawyer
- Litigation Lawyer
- Legal Assistant – Business Law
- Legal Assistant / Paralegal
Upcoming Events
- A New Lens on Management Rights: Responding to the evolving duties of good faith and honest performance (March 2)
- Presentation on the Parentage Act (March 6)
- Wired Work: Maintaining confidentiality, privacy, and security in the remote workplace (March 14)
- Pre-Conference Workshop: Difficult Accommodations: Responding to denial, defensiveness, and personality disorders (March 27)
- Vancouver Human Rights and Accommodation Conference (March 28)
- Ties That Bind: Accommodating family status and caregiving obligations (March 30)