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Final Report of the Futures Task Force Craig Ferris, QC (Chair) Jeevyn Dhaliwal, QC (Vice-Chair) Lawrence Alexander Lynne M

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Final Report of the Futures Task Force Craig Ferris, QC (Chair) Jeevyn Dhaliwal, QC (Vice-Chair) Lawrence Alexander Lynne M Anticipating Changes in the Delivery of Legal Services and the Legal Profession The Final Report of the Futures Task Force Craig Ferris, QC (Chair) Jeevyn Dhaliwal, QC (Vice-Chair) Lawrence Alexander Lynne M. Charbonneau Dr. Cristie L. Ford Steven R. McKoen, QC Dr. Katie Sykes Tony Wilson, QC Date: September 10, 2020 Prepared for: The Benchers Prepared by: Futures Task Force DM2763128 Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ 2 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 4 Task Force Work Plan .................................................................................................................. 5 Areas of Inquiry ....................................................................................................................... 5 Activities Undertaken ............................................................................................................. 7 The Consultation ..................................................................................................................... 7 Findings ........................................................................................................................................... 8 The Future in Light of COVID-19 ................................................................................................. 8 The Future of Legal Services ..................................................................................................... 10 Alternate Legal Service Providers ......................................................................................... 11 Technology ............................................................................................................................ 11 Alternate Business Structures ............................................................................................... 13 In-house counsel ................................................................................................................... 13 Mental Health, Substance Use and Wellness ....................................................................... 14 Indigenous Peoples and Reconciliation ................................................................................ 14 The Future of Legal Accreditation/Education ........................................................................... 16 The Future of Legal Regulation ................................................................................................. 17 The Future of the Law ............................................................................................................... 19 Rule of Law ............................................................................................................................ 19 Indigenous Legal Orders ....................................................................................................... 20 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 20 List of Recommendations ............................................................................................................. 21 Appendix A .................................................................................................................................... 24 DM2763128 2 References ................................................................................................................................ 24 Appendix B .................................................................................................................................... 28 Consultation Questions ............................................................................................................. 28 Findings ......................................................................................................................................... 29 Question 1: Demographics ....................................................................................................... 29 Question 2: Technology ............................................................................................................ 30 Question 3: Access to Justice .................................................................................................... 30 Question 4: Business Pressures ................................................................................................ 31 Question 5: Alternative Legal Service Providers ....................................................................... 31 Question 6: In-House Counsel .................................................................................................. 31 Question 7: Self-Regulation ...................................................................................................... 32 Question 8: Core Values............................................................................................................ 32 Question 9: Education ............................................................................................................... 33 Question 10: Wellness .............................................................................................................. 33 Question 11: Regulatory Responses ......................................................................................... 34 Question 12: Rule of Law .......................................................................................................... 34 Question 13: Indigenous Law .................................................................................................... 35 Question 14: Other Factors....................................................................................................... 35 © Law Society of British Columbia. See lawsociety.bc.ca>Terms of use DM2763128 3 Introduction For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future. John F. Kennedy Change is coming, and it is better to surf and control it, than to wish for a past that is not going to be resurrected. Jonathan Goldsmith (former secretary council of the Council of Bar and Law Societies of Europe) Change is constant in all aspects of our lives, and this is true in the practice of law as well. Client expectations, competition among lawyers and with other professionals, technology, generational expectations, and societal norms all affect what lawyers do and how they carry out their practice in important ways. Society’s expectations of what lawyers do and how they should do it also change. How lawyers keep up with these changes is very important for the availability of efficient and affordable legal services and for the confidence that the public has in the legal profession as a whole, and equally important for the sustainability of their practices and their personal well-being. A legal profession that is incapable of achieving outcomes that resonate with what society expects is one in which the public will eventually lose confidence. The legal profession is steeped in tradition and in precedent. Lawyers routinely look into the past to find precedents that will assist in solving the legal problems faced by clients. But when it comes to new trends and developments in how services are delivered, what clients are seeking, or even how people other than lawyers think about the world, the legal profession, bound in its traditions and precedents, is often poorly suited to “move with the times.” Our affinity for history and our aversion to risk are both impediments to positive change. The legal profession, and in particular the market for legal services, is rapidly evolving, and it has been over 10 years since the Law Society had dedicated a specific group to identify and consider trends and issues that warrant action. Therefore, in January 2019 the Benchers established the Futures Task Force to consider and develop insight on the future forces and factors the profession might face in the future and to make recommendations on the issues driving change to the Benchers. The Benchers will be determining the Law Society’s next Strategic Plan throughout the fall of 2020, and expect that the recommendations from the Futures Task Force’s Final Report will help to inform the strategic planning process by identifying trends and providing recommendations that the Benchers can incorporate into the plan. DM2763128 4 The Task Force was established with the following mandate: Recognizing that significant change in the legal profession and the delivery of legal services is expected over the next five to 10 years, the Futures Task Force will identify the anticipated changes, consider and evaluate the factors and forces driving those changes, assess the impact on the delivery of legal services to the public, by the profession and on the future regulation of the legal profession in British Columbia, and make recommendations to the Benchers on the implications of the anticipated changes and how the Law Society and the profession might respond to the anticipated changes. Task Force Work Plan At its first meeting, the Task Force developed a work plan with a timetable of meetings, together with an outline of possible areas of inquiry and identified additional information that the Task Force needed to gather to fulfil
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