Continuing Professional Development - Hull on Estates #222
Listen to: Continuing Professional Development
This week on Hull on Estates, Sharon Davis and Natalia Angelini discuss a recent requirement put into place by The Law Society of Upper Canada. On January 1, 2011 lawyers and paralegals will be required to put in 12 hours of continuing professionalism each year. Specifically, there will be three hours delegated to topics relating to ethics, professionalism and practice management.
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Natalia R. Angelini - Click here for more information on Natalia Angelini.
Natalia Angelini: Hello and welcome to Hull on Estates. You’re listening to episode #222 on Tuesday, September 14, 2010.
Welcome to Hull on Estates, a series of podcasts for the Canadian legal community dealing with issues and insights surrounding estate planning in Canada. Hosted by the lawyers of Hull & Hull, the podcast will touch on some key considerations when planning estates and wills. Now, here are today’s hosts.
Sharon Davis: Hi and welcome to another episode of Hull on Estates. I’m Sharon Davis.
Natalia Angelini: And I’m Natalia Angelini.
Sharon Davis: If you want to be heard on Hull on Estates, you can participate by leaving us a comment. Email us at hull.lawyers@gmail.com or you can visit our blog at estatelaw.hullandhull.com.
Natalia Angelini: Thanks Sharon. So I’m happy we’re podcasting today about something that we just learned of literally this morning. And that deals with continuing professional development.
Sharon Davis: Yes, and it’s been identified in a number of places, I think, as something very important for the profession. Not just the legal profession but I think most professions do have some sort of continuing legal education requirement.
Natalia Angelini: That’s right. And what we’ve learned is that the Law Society of Upper Canada has recently put into place a requirement for lawyers and paralegals to do a certain number of hours of continuing professional development each year. And this is going to be coming into effect on January 1, 2011.
Sharon Davis: Beginning on January 1st, 2011, lawyers have to start keeping track of all of the continuing legal education that they do. And then on December 31st, 2011 we also have to report all of that continuing legal education on our member’s annual report. We have 12 hours of continuing legal education annually and this will also include 3 hours on topics related to ethics, professionalism and/or practice management, which is a bit of a new twist.
Natalia Angelini: Yeah, and that’s interesting. I think it’s…that might be a signal from the Society that there needs to be a focus within the Bar on ethics and professionalism. And I think it’s a great addition. And I mean a lot of us do attend continuing legal education seminars and other types of continuing education each year, but I have to say I haven’t been to one dealing with ethics and professionalism in some time. So it is a good thing, I guess, for us to all attend.
Sharon Davis: I think it is very timely and I think giving good service to the public depends not only on your legal skills and, you know, we’ll call it the hard knowledge that we acquire over the years. But it also has to do with how well you work with clients, how well you work with other lawyers. And certainly there have been studies on this. The Lesage code report with respect to civility and how lawyers treat one another has resulted in the mentoring protocol. And all of that, too, is aimed at making lawyers work better together and work better for our clients.
Natalia Angelini: Right. And so even though there is this requirement, some lawyers may seek an exemption. And in order to get that exemption you’d have to fit within circumstances coming in within the Human Rights Code. And I’m not sure what those are but that is, I guess, an option for people that don’t feel that they are…have to meet the requirement or that they fall outside it.
Sharon Davis: I think we can safely assume most of us will probably have to fulfill the requirement and certainly being smarter, learning more is not a bad thing. There are a lot of different activities that can qualify. Law Society programs certainly would qualify. And other activities must be accredited in advance by the Law Society of Upper Canada. Now obviously there are a number of providers who provide very good continuing legal education. Advocates Society, Toronto Lawyers Association, the Bar Association and…
Natalia Angelini: Even firms like our firm does.
Sharon Davis: The Hull & Hull Breakfast Series.
Natalia Angelini: Right.
Sharon Davis: Absolutely. All of those programs will have to be accredited by the Law Society in order to qualify.
Natalia Angelini: Right. And for those of you who might be a bit concerned about any type of added cost this will mean for you, there are about 40 programs on ethics, professionalism and practice management that are free of charge. So at least for that component alone, we know that there are free options. And there might also be free options for other areas of continuing professional development education.
Sharon Davis: And for those concerned about their ability to keep track of all of their CLE, I especially like the part where we will be provided with regular notices, certainly at regular intervals throughout the year advising us how many hours we’ve obtained and how many hours remain outstanding for us to fulfill.
Natalia Angelini: Right. And this is something we do need to take seriously. The consequences of not completing this seem to be, you know, somewhat dire. I mean, you can get administratively suspended from practice and you can get reinstated through completing the missing hours but that’s certainly is a serious consequence if you don’t comply.
Sharon Davis: It sure is. If you don’t have time to do the hours in the beginning, it’s really gonna be hard to catch up on them all at once.
Natalia Angelini: Exactly. And on that note, you’re not allowed to carry hours forward. So if you do more in one year, you know, than the next year, you still start fresh.
Sharon Davis: No brownie points for being a super keener. Sit at the front of the class, maybe that will help too. Perhaps we should discuss some of the eligible activities.
Natalia Angelini: Sure. Let’s do that.
Sharon Davis: You can attend not only in person and I know it’s great to have face-to-face contact but these days a lot of people don’t have time for that. There are a lot of great web-based programs. So on-line, telephone, in person, all of these kinds of manners of participating would qualify.
Natalia Angelini: Right. And there are a variety of areas of things that would qualify. For instance, an LLM program would qualify.
Sharon Davis: Yeah, and even teaching. An hour of teaching will equal three hours of credit to reflect preparation time. And many of us, you know, do engage in those kinds of activities, whether it be Bar Ads or at a law school, things like that. So all of that will qualify.
Natalia Angelini: Right. And, of course, I think for the next few points we’ve mentioned, all of its gonna have to be accredited in advance as Sharon had mentioned. And in respect of teaching, it’s noteworthy that the content, of course, has to be law-related. And that similarly goes for writing and editing books or articles. Same type of, you know, law-relate requirement for the content. And, you know, you’ve got to be the person solely preparing the materials. And also they need to be intended for publication or use in course materials. So if you’re preparing materials just for marketing purposes or updating purposes, that’s not gonna qualify.
Sharon Davis: And speaking of ineligible activities, there are a few more here as well. Self-study, pro bono work, marketing work for a law school or college courses. I guess that all goes back to, you know, that marketing to potential clients. That kind of activity won’t be included.
Natalia Angelini: Right. Now I like that the mentorship or supervisory type of role is included and the same with study groups. I mean, I know that we attend the brown bag lunches monthly and I’m not sure if that would qualify based on what we…based on the materials we have now, the information we have now, but that’s a possibility.
Sharon Davis: And I guess as we go forward this will all be a little clearer and the Law Society will…everyone will know exactly what qualifies, what doesn’t. It’s important to know that so that, you know, you’re not spending time in activities for that purpose if it doesn’t qualify. And I think really most practitioners do spend an awful lot of time, you know, consulting with colleagues and attending these kinds of events because frankly we’ve already figured out that it’s important to be good at what you do in order to keep up on the law and to consult with others.
Natalia Angelini: Right.
Sharon Davis: Now if you’re thinking about some things to attend, there are some upcoming programs. At the Law Society on September 16th there is the Practice Gems Series for Estates – Drafting and administering Powers of Attorney for personal care and property, avoiding the pitfalls. And that’ll be held at the Don Lamont Centre. On October 1st there are a couple of OBA programs – Tax Considerations for Succession Planning; Trusts and Estates Practitioners: a practical planning approach. And on October 14th.
Natalia Angelini: Right. That’s our next thing. That’s our next Hull & Hull Breakfast Series. That’s at 8:30 in the morning, nice and bright and early. And after that, we’ve got…in November we’ve got the 13th Annual Estates and Trust Summit. That’s a two day affair. It’s something I think we all like to go to. So those are a few things that you may wish to go to, if not this year, definitely next year once this requirement kicks in.
Sharon Davis: That’s right. And a lot of these programs, we all know they’re held annually. You know the substance and the quality of these kinds of programs and we’re going to them already. So I don’t think this should be too onerous on many of us but it’s something to keep in mind.
Natalia Angelini: Yeah. Well thanks, Sharon. That brings us to the end of our discussion today. It was nice podcasting with you.
Sharon Davis: It was a pleasure, Natalia. And I look forward to podcasting with you again soon.
Natalia Angelini: Okay, thanks to our listeners. Until next time, take care.
This has been Hull on Estates with the lawyers of Hull & Hull. The podcast you have been listening to has been provided as an information service. It is a summary of current legal issues in estates and estate planning. It is not legal advice and you are reminded to always talk with a legal professional regarding your specific circumstances.
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