Indigenous council and government appointees among Bill 21 concerns – Vancouver Is Awesome

May 24th 2024

Bill 21 imposes prescriptive rules on a new legal regulator that will in and of itself have fewer lawyers overseeing it, according to the Law Society of BC.

B.C. lawyers and their self-governing regulator have filed their much-anticipated lawsuits against the provincial government claiming legislation to reform the latter is unconstitutional.

The lawsuits of the Trial Lawyers Association of BC and the Law Society of BC were expected following passage of Bill 21 last week; they provide greater details of the concerns surrounding alleged government creep into regulation of the legal profession.

As the society claims, Bill 21 “fails to protect the public’s interest in having access to independent legal professions, governed by an independent regulator, that are not constrained by unnecessary government direction and intrusion.”