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Government Policy


As the national voice of Canada’s law societies, the Federation of Law Societies of Canada provides its views to the federal government on a number of issues related to the governance of the legal profession and core values of public importance.

The following examples illustrate the types of issues on which we make our views known:


Anti-Money Laundering Rules

The Federation has been at the forefront of the fight against money-laundering and terrorist financing by adopting model rules to ensure that legal professionals are not unwittingly used by their clients to advance such activities.

The Federation challenged attempts by the federal government to subject lawyers and Quebec notaries to legal provisions that would have forced lawyers and notaries breach solicitor-client privilege by requiring them to report suspicious financial transactions. The Federation’s position was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada. To guard against attempts by unscrupulous clients to dupe legal professionals into laundering money or unwittingly financing terrorist activities, the Federation introduced a model rule to limit the amount of cash lawyers and notaries may accept from their clients. The Federation’s Model No-Cash Rule, which has been implemented by all law societies, is available here.  The federal government has recognized the No-Cash Rule as an important contribution in the fight against money-laundering and terrorist financing.

Members of the legal profession are also bound by strict “know-your-client” rules to ensure that they are providing advice only to bona fide clients whose identity can be reliably ascertained. The Federation’s Model Rule on Client Identification and Verification is available here.


International Trade Negotiations

The Federation is regularly consulted by the federal government on matters relating to negotiations on trade in services. The Federation’s goal is to ensure that any liberalization in access to the Canadian legal services market by legal professionals from other countries does not compromise the protection of the public. Most law societies in Canada have, for example, enacted rules to permit lawyers licensed in other countries to practice here as foreign legal consultants provided they comply with licensing, insurance and related requirements. The Federation has provided ongoing feedback to the government on proposals to expand the rights of foreign legal consultants. 

 
Freezing Assets of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act

In submissions to the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the Federation raised concerns that a broad disclosure obligation set out in the Freezing Assets of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act would oblige members of the legal profession to breach solicitor-client privilege. As a result of our intervention to the Senate Committee, the Minister of Justice has provided public assurances that nothing in the Act will compel members of the legal profession to divulge information protected by solicitor-client privilege. The Federation’s submission to the Standing Senate Committee is here.

 
Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act

In submissions made to the Minister of Industry and the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, the Federation called for amendments to the Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act (originally the Electronic Commerce Protection Act (anti-spam legislation) to ensure that the ability of law societies to communicate with their members would not be compromised. The Federation supported the overall aims of legislation designed to stop unsolicited commercial e-mail. While it is clear that law societies and other professional regulatory bodies were not the target of the legislation, the Federation expressed concerns that the failure to specifically exempt regulatory bodies from its scope could restrict valid regulatory conduct.