Ethics and professionalism

• Author: Stephen Grant
• Pages: 283-283

283

g Part Seven g

ETHICS AND

PROFESSIONALISM

Of the many changes wrought in our profession over these

years, perhaps the most profound relate not to the nature of

advocacy but to our roles and responsibilities as advocates. The

standards of ethics and professionalism loom large in our day-to-day

practices, more so as self-represented litigants, especially in the family

law sphere, nd their way into courtrooms. Ethics and professionalism

are hallmarks of the privilege of practising law as advocates in a ercely

adversarial profession, the modern equivalent of gladiatorial combat.

For the last decade at least, one case has occupied as much academic and

jurisprudential air time as any (Groia v. The Law Society of Upper Canada)

and the saga is only now nearing an end, but not yet resolved as of this

writing. Two judges– one now retired, one now deceased– and a former

Law Society treasurer oer their thoughts on these critically important

aspects of our work.