Professionalism: An old idea but a new ideal
Author | The Honourable Joan L. Lax |
Pages | 291-299 |
291
g Summer 2009
Prfessinalism:
AN OLD IDEA BUT A NEW IDEAL
THE HONOURABLE JOAN L. LAX
In October 1999, Justice Rosie Abella delivered what has become an
iconic speech to a retreat of Law Society benchers. Her title was “Pro-
fessionalism Revisited.” Her speech was about values, and her thesis
was “that there are three basic values that merge in a good lawyer: a com-
mitment to competence, which is about skills; a commitment to ethics,
which is about decency; and a commitment to professionalism, which
transfuses the public interest into the two other values.”1 This triumvir-
ate of values– competence, ethics and service to the public– has long
been regarded as the foundation of the claim that law is not merely a
trade but a higher calling– a profession– comprising elements of schol-
arship, integrity, honour, service, pride and independence.
Historically, the early professions of law, medicine and theology were
built around philosophical or ethical codes featuring some kind of ser-
vice to others and “a calling to some higher satisfaction than a commer-
cial gain,”2 and professionals “declared that choice openly in front of the
1 The Honourable Rosalie Silberman Abella, Justice, Court of Appeal for Ontario (as
she then was), “Professionalism Revisited” (Opening Address, Bencher’s Retreat,
October 14, 1999), (Toronto: Law Society of Upper Canada, 1999) at 1 [Justice Abella].
2 E.W. Roddenbery, “Achieving Professionalism” (May–June 1953) 44:1 Journal of
Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science at 109; cited in Jordan Furlong, “Profes-
sionalism Revived: Diagnosing the Failure of Professionalism among Lawyers and
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