Jeevyn Dhaliwal was officially sworn in as law society president by B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson at the LSBC benchers’ inaugural meeting of 2024, alongside Brook Greenberg and Lindsay LeBlanc, who are serving as first vice-president and second vice-president, respectively.
Dhaliwal, the first South Asian president of the law society, said the next 12 months promise to be a “very exciting, very busy and perhaps challenging year” for benchers. The B.C. government has announced plans to bring in a single legal regulator this spring, and the law society continues to deal with issues such as mental health and well-being in the profession, reconciliation with the province’s Indigenous communities and concerns about access to justice.
“I am humbled by this honour and will do my best to serve in this role,” she said. “We will respectfully do the work together to govern this organization and do our best for the people of British Columbia. Surely, that is why we are all here.”
Chief Justice Hinkson noted that this year’s swearing-in was the last time he would be performing that duty, as he is retiring this year.
Benchers also engaged in a rigorous conversation about the role of the law society in addressing access to justice issues in British Columbia, focusing on what access issues the law society should prioritize, what it can do to make policymakers and the public aware of what the profession does now to support access initiatives, and what position that law society should advance on access-related issues when engaging the provincial government. Thoughts included pushing for increased investment in legal aid, making sure judicial vacancies in the province are filled, and becoming more involved on social messaging sites like TikTok to get the law society’s positions across to younger members of the profession.
Dhaliwal said the purpose of the conversation was not to come to any concrete decisions but rather to provide staff with indications about where the law society should go next.
The next bencher meeting is scheduled for March 8.
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