The progress of the 2023–2026 plan is laid out in the Law Society of Saskatchewan’s (LLS) annual report for 2023, released May 29.
Tim Brown, Law Society of Saskatchewan
“It establishes a forward-looking suite of accountabilities for the organization and is based on the ongoing work of our Board to understand the trends and developments which will influence the future of the profession in the rapidly evolving context in which these services are (and will be) delivered,” states Brown.
The current plan focuses on six goals: strengthening regulation; enhancing competency; increasing equity, diversity and inclusion; advancing Indigenous Truth and Reconciliation; promoting lawyer wellness; and increasing access to justice.
In terms of licensee competency, the LSS, in 2023, partnered with counterparts in B.C., Alberta and Manitoba to develop “a set of common competencies to be demonstrated at entry to practice.” Titled the Western Canada Competency Profile, it focuses on education and training, including bar admission “program development and articling standards.”
Last year also saw the LSS make permanent a mandatory course in “baseline training” for principal lawyers in their supervising and instructing of articling students.
As for increasing equity, diversity and inclusion, the regulator offered professional development programs focused on “themes” such as women in the law and “the first Black woman lawyer in Canada.” It also included a program for “estate planning for the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community.”
In terms of furthering Truth and Reconciliation, the LSS initiated a project with Pro Bono Students Canada and the Public Legal Education Association of Saskatchewan in a bid to raise awareness of pursuing law as a career path. It also provided financial support to Indigenous law students to be able to attend the Indigenous Bar Association Conference.
In a bid to increase access to justice, the LSS continued to focus on its Limited Licensing Pilot, which allows some non-lawyer legal-sector professionals “to assist with unmet legal needs.” The program has garnered lots of interest from “consumers of legal services” and has had “a positive impact on affordability.” It was also able to reach locations outside of the urban centres of Regina and Saskatoon.
Last year, the LSS took in 33 applications for the limited licensing pilot. Of those, 26 were approved. (Three were denied approval, one was removed from the program and a few are still pending application review.)
In terms of public interest, 12,459 people made inquiries into “pilot services” and 3,750 were served by it. The vast majority of those served posted positive reviews about the experience, according to statistics in the annual report.
The LSS also “worked with partners throughout 2023 to better connect the incarcerated population with legal information and options for legal assistance.” Through this, presentations were given to dozens of “correctional centre managers and staff.” Last year, the LSS connected 330 inmates “with legal information and assistance options.”
In terms of increasing lawyer wellness, the report notes that the LSS established a Wellness and Health Crisis Working Group in effort to advance recommendations made in 2022 by the National Study on the Psychological Health Determinants of Legal Professionals in Canada.
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