Upcoming Events

BATTLE OF THE BAR BANDS This year’s event will take place March 25, 2010 at the Victoria Events Centre at 2-1415 Broad Street from 7:00 p.m.  Tickets are $25 and available by contacting Roxanne Helme at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  All proceeds to the Lawyer’s Benevolent Fund to assist lawyers and their families in crisis.

Earn Ethics and Practice Management CPD credits in Victoria

The Victoria Bar Association in conjunction with the CBA is pleased to offer our members a local opportunity to satisfy the Law Society’s CPD requirements for 2 credits in ethics and practice management on March 24, 2010 at the Union Club. http://www.cba.org/pd/details.aspx?id=BC_VIC_0310 .

Robert C. Brun, Q.C. will present a toolkit based on the Conflicts of Interest Report.  The course offers you a refresher on challenge you may face in your practice.  All lawyers can benefit from this course offering.

Here is a teaser of what will be discussed (reprinted with permission from the CBA):

What are conflicts of interest?

A conflict of interest is an interest that gives rise to a substantial risk of material and adverse effect on the representation. A conflicting interest can arise when:

• a lawyer’s self-interest conflicts with the performance of a client retainer (a conflict of duty and interest),
• a lawyer’s duty to another client conflicts with the performance of a client retainer (a conflict of duty and duty),
• a lawyer’s duty to another client impairs the lawyer’s relationship with a client and thereby impairs client representation (a conflict of duty with relationship).

What is it about a conflict of interest that is so bad? The answer is quite simple. Conflicts can impair effective representation of a client.  It is fundamental to the lawyer-client relationship that a lawyer be free of conflicts other than those willingly accepted by the client. And if a client has reason to question the representation provided by his or her lawyer, the very functioning of our legal system is called into question.

Further, the consequences of a conflict of interest for the lawyer can be severe and costly. They can include:

• disqualification from representation of one or more clients;
• forfeiture of fees charged; and the inability to charge for work in progress and other time invested;
• a damage claim which may include punitive damages;
• embarrassment and cost in time and money of defending a malpractice claim or investigation.

The courts may disqualify a lawyer to protect a client’s confidential information, which must be preserved whether or not there is a conflict of interest.

Checking for, identifying and avoiding conflicts of interest and ensuring that a client’s confidential information is protected need to be a part of every lawyer’s practice. In fact, every time you have a new client or a new matter for an existing client, and throughout the course of any active matter, you should be on the lookout for the existence of a real or potential conflict of interest and alert to the possibility that confidential client information you have about one client may bar you from acting for another.

The file management systems used by law firms usually catch conflicts, and most lawyers instinctively recognize a conflicts issue when it actually arises. Unfortunately, lawyers, in a rush to please a client, could get into trouble if they miss the early warning signals of a conflict.

The requirements for successfully managing conflicts of interest are quite basic: be aware of your obligations; exercise good judgment; and effectively communicate and document the decisions you make and actions you take when dealing with conflicts of interest.  The guidelines, checklists and precedents in this Toolkit are designed to assist you in achieving this objective.

Want the Toolkit?  Take the course!  See the special discount rates for VBA members.