Pelar Accounting

Choosing the Right Accounting System

BC lawyers provide professional services within a highly regulated environment. As professionals, they are regulated by the Law Society of BC and, consequently, must abide by the restrictions placed on their services laid out in the Legal Profession Act, the Law Society Rules, and the Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia. Additional restrictions are placed on BC lawyers through the requirements of other legislation, such as BC government’s Provincial Sales Tax Act and the federal government’s Excise Tax Act. As a result, BC lawyers have specialized accounting needs and should adapt their accounting systems accordingly.

© 2019 Pelar Davidson

Pelar Law Society Rules

Law Firm Regulation

Protection of the public

The object and duty of the law society of BC, as specified by the Legal Profession Act, is to protect the public interest. One way that the Law Society of BC accomplishes this is through regulation of its members.

A new way that the Law Society of BC hopes to accomplish this is through regulation of law firms. With law firm registration starting in May 2018, law firm regulation went into effect. As part of its registration, each law firm in BC was required to nominate a designated representative, who would be required to respond “promptly and completely to any communication from the [Law] Society.”

Once law firms had registered, the Law Society of BC randomly selected 10% of BC law firms to participate in a pilot project. Those pilot firms were required to complete the Law Society of BC’s online self-assessment tool by the end of October 2018. Those self-assessments are intended to help law firms and their representatives evaluate their practice management systems. The Law Society will use feedback from the law firms in the pilot project to determine next steps in its implementation of law firm regulation.

While the Law Society of BC has not specified exactly what areas will be covered in its law firm regulation, initial Law Society of BC documentation touched on some major areas in law firms, including: accounting, marketing, hiring practices, training, and education. In anticipation of the adoption of law firm regulation, BC lawyers and law firm staff might want to familiarize themselves with the Law Society of BC website, particularly its links to the Legal Profession Act, its Rules, and Code of Professional Conduct. A review of these documents, along with other Law Society resources, should provide a context for each law firm to review its policies and procedures.

The Law Society of BC has expressed its hope that law firm regulation will result in potential practice issues being resolved before they create problems for the legal community and the public.

Future blogs will focus on individual rules and how those might inform law firm practices.

© 2019 Pelar Davidson