Legal Professions Regulatory Reform
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Overview
Who: The Ministry of the Attorney General
What: Update how legal service providers are regulated
Where: Province-wide
Why: To increase access to legal services
How: Online
Engagement Summary
To improve access to legal services for British Columbians, the Ministry of the Attorney General is planning to streamline how legal service providers are regulated. These include:
- Lawyers
- Notaries
- Licensed paralegals
The ministry drafted an intentions paper that outlines the proposed reforms and sought feedback from the public and key partners. The paper addressed a large number of topics and issues, including:
- Affordability of legal services
- The importance of the independence of lawyers and other legal service providers
- Governance matters
Read the intentions paper: PDF version (201KB) or HTML version.
Read the news release.
Results
The ministry received feedback from individuals and organizations, including members of the public, paralegals, notaries, lawyers, non-profits, regulators, associations, and academics.
Read the What We Heard Report (PDF, 480KB)
The feedback helped expand government’s understanding of the issues and will contribute to the development of new policy and legislative proposals.
March 2024 update
Since 2023, the ministry has been exploring policy options that align with the 2022 Intentions Paper and that reflect the feedback received during the public consultation period.
Read the March 2024 General Public Update (PDF, 200KB)
The details in this update and any legislative proposal remain subject to change as the work progresses and dialogue continues.