At the Law Society of British Columbia’s annual general meeting Wednesday, lawyers across the province narrowly rejected a proposal to have the legal regulator certify a list of digital tools, including those involving AI, that lawyers can use without fear that doing so will accidentally lead to a breach of their professional obligations.
The third approved resolution, introduced by Vancouver lawyers Kyla Lee and Paul Doroshenko, creates a new requirement for the LSBC to inform lawyers of any policies or proposed laws that could impact the legal profession.
According to Lee, lawyers looking for timely updates currently have to “wait for what the law society decides to tell us, on whatever schedule the law society decides to tell it to us.” She noted that the information covered by the resolution is disclosable under BC’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act process, and said a policy on timely updates would free lawyers from having to file individual requests with the LSBC.
“There are costs associated with freedom of information requests. There are times that it takes to respond to those requests,” Lee said. A dedicated policy requiring timely updates would help individual lawyers save money, and prevent the LSBC “from having to respond to repeat requests from different members,” Lee added.
