Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey has unveiled Bill 161, which is designed to both implement Legal Aid Services Act, as well as amending the Law Society Act. The act is designed to ease the regulatory burden, as well as creating some accountability from lawyers. Some of the proposed changes include:
- raising maximum fines for lawyers to $100,000 from $10,000
- adding to the circumstances in which a lawyer or paralegal’s license can be revoked
- moving towards entity-based regulation by defining a “firm”
See the full proposals on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario site (PDF).