Lawyers take B.C. government to court over province’s decision to replace the Law Society

British Columbia’s trial lawyers and its self-regulating law society have launched constitutional challenges to the provincial government’s move to combine oversight of their profession with notaries and paralegals, a move they contend violates their institutional independence.The Trial Lawyers Association of B.C. filed its lawsuit on Tuesday in B.C. Supreme Court, and the Law Society of B.C. filed its claim last Friday. These twin challenges could substantially delay the creation of a new regulator named the Legal Professions British Columbia, which is the core piece of Bill 21, passed last week on the final day of the legislature before the fall election.The lawyers in both suits say the change means members of their profession will no longer have a “functional majority” of this new body that will set the rules for lawyers, law firms and articling students in B.C., as well as handle complaints against lawyers.