Ontario lawyers and contingency fee agreements

The rules regulating contingency fee agreements (percentage agreements) in Ontario have been in the limelight recently due to concerns raised with respect to the conduct of some lawyers.  For example, see this article in the Toronto Star from January, 2017:

https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2017/01/28/double-dipping-lawyers-taking-big-slice-of-injury-settlements.html


The Law Society of Upper Canada now has announced proposals to address these concerns:

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/11/10/law-society-recommendations-take-aim-at-you-dont-pay-unless-we-win-cases.html


In British Columbia, we have had for years the kind of rules now proposed for Ontario contingency fee agreements, under Part 8 of the Legal Profession Act (British Columbia) (the "Act").  Among other things, pursuant to s. 67(2) of the Act, lawyers may not "double dip" (take a percentage of the client's settlement or award and take the client's "court costs" amount).  In addition, pursuant to s. 69(4) of the Act, a lawyer's bill must contain a detailed statement of the lawyer's disbursements (the expenses incurred by the lawyer on behalf of the client).

There are many other rules in Part 8 of the Act which are intended to regulate contingency fee agreements and other aspects of lawyers' bills.  The full text of Part 8 is here:

http://www.bclaws.ca/EPLibraries/bclaws_new/document/ID/freeside/00_98009_01#part8


The Code of Professional Conduct for lawyers in British Columbia also contains provisions regarding contingency fee agreements:

https://www.lawsociety.bc.ca/support-and-resources-for-lawyers/act-rules-and-code/code-of-professional-conduct-for-british-columbia/chapter-3-%E2%80%93-relationship-to-clients/#3.6-2


Fortunately, this regulatory gap now being addressed in Ontario simply doesn't exist here in British Columbia.

Andrew.

Technical glitch with the Contact Submission Form on my web site

Over the last few weeks I've had a technical glitch with the Contact Submission Form on my Contact page.  It seems that several messages sent to me using the form have not gotten through.  I'm sorry for this difficulty.

It appears that the problem is fixed now.  If you sent me a message but did not receive a reply, please don't hesitate to re-send it through the Contact page, or simply call me:

          250-564-5544 or toll-free 1-877-964-5544

 Thank you for your understanding.

Andrew.