Information on lawyer conduct is also available (in PDF) in Chinese, Punjabi and Spanish.

The Law Society requires lawyers to practise law ethically and competently. For example, a lawyer should:

• be honest and courteous;
• keep clients informed, respond promptly to phone calls or letters and work in a timely fashion;
• respect client confidences;
• safeguard client funds and property and account for money entrusted to the lawyer;
• maintain adequate skills to represent clients effectively;
• not act in a conflict of interest (such as improperly acting against a former client or improperly sharing a business interest with a client).

When there are problems

Sometimes people have questions or concerns about a lawyer's actions or lack of action. A good first step is to talk to the lawyer or the lawyer's firm. Misunderstandings can arise because of a lack of communication. Often you can resolve these misunderstandings simply by discussing your concerns. If not, you can write or call the Law Society's Professional Conduct Department.

The Law Society has authority to review the conduct and competence of all BC lawyers, including lawyers in private practice, legal aid lawyers, government lawyers and Crown prosecutors. The Law Society can also review the conduct of a lawyer outside the practice of law if the conduct reflects badly on the legal profession.

In those rare instances in which a complaint involves the misappropriation or possible misappropriation of trust funds by a lawyer, the complainant should also be aware of the Law Society's trust protection coverage.

If you make a complaint to the Law Society about a lawyer, you must include the lawyer's name, the details of your concern and your name, address and phone number. If you wish, you can download a complaint form (PDF) and a complaint information sheet (PDF) to complete and return to the Professional Conduct Department at:

The Law Society of BC
845 Cambie St.
Vancouver, BC
Canada V6B 4Z9

Tel.: 604-669-2533
Fax: 604-605-5399
Toll free in BC: 1-800-903-5300
TTY: 604-443-5700
E-mail: professionalconduct@lsbc.org

You must also include copies of any relevant documents. If you call the Law Society, a staff member will be available to answer your questions about this process. Please keep in mind that all information provided to the Law Society will be forwarded to the lawyer for his or her response.

The Law Society's Professional Conduct Department does not charge for its services and you do not need to retain a lawyer to represent you.

If you have difficulty speaking or writing English, please ask a friend or someone in the community to help. If that is not possible, the Law Society will assist you to make other arrangements.

Before contacting the Law Society, you should understand what the Professional Conduct Department can and cannot do for you. The Law Society has no authority to:

• regulate the amount of a lawyer's bill;
• give legal advice;
• pay compensation;
• intervene in a court proceeding;
• change the decision of a court;
• insist that a lawyer take a case, remain on or withdraw from a case or do something specific in a case;
• make a finding that a lawyer was negligent;
• review a judge's conduct.

If you are concerned about any of these, you may wish to seek advice from a lawyer.

If your concern is about fees, please see Lawyers' fees.

The Professional Conduct Department gives top priority to its duty to protect the public interest. We have lawyers, legal assistants, investigators and accountants on staff to review your concerns. Law Society staff will keep you informed about the status of your file. A file normally follows these steps:

1. The file is assigned to a staff person who discloses your complaint to the lawyer and decides if there is a basis for investigation (for example, whether the Law Society has jurisdiction under the Legal Profession Act to review the matter). If there is no basis for investigation, the file will be closed at this stage.
   
2. If an investigation is required, the Society will ask for the lawyer's response.
   
3. After receiving the lawyer's response, the staff person will, if necessary, obtain further information from you, the lawyer or anyone else involved.
   
4. After completing the investigation, the staff person will do one of the following:

• take no further action if the complaint is unfounded, cannot be proved or does not show conduct serious enough to warrant further action
• refer the matter to the Practice Standards Committee if there are competency concerns. The Practice Standards Committee will decide if the lawyer needs to upgrade skills, make changes to his or her practice or seek other kinds of guidance.
• refer the matter to the Discipline Committee if there are ethical concerns or breaches of Law Society rules. The Discipline Committee will decide if there should be a peer review or a formal hearing into the lawyer's conduct. A hearing may lead to a reprimand, fine, suspension or disbarment.

There is no set time. Generally speaking, the more serious or complex the issues, the longer the review of a complaint will take. However, the Law Society does its best to handle all complaints promptly and fairly.

If you are unhappy with a staff decision to take no further action about your complaint, in certain circumstances you will be able to appeal the decision to the Law Society's Complainants' Review Committee. You can also contact the Office of the Ombudsman if you feel the Law Society's process was unfair: telephone: 1-800-567-3247 (all of BC); TTY: 1-800-667-1303.

Under the Legal Profession Act , information obtained during an investigation is generally confidential and cannot be used in other proceedings except with consent. The Law Society, however, is subject to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act . As a result, information gathered by the Law Society may be disclosed, on request, to other persons whose interests are affected by it.