PLEA gratefully acknowledges our primary core funder the Law Foundation of Saskatchewan for their continuing and generous support of our organization.
Lawyers help people with a number of legal matters, not just legal disputes. Seeking legal advice before a matter becomes a dispute may help you avoid a dispute altogether. Knowing a lawyer’s role and how to work with them can help with this.
Lawyers must represent every client they have competently. They can help ensure that your interests and rights are protected when:
Lawyers must keep their client’s information confidential unless required by law not to. You can ask your lawyer about confidentiality before talking to them. The purpose of this is so that clients can speak freely with their lawyers.
Lawyers will look at your situation and tell you about the law that applies to your case. A lawyer must be honest when doing this. They may outline a number of different options for you. They can advise you about the risks and benefits of each. They can negotiate with another party to try to find a way to resolve an issue. For example, they may try to have criminal charges dropped or have the case dealt with outside of court. In family law cases, they may help the parties reach an agreement so that they do not need to go to court.
In the course of providing services to you, a lawyer is expected to:
When lawyers go to court for their clients, they are there to protect the interests of their client. They will present evidence to court and question the evidence and witnesses for the other side. They will summarize the case for the judge and make arguments for their side.
A lawyer’s duty to a client who seeks legal advice is to give the client a competent opinion based on a sufficient knowledge of the relevant facts, an adequate consideration of the applicable law and the lawyer’s own experience and expertise.
The advice must be open and undisguised and must clearly disclose what the lawyer honestly thinks about the merits and probable results.
A lawyer cannot stop representing you except for good cause. This can include a serious loss of confidence of the client or non-payment of fees. If they do withdraw services, they must provide you with appropriate notice in the circumstances. This is to protect you from suddenly being without a lawyer without good reason.
A lawyer must advise and encourage a client to compromise or settle a dispute whenever it is possible to do so on a reasonable basis. They must also discourage the client from commencing or continuing useless legal proceedings.
Lawyers are officers of the court. This means that the court will take lawyers at their word for certain administrative things. It also means that lawyers must assist the court in the proper administration of justice. Lawyers must always be courteous, fair and respectful.
A lawyer cannot knowingly mislead the court. They also cannot knowingly assist their client in doing something dishonest. They can only represent their client within the limits of the law. A lawyer is not allowed to use court processes except for legitimate reasons.
The first step in becoming a lawyer in Saskatchewan is obtaining a law degree from a recognized law school. Applicants for law school in Saskatchewan must first successfully complete at least two years of undergraduate study. They must also write the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). The LSAT is a test that measures certain mental abilities considered important to the study of law. Law school typically consists of three years of intense legal study.
After completing law school, graduates must then work towards admission to the Law Society of Saskatchewan. To be admitted, individuals must complete their articles of law. Articles are where the law graduate works closely with a lawyer or judge to get practical experience. During articles, they must also attend and complete the Bar Admission Program. Once this is done, the law student can apply to join the law society. One requirement in joining is that the graduate be of good character. This means that they display, among other things, integrity, honesty and empathy. The law society will look at a graduate’s past and consider previous cases of poor character.
As a general rule, a lawyer must be a member of the law society for each province in which the lawyer wants to practice law. Lawyers may be members of more than one law society. Canadian law societies have agreements that allow lawyer to move between provinces. Rules for membership may differ from province to province, however.
After becoming a lawyer, they must continue to do a certain amount of education every year. This will be things like seminars or workshops on different legal areas. The purpose of this is to make sure that lawyers remain competent to practice law.
It is important that you and your lawyer can communicate well and understand each other. Tell your lawyer if there is something that you do not understand. Do not be afraid to ask questions. Be clear about how you would like to see your matter resolved. Your lawyer can help you determine whether your expectations are realistic.
Negotiations and court cases can take a long time. Your lawyer will not have control over all delays. If you have concerns about the length of time the matter is taking or other issues, discuss them with your lawyer. You have the right to question your lawyer’s actions so that you can understand what is going on.
Even if your lawyer does everything possible for you, you may not get the result you wanted. The actions of the other party or the court will affect the outcome. If you are not satisfied with your lawyer, you may decide to go to another lawyer. However, you must pay what is owed for work already done. Once your account is paid, you or your new lawyer can get your file from the first lawyer.
Starting over with a new lawyer can be costly and time consuming. Before changing lawyers, you may want to try to find a way to keep working with your current lawyer. Discuss your concerns with your lawyer. Be sure that you understand what is going on and why. Once you understand the situation clearly you may be satisfied.
If you feel that your lawyer has not met the standards for the profession, you can make a complaint to the Law Society of Saskatchewan. Lawyers must carry professional insurance which covers errors made by the lawyer. See Complaints for more information.
Be organized whenever you contact your lawyer, whether in person or on the phone. Be sure that you have provided your lawyer with all the information they need from you. Provide clear, concise instructions and limit your discussions to legal aspects of your case. Contact your lawyer only when necessary. Remember that you are paying for your lawyer’s time. Be clear from the start about how you will be notified about the progress of your file. Get assurance that your lawyer will contact you if needed. Ask your lawyer if there is anything else you can do to help keep your costs down.
PLEA offers free online training on preventing and addressing workplace harassment.