Kimanda Jarzebiak Ascent Public Affairs October 8,

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Marilynn Armstrong
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1 Kimanda Jarzebiak Ascent Public Affairs October 8,

3 What is Public Affairs? Public Perception GOVERNMENT RELATIONS PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROGRAM STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS MEDIA RELATIONS 3

4 Perception of lawyers is similar world-wide People respect their lawyer more than they respect the profession Intersection with government is regulation Does the public perceive that lawyers can regulate themselves effectively and appropriately?

5 As viewed by government: Delegation of their responsibility to protect the public Benefits: Admission to profession/standards of practice are in the hands of experts Ease of administration

6 Challenges: Conflict of interest Economic interests of the profession v. public interest protection Ongoing public dissatisfaction Transparency Lack of consistency between professions Inefficiencies Legitimacy, credibility, trust Few management tools besides legislation and increased control

7 Not very long ago, in the Province of British Columbia, on the west coast of Canada, health care professionals had a great degree of independence. Then, the mean and nasty media came along.

8 Victoria, Canada Island Chiropractors Face Charges Two doctors accused of sexual assault on female patients, but they don t have to tell Jeff Rud and Lindsay Kines September 17, 2007 Two Vancouver Island chiropractors facing multiple sexual-assault charges continue to practice and are not required by their professional college to notify patients of the allegations against them.

9 Victoria, Canada Psychologist s Case Shows Limits of Law Jeff Rud and Lindsay Kines September 17, 2007 He was once the Saint of Saskatchewan, a Catholic priest whose work with troubled teens earned him the Order of Canada and a citizen-of the-year award. But Father Lucien Larre has been dogged by controversy in recent years.

10 Victoria, Canada Under Exposed: The Secret Discipline of B.C. s Professions There s no easy way to find out about complaints Lindsay Kines and Jeff Rud, Times Colonist September 19, 2007 If you needed help for a sore back, you might want to know if your chiropractor was facing multiple sex-assault charges. You might want to know, too, if your physical therapist had ever been reprimanded for alleged sexual misconduct, or why the registered nurse treating you had been suspended for three months.

11 Victoria, Canada B.C. Admits Law Governing Professions isn t Working Minister credits TC for identifying problems with how health colleges report discipline Lindsay Kines and Jeff Rud, Times Colonist September 20, 2007 The B.C. government will consider legislation to improve the accountability of professional colleges in the wake of a Times Colonist series this week, Health Minister George Abbott said. Abbott said the stories did a good job of analyzing the inconsistent way that colleges report to the public on the discipline of doctors, nurses, chiropractors and other health professionals.

12 The Health Professions (Regulatory Reform) Amendment Act, Bill 25, is introduced in the BC Legislature It is proclaimed 6 weeks later, with unanimous support Meta-regulation, by way of oversight bodies, is introduced A number of powers are consolidated under the Minister (previously held by Cabinet) Priority given to bringing all health professions under same legislation

14 CANADA David Baines, Vancouver Sun February 25, 2009 Law Society Soft-Pedals a Scandalous Affair On Thursday, counsel for the Law Society of B.C. presented a proposal to settle its long-running case against Vancouver securities lawyer Michael Seifert. In my view, the proposal soft-pedals this scandalous affair, and falls far short of the society s duty to protect the public interest.

15 CANADA Ian Mulgrew, Vancouver Sun May 19, 2009 Law Society Slow to Move Against One of Its Own The Law Society of B.C. as the self-regulatory body of the legal profession appears to be doing as good a job investigating its own these days as the RCMP. I was staggered to see a 52-year-old Vancouver lawyer whose identity is protected by a court-imposed publication ban convicted one day of the sexual exploitation of a 14-year-old boy and the next day still practising.

16 AUSTRALIA Urgent Talks Aim to Save Debate on Lawyer Regulation Vaughn Gareth October 26, 2009 Attorneys-General from around the country will meet in Sydney today in an attempt to rescue the increasingly unwieldy debate about regulating Australian lawyers. The NSW Attorney-General, John Hatzistergos, has convened today's emergency summit despite the federal election - which caused the last meeting to be cancelled - because he believes the states ''can't afford not to meet'' given the persistent confusion and lack of agreement among stakeholders.

17 UNITED KINGDOM Self-Regulation puts UK at Greater Risk; Economist Warns Ian Fraser June 20, 2002 TOOTHLESS regulation of accountancy together with the commercialisation of its ethos in the UK leaves Britain even more open to major auditing scandals than the US, according to Prem Sikka, the professor of accountancy at Essex University. Sikka, who publishes a critical book on the accountancy profession this week, said: "At least in America the Securities and Exchange Commission is trying to do something about things.

18 UNITED KINGDOM Quacks Fly in all Directions as Alternative Martin Robbins April 16, 2010 Medicine Regulations Fail A plethora of recent news stories have highlighted a growing problem with the regulation of alternative medicine in Britain. Together they reveal an industry that is increasingly out of control in the absence of any coherent government policy. The consequences are bad for the public, and bad for alternative medicine practitioners themselves.

19 INDIA We Don't Need No Legislation: Doctors Rema Nagarajan July 5, 2010 On Doctors Day celebrated on July 1 in India, at a seminar on medical ethics several eminent doctors waxed eloquent on the subject. Interestingly, most of them talked of how ethics cannot be regulated as it has to come "from within" and how it is "subjective". In plainspeak, most of the doctors sought self-regulation. One wonders why the need for a law to regulate doctors cropped up at all, if self-regulation was actually working. It is the practice of doctors taking gifts and hospitality from the pharmaceutical industry for promoting their products reaching untenable proportions that prompted the government to think of regulating this noble profession of people often seen as "Gods on earth". Or as one speaker at the seminar put it, your mother only gives you birth, but the doctor when he saves your life gives you rebirth!

SOUTH AFRICA Media Tribunal 'to complement' Self-regulation September 9, 2010 The proposed media appeals tribunal is intended to "strengthen, complement and support the current self-regulatory

20 SOUTH AFRICA Media Tribunal 'to complement' Self-regulation September 9, 2010 The proposed media appeals tribunal is intended to "strengthen, complement and support the current self-regulatory institutions", President Jacob Zuma said on Wednesday. Replying to questions in the National Assembly, he said the African National Congress's (ANC) resolution on a proposed media tribunal "promotes media freedom within the context of the human rights ethos" of the Constitution.

21 Legitimacy What problem are you solving? Why do you exist? How do you fit into social norms? Credibility Do you do what you say? Are you doing a good job? How do I know? Trust Are you willing to be vulnerable to the requirements of others?

22 Process Are you doing a good job? Is your way of operating outdated? Metrics How can people tell if you are doing a good job? Structure Are their changes amongst other professions, or in other jurisdictions, that are worth considering?

23 What story are you telling? Is it consistent with your actions? Is it consistent with how you want to be perceived? Are you telling the right people? Can they comprehend it?

BILATERAL AGREEMENT ON THE LEGAL PROFESSION UNIFORM FRAMEWORK

INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT BILATERAL AGREEMENT ON THE LEGAL PROFESSION UNIFORM FRAMEWORK The State of New South Wales The State of Victoria BILATERAL AGREEMENT ON THE LEGAL PROFESSION UNIFORM FRAMEWORK