Is "Our Society Your Society"? with Malcolm Mercer

Jumping Off the Ivory Tower with Prof JulieMac

This week’s conversation is with Malcolm Mercer, the Treasurer of the Ontario Law Society and the elected leader of the legal profession in the province. Julie draws Malcolm out on critical issues for the self-represented including: how should lawyers treat and work collaboratively with SRLs? Can there really be a level playing field where one side has expert assistance and the other does not? How does the duty to zealously represent a client work where the other side does not understand the law? Does the Professional Code of Conduct apply to lawyers’ relationships with the public, as well as other lawyers? What about an SRL Ombuds? And what about that much-maligned public awareness campaign, “Our Society is Your Society”? In other news: The 2019 Rule of Law Index, released in February, provides a comprehensive look at the state of the rule of law in 126 countries around the world – overall, more countries declined in their scores than increased; last Thursday the Ontario government announced that Legal Aid Ontario will have its budget cut by $133 million, about 30% of the entire funding provided to LAO; and finally, an update about past podcast guest Prof. Benny Tai, who last week, along with other pro-democracy activists, was found guilty of public nuisance as a result of their protests in 2014 where they called on China to have free elections in Hong Kong –sentencing has been scheduled for April 24th, and Professor Tai could be held in prison for up to 7 years. For related links and more on this episode, see our website: https://representingyourselfcanada.com/is-our-society-your-society-with-malcolm-mercer/ Jumping Off the Ivory Tower is produced and hosted by Julie Macfarlane and Dayna Cornwall; production and editing by Brauntë Petric; Other News produced and hosted by Ali Tejani; promotion by Moya McAlister and Ali Tejani.