This week appears to be one during which the profession is rightfully reflecting on how our Law Society of Ontario is serving the public and/or enhancing access to justice or providing services to its 75 thousand+ licensees as members.

Everything being relative of course, in retrospect I long for the nostalgic good old days when my biggest beef with the Law Society was the hilariously impossible process of trying to renew your Law Society ID card – cutting to the last page of that novel, you had to pay for the renewal fee on you credit card inside the LSO Store portal and then print off the invoice documenting proof of payment and mail that piece of paper to the Law Society along with your passport photo guaranteed by an unsuspended other lawyer. Of course the LSO had processed your electronic payment, but you had to prove that to them in hard copy in person or regular mail delivery. Those are just some highlights.

And in hindsight now, this low-level irritation seems almost quaint, harkening back to a time of innocence, albeit that it does encapsulate what’s still wrong. We’re still being governed by people who are out of touch with the lived reality of the vast majority of practising legal professionals. Nobody who makes the rules for us lives in our world or thinks about practical hurdles we face, nor do they bring common sense to bear on any problem lawyers routinely encounter.

Which of course brings us now to the newfangled LSO Connects.

I don’t know who designed the LSO Connects Portal and I don’t know who operationalizes the complaints process. What I do know is the LSO could learn a great deal from LAWPRO in terms of providing useful user-friendly services.

As lawyers, we know that from time to time — and in my case blissfully very, very rarely (knock wood) — someone will threaten to sue or complain about us. LawPro makes reporting a potential claim and handling any situation as hassle free as possible. I have nothing but praise for them in how they support us throughout any difficult process.

Contrast that with the LSO now. In 32 years of practice I’ve had two complaints – none with merit – both dismissed administratively, 30 years apart. However, I always took proactive steps in the event I thought there may be a complaint, I would self-report with a quick email or some communication or conversation.

Tried that now that I am dealing with, not a client, but a wildly disgruntled psychiatrist, who is not used to having a woman speak plainly to him, it would appear. But perhaps I digress. The point is I knew LSO no longer reads our email, and all must proceed through the portal so I very diligently sent a message through there about a potential complaint that might be made and explained the situation, asked to be kept apprised. In response, I was told the Society no longer accepts “self-reports” either by email OR through the PORTAL via messaging.

Instead, they want us to make formal complaints about ourselves to create their file for them. I really want to know who is going to go through the complicated process of filling out a complaint where we are both Complainant and person complained about it, and file it so it can be uploaded to the Portal where we can then monitor daily presumably how our own complaint about ourselves is coming along in the investigation stage. I can’t think of anything more anxiety-producing. And you’d be doing it to yourself. Have almost nobody else to blame.

The best comment I’ve seen this week on the LSO CEOSS was that they should have posted the O’Connor Report in our LSO Connects Portals, where nobody would ever find it. That way it’s “released” but not really – classed as a WIN:WIN.

I think we really need to bring practitioners with lived experience of actually practising law in the real world acting for real people — ie in solo or small firms — with difficult challenging careers somehow into leadership here to reform the Society into a functional organization – like LawPro, which works.

In the wake of the recent CEOSS, legitimate questions about transparency, accountability, communication and effective leadership are being asked. But not answered.

It’s time for some changes. How do we call for an early election? Heaven help us if we have to repeat the last election process and its toxic venom, but yet, as we continue not to get answers to pressing questions regarding the recent scandal, maybe we just have to start seriously advocating for a complete overhaul.

Whether within or without self-regulation, but either way the bar’s patience has worn very thin.

We are looking for help, for support, for meaningful dialogue on the real issues facing our clients and the profession. We are trying to help the Society to protect the public through providing us genuine guidance and support to prevent and effectively address concerns arising from practitioner overwhelm, burn-out, serious mental health issues and the like.

And all I see is we are thwarted at every turn, even where we are doing are best to be involved, attentive and proactive in the interest of all concerned. We really do deserve better.