Nova Scotia Barristers Society

The Bar Society’s governing council — ‘We’re supposed to be lawyers?’

Three-hour meetings have turned into seven-hour screaming matches with official agendas abandoned… Confidential deliberations have been leaked to the media before the minutes can be distributed… It’s like high school but not as much fun. Can even Doug Ruck save the provincial bar society from itself? It only feels like I’ve been writing about the […]

Turmoil at the Nova Scotia Barristers Society, Take 32

The case of the “disappeared” governance review. And so it continues. According to a new report on the inner workings of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, “some council members are so concerned with being heard that they cannot listen… New members often feel dismissed and disrespected… Some members are focused on who speaks rather than […]

Should Nova Scotia lawyers really be allowed to regulate themselves?

Not based on the actions of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society over the past two years. Perhaps it’s time we followed the path of most Commonwealth countries and decided it’s time — past time — to reconsider letting lawyers be their own judges. A word of advice. You should avoid standing in front of the […]

Turmoil continues at the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society

Two more members of the society’s council resigned this month as the self-governing organization charged with regulating the legal profession continues to grapple with accusations of systemic discrimination in its ranks. I am writing to provide my notice of resignation from [the Bar Society] Council, effective immediately. I am resigning as a result of the […]

White lawyer Nash Brogan and Black lawyer Lyle Howe are each charged with professional misconduct, but the Barristers Society is treating Nash with kid gloves while throwing the book at Howe

What’s the difference between a 71-year-old white lawyer charged with professional misconduct and incompetence, and a 29-year-old Black lawyer accused of the same? Interesting question. The allegations against “Sydney’s senior lawyer,” 71-year-old Nash Terrance Brogan, seem, on the face of them, serious matters. According to a bill of particulars filed against him in August by […]

The ‘quiet’ turmoil inside the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society

The society claims it wants to “eliminate or mitigate systemic discrimination” in its organization. But will it really come to terms with its Lyle Howe legacy? “There’s something happening here,” Stephen Stills once wrote. “What it is ain’t exactly clear.” Here in this case is inside the traditionally somnambulant corridors of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ […]

Reckoning with racism

Following the death of George Floyd, the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society joined much of the rest of the world in declaring itself against anti-Black racism. But the society now must grapple with its own recent history and what lawyer Laura McCarthy calls the “discrimination dirt still under their rug.” On June 3, 2020, the Nova […]

Who’s going to fix our broken criminal justice system?

This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner on July 30, 2017. “The evidence has therefore made it clear to us that it can be unfair to expect that a brass knuckle possession, or breach of recognizance, or theft-under file for a repeat offender currently in custody being dealt with on a legal aid certificate will […]

The Lyle Howe case: guilty, but…

This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner July 24, 2017. The CBC headline — “Halifax Lawyer Lyle Howe Found Guilty of Professional Misconduct, Incompetence” — was simple. And it is accurate. So far as it goes. But the actual 140-page decision by a disciplinary panel… IN THE MATTER OF: The Legal Profession Act, S.N.S. 2004, […]

Lyle Howe and the bar society’s Plan B

(This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner on April 24, 2017) If you fear you might not succeed on your first try, you should have a Plan B already neatly tucked in your back pocket. In advance. Just in case. That would seem to be the way the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society is now approaching […]