The tribunal was focused on streamlining the decision-making process
The Law Society of British Columbia Tribunal has released its 2024 annual report, which highlighted the body’s effort to streamline the process from citation issuance to final decision rendering.
The report revealed that in the last year, the timeliness of the tribunal’s decision-making process improved, with 86 percent of decisions rendered within 90 days from the last submission date. However, citation resolution times did not improve in that period.
The average timeframe from citation issuance to final decision was 2.6 years. The LSBC Tribunal said that it had implemented a new scheduling process for the hearing’s sanction phase; under the new process, the panel sets out available dates for the hearing when it issues its facts and determination decision. Parties have five days to respond to the pitched dates.
The tribunal rendered 49 decisions in 2024 within an average of 61 days from the last submission date. The body closed 26 disciplinary hearing files, with 17 resolved through disciplinary action and 9 either rescinded or concluded without a sanction hearing.
Overall, the LSBC Tribunal tackled 67 disciplinary, licensing, extraordinary action, and review files associated with 48 individuals involving more than 227 misconduct allegations. Claims related to the mishandling of client funds topped the list, making up 27 percent of allegations. Of the 48 individuals, 60 percent had a history of being disciplined; 83 percent were men; 73 percent had been practising for at least 10 years; and 67 percent were over 50 years old.
As per a survey conducted by the tribunal, most hearing participants and adjudicators favored in-person appearances for the evidentiary part of the hearing, with an option for witnesses to give testimony remotely as appropriate. The tribunal said that it planned to improve access to information on asking for presumptive hearing format changes in the event that parties disagreed; moreover, hearings with a duration of more than four days would presumptively take place in person. The LSBC Tribunal updated its larger hearing room for hybrid hearings and urged parties to consent or apply for in-person or hybrid hearings as appropriate.
For cost and time efficiency, respondents preferred that procedural matters, joint submissions, and legal arguments be handled through virtual hearings. Adjudicators also sought early access to filed documents while making sure that parties were able to object to their admission in a hearing. The tribunal said that it would remind parties to file materials in advance and urged them to agree to forwarding materials to the panel.
The LSBC Tribunal will evaluate and update instructional guides for electronic document uploads and virtual hearings as necessary, and participants have been encouraged to get platform use assistance from hearing clerks in advance.
