Legal ethics and professional responsibility have become increasingly important not only in legal education but also in the professional lives of lawyers and judges. Thanks to McCarthy Tétrault LLP, new Queen’s Law students got an overview on the topic from experts representing different aspects of the profession.

As part of the McCarthy Tétrault LLP Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Program, PhD in Law candidate Tom Harrison, Law’01 (Artsci’89), a McCarthy Fellow and the program director, organized a panel discussion on Sept. 11. Professor Art Cockfield, Law’93, was moderator to the panel that included:

• Justice Brian Abrams, Law’96, of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Kingston.
• Michele Leering, Executive Director of the Community Advocacy and Legal Centre in Belleville, and a PhD in Law candidate at Queen’s.
• Professor Allan Manson, a national expert in criminal law and a former judge.
• Malcom Mercer, a partner and counsel with McCarthy Tétrault, and a bencher with the Law Society of Upper Canada.

“The panelists agreed that access to justice is a key challenge for the legal profession,” says Cockfield, “and that ethical practice and good lawyering go hand-in-hand.”

The panel discussion was just a warm-up for the program’s major event: the Annual Lecture to be held early in 2016 featuring Justice Thomas Cromwell, Law’76, LLD’10 (Mus’73), of the Supreme Court of Canada.