Part of the cost of justice can be attributed to practices located at the limits of professional ethics: collusion among legal practitioners, increases in dubious expenses, undue consultancy fees, exploitation of individuals’ ignorance, institution of proceedings that could have been avoided through out-of-court settlement, initiation of proceedings in cases with clearly weak legal foundations, etc. There are probably similar problems in the notarial profession.
A study of the principal causes of complaints to the Syndic of the Barreau and the Chambre des Notaires, and of their outcomes, combined with a survey of practitioners, will complete this inventory and lead to redefinition of professional ethics training, especially in light of the ongoing reform of the Québec Code of ethics of advocates.
Researchers
Pierre Noreau
Director of ADAJ
Pierre-Claude Lafond
Researcher
Martine Valois
Researcher
Valérie Costanzo
Student researcher
