Government Lawyering: Duties and Ethical Challenges of Government Lawyers
May 27, 2021 | 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM Eastern
Zoom Meeting
Government Lawyering: Duties and Ethical Challenges of Government Lawyers will address the range of duties imposed on government lawyers, including the typical professional and common law duties shared with lawyers in private practice, as well as the additional public law and public service duties unique to government lawyers. These additional public law duties prompt a number of ethical challenges which are explored through an examination of the principle of independence, the practical implications of being “guardian of the rule of law and public interest” and the dilemma of determining who is the client.
Moderator
Melanie Mortensen, Legislative Counsel & Designated Deputy Chief Legislative Counsel for Members’ Drafting, British Columbia Ministry of Attorney General
Speaker
Elizabeth Sanderson
After well over 30 years in increasingly senior positions in Justice Canada, Elizabeth Sanderson was Nunavut's Deputy Minister of Justice from 2014 until January, 2016. She currently teaches Public and Constitutional Law at the University of Ottawa Common Law School.
She is the author of Government Lawyering: Duties and Ethical Challenges of Government Lawyers (LexisNexis, Toronto: September, 2018). She has presented her book’s conclusions across Canada, including to the June, 2019 Conférence des Jurists d’État du Barreau de Québec et du Ministère de la Justice (Québec); Canadian Association of Crown Counsels; and Conference of the Association of Law Officers of the Crown (Ontario); Justice Canada; and to B.C Ministry of the Attorney General and Alberta Ministry of Justice.
