April 25, 2024

Edward Choi will fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Cathi Mietkiewicz, in accordance with the LSO electoral process for bencher vacancies.

Foundations of Sole Practice (Practice Essentials Course) implementation: Convocation approved policy recommendations for the implementation of the Practice Essentials Course, which has been titled the Foundations of Sole Practice. The course will be mandatory for all licensees who declare as a sole practitioner for the first time, starting on January 1, 2025. Convocation has decided that:

• Licensees who complete the Foundations of Sole Practice will be permitted to use the Continuing Professional Development hours earned while completing the course towards their annual requirement for a total of two calendar years: the year in which they begin the course and the year after.
• December 31, 2026, will be the required completion date for licensees who declare as sole practitioners for the first time in 2025.
• For licensees who declare as sole practitioners for the first time in 2026 and beyond:
  • Anyone declaring on or before May 31 of each calendar year will have until December 31 of that same calendar year to complete the course.
  • Anyone declaring on or after June 1 of each calendar year will have until December 31 of the following calendar year to complete the course. 
• Licensees who fail to complete the Foundations of Sole Practice within the required time period will receive an administrative suspension.

Refer to the full report for more information.

Client Contingency Planning (Succession Planning): Convocation approved amendments to By-law 7.1 which implement a requirement for licensees in private practice to maintain a client contingency plan for their professional business.

The amendments will come into force on January 1, 2025 and will be reported in 2025 Annual Report Filings, which are required to be reported by March 31, 2026.

A full suite of resources, including a client contingency plan template, will be created or updated and individualized guidance and resources will be available. More information will be forthcoming.

For all of the details please refer to the report: Client Contingency Planning.

Futures Committee white paper: The Futures Committee released a white paper titled Licensee use of generative artificial intelligence, intended to help licensees better understand generative artificial intelligence (AI) and use it in an informed, productive manner.

Other decisions:

• Law Society annual financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2023 — approved
• Human Rights Monitoring Group request for intervention – Venezuela — approved
• Policy on bencher information requests — approved