Gary Joseph | Nov 2022

This article was originally published by The Lawyer’s Daily (www.thelawyersdaily.ca), part of LexisNexis Canada Inc.

I suspect not many of my colleagues are following the machinations of the Law Society of Ontario (remember it used to be called the Law Society of Upper Canada but changed its name to now sound like a beer store) in its dealings with the designation of “certified specialist” for some of its members (apparently only two percent). Some months ago, a notice was provided to us certified specialists that as of Jan. 1, 2023, we had to drop that designation from all of our letters, cards, e-mails and publications. We could no longer call ourselves specialists.

I will not try to replicate the eloquence and precision of an article on this topic written by immigration law specialists David Garson and Betsy Kane, published Oct. 26, 2022, on the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association website. Suffice to say that these skilled lawyers take apart the LSO’s position on this topic piece by piece leaving it exposed for it truly is, a politically motivated decision in step with the LSO’s “wokeness.”

A tidal wave of protest from specialists has caused the LSO to back down slightly and defer the decision for further study. I doubt greatly that they will abandon completely this further move to “sameness” among us all. Excellence and accomplishment are discouraged, likely a vestige of their view of unacceptable privilege. Rather than strict focus on its mandate to protect the public, the LSO is now in lock step with other social engineers.

When I started practice, I wanted very badly to be designated a QC. At the time, this represented to me excellence and skill in advocacy. When a woke left leaning government dropped the QC, I sought the specialist designation in family law and was delighted to achieve it. I know many of you will snicker at this and dismiss my goal as self serving … go ahead! To me there is nothing wrong with focus, goals and achievement. We need more of this rather than less and certainly within our profession and more so, within the family law practice.

The public would be better served by a law society focused more on excellence in the profession and less on political correctness. Shaming of excellence in practice by dismissing it as the home of the privileged is a mistake. Dumbing down in our profession is a mistake. In the upcoming bencher elections, take careful note of who you vote for and what they stand for. Perhaps it is not too late to reverse the current trend with the LSO and put it back on its past tradition of excellence.

Final note: This article is a poor attempt to protest this wrongheaded decision of the LSO. Read Garson and Kane’s Article!

Gary S. Joseph is the managing partner at MacDonald & Partners LLP. A certified specialist in family law, he has been reported in over 350 family law decisions at all court levels in Ontario and Alberta. He has also appeared as counsel in the Supreme Court of Canada. He is a past family law instructor of the Ontario Bar Admission course and the winner of the 2021 OBA Award for Excellence in Family Law.

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