CBC Canada reports on yet another jurisdiction’s legal first in the time of coronavirus. Yest again what may have have taken years to discuss and agree on, has because of necessity, just happened with a minimum of fuss.
A big day for five lawyers in this province almost didn’t happen — because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Physical distancing prevented the lawyers, their families and friends from filling a courtroom at Supreme Court in St. John’s.
“This certainly hasn’t been done in our law society before, and to our knowledge it’s never been done in Canada,” said Brenda Grimes, executive director of the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador.
“It’s unique.”
The law society and the Supreme Court require that articling lawyers be present when they are called to the bar — an event that happens four times a year.
The problem is that the lawyers were in Conception Bay South, Steady Brook, Corner Brook, Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Toronto.
To make this one work, the law society, like many others trying to stay connected these days, set up a video-conference call.
“We were fortunate because we already had the technology in place to do this,” said Grimes
“We’ve been using Zoom technology video-conferencing technology for our Continuing Legal Education programs for quite some time and it’s working well for us.”
