A few weeks ago, the Bar reacted epidermically to a proposal from the CAQ government: to allow notaries to become judges.
The opposite would have been surprising, given what the Bar is. Certainly, a professional order aimed at “defending the public”. But also, too often, an organization whose reflex is to defend its members against certain public decisions.
In 2016, the late Michel Nadeau, an expert in governance, vilified the Bar, during a commission examining professional orders. He had brandished the last delivery of the Bar Journal whose headline was “Will golf be tax deductible? “. Inside, a file on Barreau Day, but nothing, he lamented, on “the clients, the population who use [leurs] services “. He concluded, caustically: “The Bar is a big automobile club that sells services to its members to collect money to do, in quotation marks, the defense of the public. »
Flight of tickets
Lawyers who dream of a career in the judiciary are often active at the Bar. Very legit. But we imagine them worried to see a new category of lawyers aspire to the positions they covet.
At my QUB microphone on Monday, law professor Patrick Taillon was surprised at the arguments put forward by the Bar in opposition to notary-judges.
Lawyers have long looked down on notaries, even if both can claim the title of “masters”. “Legal veterinarians”, “second class lawyers”, etc. This transpires from the Barreau’s brief on Bill 8: “The skills or abilities acquired in 10 years are simply not comparable. »
However, the two professions have a common training. This includes “penal, criminal and youth law”, notes Taillon, contrary to what the Bar suggests. In addition, the professional training of the Chambre des notaires “is longer than that of the Bar”.
Features
The notary, a public officer specific to civil law, exists by virtue of the bijuralism characterizing Quebec (two systems: Latin civil law and English common law).
Notarial practice, Taillon pointed out, is not, unlike that of the lawyer, focused on litigation. His approach is therefore consistent with the shift that legislators from all parties have been trying to make the system take — to reduce delays — for a long time: conciliation. The notary must take into account the interests of all clients. The lawyer, on the other hand, defends that of his family by too often multiplying delaying strategies.
The Bar insists that notary-judges would risk “undermining the confidence of the public”. The notary is however “the player in the justice system who enjoys the highest level of trust among the population with a rate of 90.9%” (according to the Chamber of Notaries).
This is not the first corporate rejection of major reform by the Bar. He campaigned, noted Taillon, against the “no fault”, against the Small Claims Court. In 2018, he challenged the validity of all Quebec laws, the debates in the National Assembly not being “bilingual” enough for his taste!