Verified Test Bank Chapter 6 Law, Lawyers & Legal Change

Chapter 6

The Study of Law, Lawyers, and Judges: The Changing Face of the Legal Profession

TRUE/FALSE

1. According to the Department of Law at Carleton University, legal studies focus on the complex nature of interactions between law and other social fields.

2. Immediately following the First World War the Law Society of Upper Canada determined that the best way to educate lawyers was to have them attend law schools and then take entrance examinations before being admitted to the profession.

3. By the 1960s the teaching of law moved to the university-based model in faculties approved by provincial law societies.

4. In 1950, there were fewer than 50 law professors in Canada.

5. Canadian law schools only accept applicants based on GPA and LSAT scores.

6. Given that there is great rigidity in the use of the LSAT and GPAs as measures for admission to law schools, prospective students, lawyers, and legal academics uncritically support the objectivity in admissions created by these requirements.

7. Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, specifically forbids affirmative action programs.

8. Women are considerably under represented in the number of recent graduates from law schools making up only 10 percent of total.

9. Upon graduation from the three-year law school program, a person is admitted to membership in the legal profession and is then a fully licensed lawyer.

10. F. M. Kay and J. Brockman assert that “Men are leaving the law profession in greater numbers than women.”

ANS. F

11. The pre-1949 structure of apprenticeship in the law and the current, articling after law school and bar admission are designed to test the technical skills of a prospective lawyer.

12. Provincial governments have an obligation to set guidelines for the conduct of lawyers.

13. The Canadian Bar Association Model Code of Professional Conduct was amended in 2017.

14. In general, lawyers caught using illegal drugs have been disbarred by their provincial law societies.

15. Provincial Law Societies treat criminal convictions for drug use more seriously than the misappropriation of client’s trust funds.

16. Since the 1960s, there have been fewer rewards for lawyers representing the interests of the disadvantaged and the middle class.

17. Paralegals in Ontario are not regulated by the provincial law society.

18. The Canadian Judicial Council removed British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Thomas Berger from the bench for making controversial statements about the Federal Government’s policies concerning First Nations peoples in Canada.

19. Members of the Canadian judiciary are chosen from a broad range of socioeconomic backgrounds and a broad range of diverse social opinions.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Nobel prize winning economist, Amartya Sen states that a just society needs which three things?

a. peace, order, and good government

b. legislative bodies, police agencies, and a free press

c. economic justice, social justice, and freedom

d. just laws, strong institutions, and actual justice for its citizens

2. Why is preferential treatment or affirmative action in law school admissions not considered reverse discrimination in Canada?

a. The courts have, in case law, approved it.

b. The Charter, section 15 (2), states that the amelioration of the disadvantaged is permitted.

c. The Parliament of Canada has passed ordinary legislation making it so.

d. Public opinion demanded it.

3. Which statement best describes the LSAT?

a. It’s a Canadian-based aptitude test.

b. It’s an American-based aptitude test.

c. It’s a Canadian-based intelligent quotient test.

d. It’s an American-based intelligent quotient test.

4. Which statement best exemplifies the outcome of using non-traditional criteria to admit law school applicants?

a. It appears to have worked well.

b. It has been ignored by admissions committees.

c. It has resulted in reverse discrimination.

d. It has not been employed by the majority of Canadian law schools.

5. Why has the LSAT been difficult to remove from the law school admissions process?

a. Cultural attitudes are universal.

b. Subjective standards can be easily substituted.

c. Useful, fair alternatives are difficult to achieve.

d. Interviews and lottery methods are tried and true options.

6. Some people have argued that law school admission should be based on interviews of potential candidates. Which statement best explains why others argue that this process would be unacceptable?

a. It constitutes reverse discrimination.

b. Some people simply do not do well on interviews.

c. Interviews are too subjective a way to measure an applicant’s potential.

d. Interviews require people to make a good first impression and some people are too nervous to create the necessary positive impression.

7. Which statement best explains why there are now exponentially more lawyers per capita in Canada than there were 40 years ago?

a. University education is much more affordable and accessible than it was in the past.

b. Students feel that they do not have satisfactory career options with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

c. Students are more heavily influenced by television shows that make the practice of law appear glamorous.

d. Lives are more complicated now and there is a greater need for people to draft legislation and resolve disputes.

8. What does “black letter law” refers to?

a. the technical and procedural skill training for a lawyer

b. the theoretical and philosophical discussion of the law

c. a declaration of values and principles

c. none of the above

9. Which statement best exemplifies law students’ argument about curriculum content?

a. The legal practice should be analyzed and contemplated.

b. The role of legal education centres on society and the law.

c. Only social and economic contexts of the law should be taught.

d. Legal education should include practice skills and practical abilities.

10. What is the effect of the Charter on legal education and practise?

a. It increases media scrutiny directed towards the legal profession.

b. It forces lawyers to litigate the values of the nation.

c. It has increased the number of lawyers in Canada.

d. It makes Canadians better informed about their rights and challenges lawyers to debate the principles of law more articulately

11. The LL.B. degree is now known as:

a. Bachelor of Legal Studies

b. Doctor of Laws

c. Juris Doctor

d. All of the Above

12. Which of the following popular images of the Canadian lawyer is most widely held?

a. general practitioner

b. corporate counsel

c. attorney-at-law

d. courtroom advocate

13. According to a survey of private practice lawyers in the United States, how often are these lawyers in court?

a. 5 percent of their time

b. 25 percent of their time

c. 33 1/3 percent of their time

d. 50 percent of their time

14. Which statement exemplifies the finding of a Canadian Bar Association task force investigating gender equality?

a. Most female lawyers choose to not have children.

b. Canadian law societies strongly encourage workplace daycare programmes.

c. Female lawyers with child-care responsibilities are discriminated against.

d. The legal profession is, by comparison to other professions, very accommodating toward female lawyers with child-care responsibilities.

15. Which statement best describes the end result for lawyers who fail to comply with the rules in the Canadian Bar Association’s Code of Professional Conduct?

a. They will be disbarred.

b. They will be convicted of misrepresentation and fraud and tried under the Criminal Code.

c. They will be disciplined only if the Code has been adopted by the Law Society in their jurisdiction.

d. They will be forced to write a series of examinations to demonstrate that they know the laws in Canada.

16. Approximately how many lawyers are disciplined annually by the Law Society in Ontario?

a. 100 lawyers.

b. 1,000 lawyers

c. 2,000 lawyers

d. 5 lawyers

17. What is the likely consequence for lawyers who are dishonest and misappropriate trust funds.

a. They will be disbarred.

b. They will not be disbarred.

c. They will be required to disclose the charges to any future prospective clients.

d. They will be required to provide a minimum of 300 hours of free legal services.

18. Some provincial law societies allow lawyers to charge “contingency fees.” What is a contingency fee?

a. a fee calculated as a percentage of the plaintiff’s successful settlement recovery

b. a fee charged to cover the cost of the lawyer’s out-of-pocket expenses

c. extraordinary fees charged to clients whose legal problems are especially complex

d. a fee added as a percentage to every client’s bill which is remitted to the law societies to create a “contingency fund” for professional misconduct

19. In which of the following are paralegals in Ontario authorized to represent someone?

a. small claims court

b. provincial court/provincial offences

c. administrative tribunals

d. all of the above

20. Which statement best describes the problems with the two models of judicial recruitment?

a. Judicial independence is confused with judicial impartiality.

b. Judges are impartial in the United States but not in Canada.

c. Judges never apply personal prejudice or experience to decision making.

d. Judicial councils must have more power to deal with politically biased judges.

ESSAY

1. There has been a long-standing debate in the legal profession about the direction that legal training should take. Should it be an interdisciplinary, academic study where lawyers are trained in jurisprudence, or should it be technically-oriented where lawyers are taught legal procedure and practice skills? What are the differences between these two approaches to legal education? Which would you argue best satisfies the needs of the Canadian public?

2. The discussion of values and principles that underlie specific forms of law is relevant only if it enhances the law student’s effectiveness as a practitioner. Discuss.

3. What has been the reasoning and impact of affirmative action and other non-traditional criteria to law school admissions in Canada?

4. The CBA draft code and the provincial law societies Codes of Professional Conduct describe certain conduct that represent lapses of integrity. Demonstrate how these lapses might affect public confidence in the legal profession.

5. What are the implications of a self-governing legal profession? Make the case for an independent entity.

6. Contrast the methods of judicial recruitment in Canada and the United States.