Licensing > Professional Responsibility 

All lawyers practising in Nova Scotia are members of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society. The Society maintains ethical standards which are set out in the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society’s Legal Ethics Handbook. If a lawyer breaches the Rules set out in the Handbook, the lawyer can be disciplined. The role of the Complaints Investigation Committee is to investigate complaints against members and work to resolve those complaints or direct the Executive Director to lay a formal charge against the member. The Hearing Committee will hear the charges and evidence and may take steps to sanction the member – up to and including disbarment.

The staff of the Professional Responsibility Department deal with the initial intake of complaints and work with various committees to resolve issues and support the work of those committees.

Guidelines for Suspended Members

Guidelines - Ethics and New Technology
Approved by Council on May 25, 2001 – With the ever-increasing impact of technology on the practice of law, a lawyer using technology must either have reasonable understanding of the technology used in the lawyer's practice, or access to someone who has such understanding.