Law Society Assailed

Libertarian Supper Club
June 1981

Jack James, Vancouver lawyer and outspoken critic of the Law Society of B.C.'s position on advertising, thoroughly entertained and enlightened an audience of 23 at the third meeting of the Libertarian Supper Club on May 29.

James started with a chronological account of the battles of his friend and fellow lawyer Don Jabour and himself against the Society. Jabour was the first to be prosecuted for advertising. And he was acquitted. This prompted James to place a few ads in newspapers to launch the "Law Shoppe".

But Jabour's acquittal was appealed and overturned and James in turn was also charged. He was convicted of "conduct unbecoming a member of the Law Society" and fined for advertising. He was later charged with having a corporate logo. James pointed out the hypocrisy of this charge by showing the audience a letter on Law Society letterhead. Lo and behold, it had a logo at the top.

But the harassment was not to stop. James was told he could not use "The Law Shoppe" as a trade name for his practice. The word "shoppe" smacked of crass commercialism, and was unacceptable to the stuffed shirt hierarchy of the Law Society.

However, James also owns Self-Council Press, which publishes books on law for the layman. To get around the ban on the use of the trade name "The Law Shoppe" James retained it as the name for a book store. His law practice, under the designation "Jack James, Attorney" operates out of offices at the back of "The Law Shoppe". A sign inside the store distinguishes between the two. As the Law Society has no jurisdiction over book stores, the shop remains in business. "If they wanted to play silly games," said James, "I decided to oblige."

James also related how the Law Society cracked down on an entertaining fellow who financed divorces and hired a lawyer to do the legal work. The Society forbade the lawyer from doing business with the financier by passing a regulation prohibiting "steerage."

The relationship between James and the Law Shoppe is not one of steerage, however and plans are underway for the store to advertise. One advertising slogan being considered is "We may not with your case for you, but we'll lose it for less!" How the Law Society handles this will be interesting to watch.

After his talk, James answered questions. As a prelude to criticism of James' support for mandatory membership in the Society, despite its failings, Walter Block praised James for integrating a principled stand into his business operation. James protested that he wasn't acting out of particular devotion to principle but because he hoped to "make a good buck" doing so. His honest and blunt response was greeted with enthusiastic applause from the audience and a comment that "making a buck" was an honorable principle in itself.

Coming back to his criticism, Walter compared James' attempts at reforming the Law Society to the complaint of the gallery slave who called for softer whips rather than for the abolition of slavery. The abolition of compulsory membership in the Society is the only permanent method of eliminating abuses by the Society, it was suggested.

Walter also insisted that James was, in fact, acting on principles other than simply "making a buck", and ofered that James might be making more money by following the establishment route. James conceded that this might be so but, he said, "it wouldn't be nearly as much fun!"

On that note an entertaining evening drew to a close.