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BC lawyers face obscenities, death threats at work
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Karen Brown, 604.274.4497 (h), 604.418.0552 (cell); knbrown@shaw.ca
Stuart Colcleugh, Media & PR, 604.291.3035
Karen Brown, 604.274.4497 (h), 604.418.0552 (cell); knbrown@shaw.ca
Stuart Colcleugh, Media & PR, 604.291.3035
January 20, 2006
Close to 60 per cent of BC's lawyers have experienced work-related abuse ranging from verbal obscenities to outright death threats, according to a Simon Fraser University survey.
And while the survey of BC lawyers by PhD criminology student Karen Brown found that only one per cent of the 1,152 respondents said they had actually been physically assaulted on the job, almost 10 per cent said they had been approached inappropriately.
“It's definitely no joke,” says Brown, echoing the Canadian Bar Association, which last summer issued a personal safety handbook to its members citing increasing violence against lawyers as one of the most urgent issues facing the profession.
Brown's survey revealed that family and criminal defence lawyers and prosecutors are at the greatest risk. But lawyers of every stripe reported threats and/or violence, including a surprising 78 per cent of administrative or corporate attorneys and 63 per cent of labour/human rights lawyers. A roughly equal number of male and female lawyers reported threatening incidents, but more female lawyers said they had altered their business conduct as a result.
Issues involving “money, family matters or serious and potential lifestyle changes,” trigger most incidents, says Brown. But the 25 lawyers she interviewed in addition to the survey offered more general reasons for the problem, including frustration with the legal process and the judicial system, a misunderstanding of Canadian laws, and the inability of people to blame themselves for their legal problems.
Brown also points to the public's increased awareness of lawyers in recent years - whether in commercials, in the news or on TV crime dramas - theorizing that familiarity has bred contempt for the profession. “The legal profession has moved away from long established traditions and canons of professional ethics, thus vacating a professional paradigm and adopting a business approach, which may explain why the public doesn't respect the profession like it used to.”
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Website:
Canadian Bar Association; www.cba.org/CBA/Home.asp
And while the survey of BC lawyers by PhD criminology student Karen Brown found that only one per cent of the 1,152 respondents said they had actually been physically assaulted on the job, almost 10 per cent said they had been approached inappropriately.
“It's definitely no joke,” says Brown, echoing the Canadian Bar Association, which last summer issued a personal safety handbook to its members citing increasing violence against lawyers as one of the most urgent issues facing the profession.
Brown's survey revealed that family and criminal defence lawyers and prosecutors are at the greatest risk. But lawyers of every stripe reported threats and/or violence, including a surprising 78 per cent of administrative or corporate attorneys and 63 per cent of labour/human rights lawyers. A roughly equal number of male and female lawyers reported threatening incidents, but more female lawyers said they had altered their business conduct as a result.
Issues involving “money, family matters or serious and potential lifestyle changes,” trigger most incidents, says Brown. But the 25 lawyers she interviewed in addition to the survey offered more general reasons for the problem, including frustration with the legal process and the judicial system, a misunderstanding of Canadian laws, and the inability of people to blame themselves for their legal problems.
Brown also points to the public's increased awareness of lawyers in recent years - whether in commercials, in the news or on TV crime dramas - theorizing that familiarity has bred contempt for the profession. “The legal profession has moved away from long established traditions and canons of professional ethics, thus vacating a professional paradigm and adopting a business approach, which may explain why the public doesn't respect the profession like it used to.”
-30-
Website:
Canadian Bar Association; www.cba.org/CBA/Home.asp