Election Results: Bencher Election 2019

The next bencher election for both lawyer and paralegal benchers is April 30, 2019.

Every lawyer licensee who on June 1, 2019 would not have held the office of elected bencher for 12 or more years and whose business address, or, where the licensee has no business address, home address, as indicated on the records of the Law Society, is within Ontario, and whose licence is not suspended at the time of signing the nomination form, can run for bencher.
 
Every paralegal licensee who on June 1, 2019 would not have held the office of bencher, whether elected or appointed, and/or the office of an appointed or elected member of the Paralegal Standing Committee for a total of 12 or more years and whose business address, or, where the licensee has no business address, home address, as indicated on the records of the Law Society, is within Ontario, and whose licence is not suspended at the time of signing the nomination form, can run for bencher.
 

Nomination forms are available on the Law Society website at www.lso.ca/bencher-election-2019
 

The Law Society will prepare a Voting Guide - one for lawyers and one for paralegals - that includes a photograph, brief biography, and election statement of each candidate. The Voting Guide will be available to voters online throughout the election. To be included in the Voting Guide, you must submit the following material in addition to the nomination form:

1. a colour photograph showing your head and shoulders. The image size must be as follows:
Width: minimum 1500 pixels [5 inches]
Height: minimum 2100 pixels [7 inches]
Horizontal/vertical resolution: 300 pixels
The image must be in jpg, tif or eps file format.

2. biographical information not exceeding 120 words, including headings.

3. an election statement not exceeding 350 words, including headings.
 
This material can be submitted to the Law Society as follows:

Submission of the completed Candidate Page Template that replicates the layout of the candidate page in the Voting Guide (see the sample candidate page). This can be used for the biographical information and election statement. The Template is available at www.lso.ca/bencher-election-2019. The photograph must be submitted with this Template as a separate file.

Submission of Individual Files for the biographical information, election statement and photograph, which the Law Society will use to format the candidate page. If you submit individual files, please do not format the page in accordance with the sample.

All candidate pages will be formatted identically, in accordance with the sample candidate page. Candidates are encouraged to use the Candidate Page Template available for download at www.lso.ca/bencher-election-2019
 
Biographical information and election statements must be submitted electronically using the Candidate Page Template or in individual files in MSWord format. Material in PDF format is not acceptable. Ensure that your name appears in all file names (surname – first name – doc), including the photograph (surname – first name – jpg), as follows:
Smithjohnbio
Smithjohnstatement
Smithjohnphoto
 
The photograph, biographical information and election statement must be sent by email to  bencherelection@lso.ca or delivered by USB memory stick.
 
This material must be received by the Office of the Elections Officer by 5:00 p.m. on February 8, 2019.

All election material and statements must be in good taste and comply with the Rules of Professional Conduct or the Paralegal Rules of Conduct, as the case may be.
 

Lawyer voters can cast up to 20 votes for candidates inside Toronto and up to 20 votes for candidates outside Toronto. Voters are not required to cast all 40 of their votes.
 
Paralegal voters can cast up to 5 votes for all candidates. Voters are not required to cast all 5 votes.
 

Eight lawyer candidates will be elected as regional benchers. The regional bencher is the lawyer candidate who receives the highest number of votes from lawyer voters in each of the eight electoral regions. The business addresses of regional benchers, or, where they have no business address, the home addresses of regional benchers, must be within the electoral regions in which they are elected.
 

A total of 40 lawyer benchers are elected - 20 from inside Toronto, and 20 from outside Toronto. A total of five paralegal benchers are elected.
 

The length of term for elected benchers is four years.
 

The amount of time benchers dedicate to Law Society business varies significantly from bencher to bencher. It is estimated that benchers dedicate an average of 31 days a year to the Law Society.
 

Half days and full days will count as one day of attendance until a bencher has exceeded the 26-day deductible for each remuneration cycle. The remuneration cycle will be based on the bencher year, not the calendar year.
 

Benchers are reimbursed for reasonable expenses incurred in conducting Law Society business.