Professional inspections and professional law
Dubé Legal inc., professional inspection and professional lawyers.
Our law firm provides legal representation in hearings, regarding professional law, held before the Professional inspection committee or the board of directors. Simarly, Dubé Légal inc. advises many professionnals (engineers, veterinarians, notaries, dentists, opticians, optometrists, chartered professional accountants, lawyers, brokers, financial advisors, etc.) who are the object of a professional inspection or are subject to a number of recommendations resulting from said inspection.
A lawyer working in professional law can help you present your observations to the professional inspection committee and/or the board of directors in order to contest the recommendations made by the committee and demonstrate your professional compentencies. An expert report will often be useful in this situation.
During professional inspections, the inspectors and their accompanying experts, as the case may be, must respect the regulation regarding the professional inspection procedure adopted by the order. Failing this, they risk exceeding their competencies, which may justify a judicial review of the inspection before the Superior Court of Québec. Our offices often represent professionals in this particular situation.
PROFESSIONAL INSPECTION
The primary goal of any given professional order is the protection of the public. Professional inspection contributes to the meeting of this goal through means of prevention, whereas disciplinary inquiry meets this very same goal by means of dissuasion.
A professional inspection committee is established within each order. According to section 112 of the Professional Code, this committee may supervise the professional practice and ability of an order’s members by "inspecting their records, books, registers, medications, poisons, products, substances, apparatus and equipment relating to their professional practice, and inspecting the property entrusted to them by their clients or other persons." The committee inspects at the request of the board of directors or on its own initiative. If ever the initial inspection reveals problems regarding the professional's competence, the professional commitee can proceed to a second, more in-depth, inspection.
Once the professional inspection is completed, the committee must report to the board of directors and make any recommendations that it deems appropriate in the circumstances. As is provided by section 113 of the Professional Code, it is sometimes necessary that the committee recommend to the board of directors that it require that the member in question successfully complete a period of refresher training, in which case the right of that member to engage in professional activities may be restricted or suspended until his training is done.
Before both the professional inspection committee and the order's board of directors, the professional has the right to be represented by a lawyer in order to present his observations in regards to the recommendations made.
