Model Code of Professional Conduct

Members of the legal profession in Canada are held to high standards of professional conduct enforced by the law societies through a robust complaints and discipline process.

To harmonize the rules of conduct across Canada, the law societies have collaborated, through the Federation, on the development of our Model Code of Professional Conduct (version with the most recent changes documented). An online tool, the Interactive Model Code, links each rule in the Model Code to the matching or related rule of every law society in Canada.

The Federation’s Standing Committee on the Model Code regularly reviews the rules to ensure they respond to best practices and emerging issues in legal practice and ethics. A consultation on draft amendments to the duty to report (Rule 7.1-3) in the Model Code is currently underway, with comments due by December 19, 2025. The consultation on draft amendments to the Model Code in response to the TRC’s Call to Action 27 closed on November 29, 2024. The feedback received is under review.