Emergency Remote Client ID in Nova Scotia Coming to an End. We’ll Be Ready.
In late 2023, the Nova Scotia Federation of Law Societies (FLS) clarified its position regarding the use of special technology products for remote client identification. Why? It’s the law in Canada that when a lawyer is hired for legal services involving the transfer, paying or receiving of funds, they must confirm the client’s identity in person.
The specific rules vary from province to province but are federal. The reason they exist is to curtail financial fraud as detailed in the 2000 Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.
Many clients and lawyers viewed such in-person meetings as an inconvenience. However, the pandemic made these meetings risky for both parties.
As an emergency stopgap throughout the country, lawyers were permitted to complete the meeting process via flexible and easy-to-use on-screen technologies we’ve all become comfortable with, from Zoom and Google Meet to MS Teams. However, that flexibility comes to an end in Nova Scotia on March 31, 2024.
As of April 1, 2024, it gets more complicated to authenticate.
After the stopgap easing ends, Nova Scotian lawyers must re-establish in-person meetings or implement authentication technologies designed to identify the nuances of government-issued ID. (Other solutions exist beyond the face-to-face and tech options. You can read more about the FLS’s announcement in the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society’s (NSBS) official Notice to the Profession from. NSBS published an update available here on December 29, 2023.)
Now lawyers can use technologies specifically developed to authenticate ID remotely. Some provinces’ professional associations provide their members with a list of approved vendors of such technology. An industry innovator from the beginning, LDD is leading the way.
However, NSBS does not yet endorse any vendors. It leaves the onus on the lawyer to decide whether to use remote authentication services and which to choose. The choice would have to satisfy the lawyer’s legal burden to verify the client’s identity.
LDD’s ClientConnect™ continues to grow among Canadian legal practices.
Good news: our easy-to-use ClientConnect is coming to Nova Scotia.
Lawyers, understandably concerned about the responsibility of ID verification, can find assurance in the fact that our authentication technology complies with the standards set by both the Law Society of Ontario and NSBS. We are actively working on adapting ClientConnect for the Nova Scotia market, and upon its release, it will meet the compliance requirements of the NSBS.
You can do more than just confirm ID with ClientConnect:
Arrange, manage and host online meetings securely
Exchange important documents securely with clients
Sign and submit written retainer agreements
All with a simple and secure login process. Plus more features constantly on the way, ClientConnect is excellent value for Nova Scotian real estate lawyers. Learn more or sign up here.