The Canadian Bar Association (BC) Benevolent Society provides assistance to lawyers and articling students who have suffered an illness or injury.
SEEKING HELP?
The Society exists to respond discretely to a crisis in a lawyer’s or articled student’s life, and to provide emergency funding and a measure of dignity to the applicant and their family. Directors assess an applicant’s circumstances within one week and, if they fit the society’s mandate, financial support (benevolence) comes quickly.
Addiction, depression, injury and illness are some of the underlying problems that have led to financial devastation and ultimately a request for monetary assistance. Despite the mythology and the fancy education, lawyers often have nowhere to turn when a problem becomes a crisis. Fortunes can turn very quickly, and the progressive impact of alcohol, drugs, stress, or other unforeseeable health reversals can eliminate a lawyer’s means of survival.
If you or someone in the profession needs help, please consider reaching out. Email your request to BenevolentSociety@cbabc.org.
LOOKING TO SUPPORT THE SOCIETY?
Battle of the Bar Bands is the society’s annual fundraiser where lawyers and law students perform to aid colleagues in the profession. Events happen in Vancouver, Victoria and other locations.