Administrative Law
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Our firm has broad experience in regulatory matters. We have worked with regulators, investigators, and committees, including registration and discipline hearing panels, and quality assurance panels. We provide governance advice to boards and committees, and represent regulatory bodies in judicial reviews, board reviews and appeals. We have worked in many professions, including legal, education, health, finance, and environmental.
General Counsel
To deal with the growing complexity of professional regulation, regulatory bodies regularly utilize general counsel services to assist them in governing with a focus on the public interest, procedural fairness, and transparency. Ng Ariss Fong provides a range of services to regulatory bodies, including
- analyzing and advising on legislative changes,
- designing, writing and amending bylaws, standards, policies and procedures,
- training committee members and staff,
- writing and advising on manuals, forms, brochures, and other written materials,
- assisting in strategic planning,
- assisting with the many legal issues which can routinely arise at different stages of the regulatory process, including certification, quality assurance, complaints and investigations, consensual resolutions, disciplinary and competence hearings, and name publication,
- privacy and freedom of information, and
- responding to court actions, judicial reviews and appeals.
Prosecution Counsel
In any disciplinary process, there is typically an investigation stage, and if warranted, a disciplinary or competence hearing. Ng Ariss Fong can assist regulatory bodies and their general counsel at all these stages, including
- performing investigations,
- assessing if a matter should proceed to a hearing,
- settlement or consensual resolution negotiations,
- preparing cases for hearing, including drafting charges or citations, evidence gathering, preparing witnesses, strategic planning and legal research,
- ensuring that procedural fairness is accorded to respondents throughout the complaint and hearing process, including adequate notice, full disclosure, and a full opportunity to respond,
- acting as prosecution counsel at hearings, and
- representing regulatory bodies in judicial reviews and appeals.
Public Interest Counsel
During registration and investigation processes, committees often require that legal counsel articulate the “public interest” perspective for why a registration committee should not grant registration to an application, or why an inquiry committee should take extraordinary action while it investigates a respondent. Ng Ariss Fong assists these committees by acting as “public interest” counsel to refine and articulate issues that must be addressed by committees, and applicants or respondents with a focus on the public interest, procedural fairness, and transparency. Ng Ariss Fong provides a range of services to regulatory bodies, including
- analyzing and advising on legislative changes,
- designing, writing and amending bylaws, standards, policies and procedures,
- training committee members and staff,
- writing and advising on manuals, forms, brochures, and other written materials,
- assisting in strategic planning,
- assisting with the many legal issues which can routinely arise at different stages of the regulatory process, including certification, quality assurance, complaints and investigations, consensual resolutions, disciplinary and competence hearings, and name publication,
- privacy and freedom of information, and
- responding to court actions, judicial reviews and appeals.
Independent Hearing Counsel
Formal inquiries are adversarial proceedings which place great demands on members of hearing panels who may need legal expertise to assist in their duties. Independent hearing counsel is appropriate for such guidance, to assure no appearance of bias that might arise from the inappropriate use of general counsel. Ng Ariss Fong can provide advice concerning the procedure, evidence, administrative law, and the sufficiency of reasons.
Manuals and Training
Ng Ariss Fong provides manuals to assist committees and boards, as well as training sessions. We have ready-made training sessions and manuals and we can also customize them.
