Bar association tried to muscle us, says Maclean's editor

Maclean's editor in chief Ken Whyte has come out swinging against the law community's criticism of last week's "Lawyers are rats" cover. He says in a press release that the Canadian Bar Association tried to pressure Maclean's's parent companies, Rogers Communications and Rogers Publishing, to force an apology. Likely to stoke, rather than bank, the fires is the following comment:

That the CBA would refuse to debate the serious issues raised by our piece and instead try to -- let's put the best face on this -- use its financial muscle to purchase an apology from us rather confirms the sentiment of our cover line.

This apparently refers to the longstanding 50:50 partnership between Rogers and the Canadian Bar Association in publishing The National, the organization's official periodical. Rogers handles publication and advertising sales.

Unusually, the magazine published its editorial in a press release simultaneous with publication. This was its conclusion:

Our interview broke through the wall. And, yes, our headline was tough, but one of the bright consistent threads through the literature on the problems of the Canadian legal profession is that legal professionals are more interested in maintaining a lucrative status quo than in confronting the need to reform. You have to shout, in such circumstances, to get their attention.

The Maclean's response to the furious reactions of the legal community about its cover story interview with author and legal scholar Philip Slayton, was to publish the lengthy editorial explaining why the magazine won't apologize for what it said. It also carries a full page response from the Canadian Bar Association and a slew of letters from lawyers.

The editorial said the magazine had misgivings about the headline, but concluded that the line was a reasonable reflection of Mr. Slayton's views,

and that what he has to say is newsworthy -- it's not every day that an intelligent, sincere, and accomplished individual who has given his entire working life to legal work and education takes the trouble to call out his profession.