Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 4, Exemptions from the Right of Access. Updated 24 July 2025. 265 A communication is the process of bringing an idea to another’s perception; the message or ideas so expressed or exchanged; the interchange of messages or ideas by speech, writing, gestures or conduct.898 The government institution should make it clear who the solicitor is and who the client is. Solicitor means a lawyer who is duly admitted as a member and whose right to practice is not suspended.899 Lawyer means a member of the Law Society and includes a law student registered in the Society’s pre-call training program.900 Client means a person who: • Consults a lawyer and on whose behalf the lawyer renders or agrees to render legal services; or • Having consulted the lawyer, reasonably concludes that the lawyer has agreed to render legal services on his or her behalf; and includes a client of the law firm of which the lawyer is a partner or associate, whether or not the lawyer handles the client’s work.901 This provision ensures that a government institution, as the client, has the same protection for its legal documents as persons in the private sector. Whether a solicitor-client relationship exists is a fact driven and multifaceted analysis. Sometimes, it will be readily apparent that a retainer exists. Other times, a careful examination of the facts must be undertaken.902 It is not necessary that a person formally retain a lawyer by way of letter or other document before a solicitor-client relationship can be found. Nor is it necessary that an account be rendered by the lawyer or that an account be paid. There are certain indicia that may or may not determine that such a relationship exists. These include: • A contract or retainer. • A file opened by the lawyer. • Meetings between the lawyer and the party. • Correspondence between the lawyer and the party. • A bill rendered by the lawyer to the party. 898 Garner, Bryan A., 2019. Black’s Law Dictionary, 11th Edition. St. Paul, Minn.: West Group at p. 348. 899 The Legal Profession Act, 1990, SS 1990-91, c L-10.1 at s. 87. 900 Law Society of Saskatchewan, Code of Professional Conduct at p. 13, Definitions. 901 Law Society of Saskatchewan, Code of Professional Conduct at p. 10, Definitions. 902 Trillium Motor World Ltd. v. General Motors of Canada Limited¸2015 ONSC 3824 (CanLII) at [417].
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