The Role of The Director of Professional Conduct

As Director of Professional Conduct for the past 3½ years, I have fortunately only been made aware of a small number of complaints with regards to the conduct of our chapter’s membership.

Even more fortunately, none of these issues escalated to the point of sanctions by Advocis.

So rather than tell exciting tales of rogue advisors and shady reps (of which I have none) I thought that it would be beneficial to point out the how the disciplinary process works (from Advocis National website):

The Disciplinary Process Overview

As a condition of membership in Advocis, every member agrees to abide by the Advocis/CLU

Institute Code of Professional Conduct (CPC) and Disciplinary Procedures (DP).

Initiation

The Advocis/CLU Institute Disciplinary Procedures are initiated by a written Request for

Investigation (RFI) or a written complaint in the form of a letter submitted to Advocis National,

which contains allegations that an Advocis member has displayed conduct not in keeping with the

Advocis/CLU Institute Code of Professional Conduct.

Dispute Resolution

Upon staff review, Advocis staff may refer the matter to the local chapter for Dispute Resolution

in an attempt to help resolve the dispute or conflict between the two parties. Not all disciplinary

matters can be resolved through dispute resolution attempts. Where staff determine that the

member’s alleged conduct is not under jurisdiction of the Code of Professional Conduct, staff

may recommend Dispute Resolution attempts. A local volunteer will be appointed to act as a

facilitator between the two parties. Facilitators have no bearing on the outcome of a dispute

resolution attempt and have no decision-making authority except for stopping the process where

the facilitator feels that further attempts would be unsuccessful. The dispute resolution process

can be stopped at any time by either party or by the facilitator. Dispute Resolution attempts will

not result in the sanctioning of a member. Sanctions are only applied at the recommendation of a

Hearing Panel.

Hearing

An investigation into allegations is conducted in two stages. Advocis National staff conducts the

first review. The purpose of this review is to document the case and provide guidance to the

investigation process. For those matters either unresolved by Dispute Resolution attempts or

those cases referred by staff directly to a hearing, a Hearing Panel will investigate the matter by

collecting the facts.

Hearing Panel Findings and Determination

Upon the conclusion of a hearing, the Hearing Panel evaluates the facts of the matter and then

applies the facts to the Advocis/CLU Institute Code of Professional Conduct. A Hearing Panel

may recommend disciplinary sanctions.

Application of Sanctions

The CLU Institute Board of Trustees and the Advocis Board of Directors receive the

recommendation of a Hearing Panel for ratification of the application of recommended

sanctioning.

Appeal:

An Appeal Process is available at the Hearing Panel stage of the disciplinary process. There is no

appeal into the results of dispute resolution attempts or into the determination and

recommendations of a Board of Appeal.

I like to believe that we are all professionals, and that we all uphold the Advocis CPC.  In the unlikely event that a complaint is brought to your attention, please contact me and I will work with you to determine the appropriate course of action.

Sincerely,

Michael A. Healey, B.A., CFP, CLU, CHS

Vice-President / Director of Professional Conduct / Fellowship Committee Chair

Advocis Greater Vancouver