Trinity Western gets $70K costs from Nova Scotia Barristers' Society

The Nova Scotia Barristers' Society has been ordered to pay $70,000 in legal fees to a Christian university that prohibits sexual intimacy outside heterosexual marriage.

A Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruling in January stopped the society from denying accreditation to graduates of Trinity Western University, saying it doesn't have the power to require law schools to change its religiously based code of conduct.

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In a decision on Tuesday, the court ordered the society to pay $70,000 in legal costs associated with the case.

The university had argued it should be reimbursed $120,000, while the society argued it shouldn't have to cover any legal fees.

The law society said last month that it is appealing the January court decision because it has a mandate to protect the public.

It said the ruling may prohibit it from continuing to take on a wider role in the promotion of equality in all aspects of its work, including in the administration of justice.