by Mark Benton

This fall, the Legal Services Society (LSS) will complete a series of significant tariff improvements which we hope will encourage more private lawyers to participate in the legal aid system.

These are exciting and challenging times for legal aid in B.C. In addition to LSS’s work on the tariff renewal project, which began in 2004 with an extensive review of how we compensate lawyers, we have developed a number of successful and innovative programs for clients. This work has led us to ask some fundamental questions about the future of legal aid and, in particular, how we can ensure LSS’s clients are getting the results they want and need from LSS services.

First, a word about tariff renewal. The changes we’ve made range from expanding family law services, eliminating holdbacks and implementing tiered rates that recognize lawyers’ experience to adding quality assurance support and introducing new payments for services in all areas of law (see the report Overview of LSS Tariff Review and Renewal [www.lss.bc.ca/assets/for_lawyers/OverviewofLSSTariffReviewandRenewal2004-2007.pdf] on the LSS website for more details). Together, the value of these improvements is expected to reach about $13 – $14 million per year. We’re proud of this achievement, and pleased that the changes have met with widespread approval and appreciation from the legal profession.

But we’re not stopping there. We’ve learned important lessons from consultations with justice system service providers and evaluations of LSS’s newer programs, particularly LSS’s family law initiatives. For instance, we’ve discovered – much to even LSS’s surprise – that early intervention with limited information and advice from skilled lawyers very often results in speedy, lasting and valued results for clients. We’ve also found that during the legal process the more involved clients are in making decisions that affect them, the more satisfied they are with the results. These lessons led us to examine how LSS services can best benefit clients, and this, in turn, led us to set legal aid renewal as a strategic priority for the coming years.

We’re in the process of identifying concrete initiatives that will allow us to make a positive difference for clients – the kind of difference that not only helps them find enduring solutions to their immediate legal problems, but supports them so they can move on with their lives. We want LSS services to be available to clients where and when they need them, and we want clients to be able to participate in solving or avoiding legal problems.

To accomplish this, we must provide lawyers with resources and support so they can take a more integrated approach to serving clients. This isn’t to back away from LSS responsibility to provide clients with legal representation when that’s what they need; rather it’s to reach into a broader domain to get the best possible results for them. We will look at further tariff improvements in this context.

On behalf of everyone at LSS, I want to thank the many lawyers across B.C. who participated in the tariff renewal consultations and who continue to provide advice and representation to LSS clients. I hope more of you will join us as we move forward to make the B.C. legal aid plan ever more responsive to client needs.

Mark Benton, Executive Director, Legal Services Society (LSS)

This article was published in the August 2007 issue of BarTalk. © 2007 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.