BarTalk October 2003
Volume 15, Number 5

LSS Law Line To Include Brief Legal Services
The Legal Services Society (LSS) launched a pilot project in September, for providing brief legal services to people with low incomes in B.C.

The project is a legal hotline, available through the society’s Law Line until March 2004.

Brief legal services include legal advice, written opinions, phone calls or letters on a caller’s behalf to third parties, help with correspondence and documents, and similar services that can be delivered during or shortly after a telephone conversation. These will be available to people with low incomes who cannot access alternative legal services. Financial eligibility is determined by an income test LSS has established for advice services.

The project is modelled on the U.S. legal hotlines. In B.C., the service will be provided by lawyers and paralegals, who will also assist in developing support materials for the program. In addition, Law Line lawyers will provide consultation services to community advocates.

Brief legal services do not replace representation by counsel, nor can they meet the needs of all people with low incomes. However, they can improve the likelihood that callers without legal representation will take appropriate action and obtain access to justice.

Until August 2002, Law Line was operated by the society’s former Legal Resource Centre in Vancouver and provided information and referral services to Lower Mainland callers. Law Line became a province-wide, toll-free service in September 2002.

Staff receive about 2,000 calls per month. About 35 per cent of callers need family law services, 15 per cent need criminal law information, and the rest need help with problems related to other legal issues such as immigration, welfare and other benefits, housing, and debt.

The Law Line numbers are: 604-408-2172 and 1-866-577-2525 (toll free in B.C.). For further information contact John Simpson (604-601-6099) or Allan Parker (604-601-6016) at LSS.

This article was published in the October 2003 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2005, all rights reserved.