A recurring access to justice discussion has concerned the role of law societies in meeting the legal needs of the public. The Winter 2016 CBA National Magazine contains an article (“Should lawyers have a monopoly over the provision of legal services?”) arguing that lawyers are not meeting the public’s need for legal services, and that […]

Read more "The Law Society’s role regarding public access to legal services"

In a previous post, I mentioned some of the initiatives that Access to Justice BC has identified as areas for collaborative action. In this post, I will talk in a bit more detail about one of them. Collaborative efforts stemming from our February 11, 2016 Access to Justice BC Leadership Group meeting resulted in Access […]

Read more "Invitation to Lawyers to Try Something New (Or Not So New)"

At the initial meeting of the members of the leadership group for Access to Justice BC, one of the first questions posed was, “What part of the justice system in British Columbia should be the first target?” It had already been determined that the criminal justice system was out of scope, and that the focus […]

Read more "Why family law?"

From its inception, Access to Justice BC has viewed its role as fostering action and not just as a forum for discussion or report-writing. Discussion and reporting are valuable, but for this group, catalyzing action was always to be the focus. For that reason, one of our early tasks was to develop what we have […]

Read more "Talk doesn’t cook rice"