Inventory of Reforms

The underlying philosophy of the project is that self-represented litigants have a fundamental right to access the justice system even if they cannot afford to retain a lawyer for full representation privately, or qualify for pro bono or Legal Aid. As such, this project strives to address self-represented litigants' procedural and substantive barriers to justice so they can better navigate the justice system. Specifically, Law Help provides a continuum of brief services based on a triage system that assesses litigant need and allocates resources based on those needs.

Based on its experience, PBLO has found that - short of full representation being made available - unrepresented litigants require: assistance with pre-trial services (basic procedural information, help with completion of forms, summary advice that focuses on identification of legal issues and assessment of legal merits), trial services (representation) and post-trial services (information on enforcement and compliance).

The Law Help Ontario walk-in centre is located on the main floor of 393 University Avenue (Suite 110) in Toronto - the building that houses Toronto's main Superior Court of Justice branch. The hours of operation are Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The centre is staffed by at least one intake coordinator every day, two volunteer lawyers (different each day) and pro bono law students. Law Help operates as a walk-in centre, on a first-come, first-served basis. Everyone - including those who only want to pick up a procedural information guide--is asked to sign-in. Litigants who request or require more than 15 minutes of assistance from the intake coordinator or pro bono lawyers are asked to complete a detailed intake form.

In order to qualify for pro bono assistance at Law Help, litigants must meet financial eligibility criteria. Litigants must present with a civil (non-family) issue and may only act as individuals. Companies, corporations and businesses do not qualify for services. In limited circumstances, business owners are assisted, on a case-by-case basis, if they meet Law Help's financial eligibility criteria. Litigants must also clear a conflict of interest check with the lawyer/law firm designated to assist them that day.

Law Help provides a wide complement of legal services, including:

• Information on rules and procedures
• Help filling out court forms
• Help assembling pleadings, such as motion records
• Summary legal advice
• Legal representation
• Referrals
• Computer kiosks
• Legal resource materials
• Legal Seminars
• Instructional videos
  One Year Report at 9

In June 2008, PBLO completed its first progress report for Law Help in order to set benchmarks to assess its performance. This report, at the one year-stage, aims to provide a statistical profile on the service delivery components, as well as to describe program growth since the first progress report to June 30, 2008.

Having reached the one year point, it is clear that Law Help continues to progress towards fulfilling its ambitious mandate. Providing a duty counsel service at Superior Court with its complex array of rules and procedures, its numerous substantive civil law areas, and its exclusive reliance on volunteer lawyers presents unique challenges not generally confronted in other, more traditional duty counsel service delivery models. The experiences and results to date demonstrate that Law Help has been a creative and positive innovation in the delivery of cost effective, quality legal services for the previously unmet civil justice needs of low and moderate income Ontarians.