A conversation with a small-town lawyer.
Exploring access to justice related topics from the perspective of a small-town, private practice lawyer. Subjects include affordability, legal aid in Ontario, COVID-19 and the use of technology in the legal system, the realities of day-to-day life in law, and thoughts on the ability of small-town private lawyers to help advance access to justice.
In her award-winning memoir, Truth Be Told, the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada wrote, "The law I love is there for everyone, high and low, imposing obligations to be sure, but also offering protections and benefits ... It is, quite simply, our best hope for the future." This quote captures how important it is that all members of society, regardless of their race, socioeconomic status, gender, or education level, can adequately access the Canadian legal system.
However, as our class discussions showed, it is very difficult to come up with solutions. Rather, I learned that the problems are more complex and multi-faceted than I initially understood, leaving me with more questions than I started with. Perhaps the right approach is to continue asking critical, thoughtful questions and then try to advocate for appropriate, practical, and nuanced solutions. This is ultimately the approach my group took when researching the complexities of Legal Expense Insurance. Since 'access to justice' has legal, social, and economic implications, the answers are found in multi-faceted solutions, requiring ‘buy-in’ from many individuals in different institutions.
In my conversation with a small-town lawyer, it seems obvious that there is only so much people on the ground-level can do on their own. At the end of this course, I believe that real action to advance access to justice must come from a coordinated effort by the government and law societies. I was surprised to learn that just 1% of Ontario's budget is allocated to legal aid. Ultimately, I think it is time for the government to start taking justice-related issues in Canada seriously and implement wide-spread solutions. I think that legal aid funding should be increased to reflect massive increases in cost-of-living and to match inflation since the 1990's. In addition, I think that Canada's middle-class could benefit from Legal Expense Insurance, similar to the model in Germany. Small-town lawyers, which I aim to be soon, should advocate for increased support from the government and law societies in implementing these solutions.
