Category Academic Research

Access to Justice 101

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Kathryn E. Thomson, PhD Candidate, UVic (Law), along with several AJRN listserv subscribers, have indicated publications that they would include on their “Access to Justice Top Ten Must-Read” list. There is a lot of valuable research and commentary worth revisiting or, for those of you who are new to the topic, discovering for the first time. Here are the recommendations:

  1. Genn, Hazel. Paths to Justice: What People Do and Think About Going to Law (Portland, Ore: Hart Publishing, 1999).
  2. Cromwell, Thomas A. “Access to Justice: Towards a Collaborative and Strategic Approach” (2012) 63 U.N.B.L.J. 38.
  3. Friedman, Lawrence M. “Access to Justice: Social and Historical Context” in Mauro Cappelletti and John Weiser (ed) The Florence Access-to-Justice Project (Milan: Doti.A.Giuffe Editore, 1978) Vol II, Book I.
  4. Macfarlane, Julie. “The National Self-Represented Litigants Project: Identifying and Meeting the Needs of Self-Represented Litigants” (Kingsville, Ontario: Self-Published Report, April 2013).
  5. Reports for the National Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters, February 12, 2013. Online: Canadian Forum on Civil Justice: http://www.cfcj-fcjc.org/action-committee
  6. Wexler, Stephen. “Practicing Law for Poor People” (1970) 79(5) The Yale Law Journal
  7. Currie, Ab. The Legal Problems of Everyday Life: The Nature, Extent and Consequences of Justiciable Problems Experienced by Canadians (Ottawa: Department of Justice Canada, 2007)
  8. Hadfield, Gillian. “Higher Demand, Lower Supply? A comparative assessment of the legal resource landscape for ordinary Americans” (Feb. 2010) Fordham Urban Law Journal
  9. Australian Government – Productivity Committee – Access to Justice Arrangements (2014): http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/access-justice/report
  10. McEown, Carol. “Civil Legal Needs Research Report” (Report prepared for the Law Foundation of BC March 2009, 2d ed) online: Law Foundation of British Columbia: http://www.lawfoundationbc.org/wp-content/uploads/Civil-Legal-Needs-Research-FINAL.pdf
  11. Brewin, Alison & Stephens, Lindsay. Legal Aid Denied (2004): http://www.westcoastleaf.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2004-REPORT-Legal-Aid-Denied-Women-and-the-Cuts-to-Legal-Services-in-BC.pdf
  12. Brewin, Alison & Govender, Kasari. Rights-Based Legal Aid (2010): http://www.westcoastleaf.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2010-REPORT-Rights-Based-Legal-Aid-Rebuilding-BCs-Broken-System.pdf
  13. Track, Laura, (in collaboration with Shahnaz Rahman and Kasari Govender. Putting Justice Back on the Map (2014): http://www.westcoastleaf.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-REPORT-Putting-Justice-Back-on-the-Map.pdf
  14. CBA Access to Justice Committee. Reaching equal justice report: an invitation to envision and act (2013): http://www.cba.org/CBA/equaljustice/secure_pdf/EqualJusticeFinalReport-eng.pdf
  15. Roderick MacDonald’s work on access to justice in Canada – a list of his words can be found here: http://people.mcgill.ca/files/roderick.macdonald/macdonald-pubs.pdf
  16. Cohl, Karen & Thomson, George. “Connecting Across Language and Distance: Linguistic and Rural Access to Legal Information and Services” (2008): http://www.lawfoundation.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/The-Connecting-Report.pdf
  17. CLEO’s Centre for Research and Innovation host a research database through the PLE Learning Exchange website. The database is an annotated bibliography of research on public legal education and information (PLEI) issues from Canada and other jurisdictions, and also contains some papers on A2J generally where PLEI is referenced: http://www.plelearningexchange.ca/research/research-database/
  18. Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters. “Access to Civil & Family Justice: A Roadmap for Change” (2013): http://www.cfcj-fcjc.org/sites/default/files/docs/2013/AC_Report_English_Final.pdf
  19. The National Self-Represented Litigants Project blog by Professor Julie Macfarlane houses many A2J articles: http://representingyourselfcanada.com/

Please note that this list isn’t exhaustive and additional suggestions are welcome. What publications would you include on your “Top Ten” list?

Send an email to communications@cfcj-fcjc.org with “AJRN subscribe” in the subject line to join the conversation taking place on the listserv!

Civil Non-Family Cases Filed in the Supreme Court of BC

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Please find attached the recently released Final Report of the CFCJ’s Attrition Study. This study, which is a part of the CFCJ’s larger Cost of Justice project, aims to examine the outcome of unresolved, civil, non-family cases in the BC Supreme Court and assess the level of satisfaction among claimants. In addition to presenting the study’s survey findings, the report makes several recommendations that could potentially improve research that attempts to collect data about court users experiences. You can access the report here.

Justice, not Just Access: Effective Outcomes for Children Children’s Legal Rights – the Fundamentals

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In May 2015, The Honourable Donna Martinson, Q.C., presented a paper entitled “Justice, not Just Access: Effective Outcomes for Children Children’s Legal Rights – the Fundamentals” at the Access to Justice for Children Conference – CLEBC in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The paper begins with an introduction on justice for children and moves on to an overview of how the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child applies in Canada. This overview includes both a description of how Canada has implemented this convention and how this related to the Charter.

The paper further goes on to discuss the Committee on the Rights of the Child, its role, the four general principles of the Convention and an evaluation of State compliance. It also analyses when children’s rights must be considered and what Canada’s obligations are under the Convention.

In the final section of the paper, “A Roadmap for Change for Children – Access to Justice Phase 2”, Honourable Donna Martinson “respectfully suggest(s) that now is the time to integrate into our national access to justice discussions a specific roadmap which recognizes the special considerations that apply in order to achieve justice for children…”

A subscription to the webinar archive can be accessed at http://www.cle.bc.ca/onlinestore/productdetails.aspx?cid=1134

Semple Explores Civil Justice Costs for Canadians

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Noel Semple has recently released a paper contributing to the ongoing discussion surrounding the cost of civil justice in Canada. He draws attention to the financially burdensome nature of civil justice claims, as well as temporal and psychological costs involved with legal disputes. His thorough investigation of the issue draws on the National Self Represented Litigants Project for quantitative information about the true costs of accessing civil justice. The paper is available on SSRN.

Self-Represented Litigants: Alberta Lawyers and Judges Surveyed

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Little empirical research has been done to assess the effect of increased self-representation on lawyers and the judiciary. In 2012, the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family worked to address this gap by issuing an online survey to Alberta lawyers asking about their experiences with self-represented litigants in the justice system. A similar survey was issued to Alberta judges in 2014. Reports on the 2012 lawyer survey, the 2014 judiciary survey, and a third comparison and analysis report are available on the CRILF website.

CLEO Paper Links Health Literacy and Legal Capability

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A recent paper has been published by CLEO’s Centre for Research and Innovation on legal capability, social determinants and access to justice for vulnerable Ontarians and Canadians titled: Don’t Smoke, Don’t be Poor, Read Before Signing: Linking Health Literacy and Legal Capability.

The paper provides an overview of health literacy information practices in Ontario to give PLE organizations and related stakeholders information about effective health information practices that can be adapted to improve the accessibility, usefulness, and reach of public legal education and information.

Visit CLEO’s blog, or click here to view the paper.

Everyday Legal Problems and the Cost of Justice in Canada

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CostofJustice_overivewfactsheet

Attached is the first fact sheet coming out of the Cost of Justice project at the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice.

This fact sheet proceeds the release of three research papers that analyze the preliminary data from our national “Everyday Legal Problems and the Cost of Justice in Canada” survey. We expect to release these papers over the course of the next 2 months.

Please feel free to share the fact sheet widely.

CostofJustice_overivewfactsheet_final