Great work by our friends in Nova Scotia! What’s new in access to justice for 2015: Nova Scotia’s first bilingual access to justice centre! The Accès Justice Access centre opened recently at 1663 Brunswick Street in Halifax, as an initiative of the Association des juristes d’expression française de la Nouvelle-Écosse (AJEFNE). The centre offers services in both official languages on site and by telephone, email and online. Free consultations with a lawyer will be available by appointment.
Category Jurisdiction
Creating the Conditions for Justice Innovation: How (NOT) to Solve Complex Problems
Nicole Aylwin of CFCJ explores the ideal conditions for justice innovation http://www.slaw.ca/2014/12/19/creating-the-conditions-for-justice-innovation-how-not-to-solve-complex-problems/
Digital Delivery of Legal Services to People on Low Incomes
The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice
Wonderful work from the The Legal Education Foundation.
“We are very pleased to have commissioned this Report from Roger Smith. We hope that the Report will stimulate others to let us know of advances that they are making or are aware of others making in this important area of using information technology to provide low cost legal service to people. These developments are not a magic bullet but taken together they can make a difference to the lives of a lot of people. We intend to update the Report on an annual basis as a record of developments in the provision of IT based legal service.”
Guy Beringer
Chairman of Governors
Working With Self-Represented Litigants: Ideas and Suggestions From the Bench
A small Working Group of judges, representing jurisdictions across Canada, and who hear SRLs on a regular basis in their courtrooms have been working together for three months to produce “Working with SRLs: Ideas and Suggestions from the Bench”. This unique document was formally launched on November 27th, 2014!
Unified Family Courts: An Established Mechanism for Improving Access to Justice
The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice
Are unified family courts a magic bullet? J.P Boyd of the Canadian Research Institute for Law explores the potential on the CFCJ blog. http://ow.ly/FmW41
Access to Justice Advocate – Dianne Wintermute
The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice
We are excited to announce our new blog series Access to Justice Advocates! The series is a response to recent reports that have underscored the importance of innovation and imagination in the pursuit of access to justice. At the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice, we understand that such efforts come down to people – to the diverse advocates working in different and important ways across the access to justice landscape. Our first Advocate is Dianne Wintermute, Staff Lawyer at the ARCH Disability Law Centre. Check out her interview and profile here http://lnkd.in/eA2PWSsless
Data Collection Completed for “Cost of Justice” Project
The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice
We have completed the data collection stages for our Cost of Justice national survey project! Here are some of our initial findings: – Over 35% of people reported stress, health, family and/or social issues as a result of experiencing legal problems. – Over a three-year period over 50% of adults reported experiencing one or more legal problems. – The most common problems were related to consumer, debt, and employment issues. Read more: http://obiter-dicta.ca/2014/10/14/data-collection-completed-for-cost-of-justice-project/
When Access Isn’t Enough: Examining the Intersection Between Social Inequality and Access to Justice
The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice
Blog post from Kimberley Byers draws from Alice Goffman’s new book On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City and looks at the links between access to justice and social inequality.
Connecting Ottawa
The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice
Access to Justice Co-Ordinating Committee
By: Chantel Amato
Earlier this year, several leaders in Nova Scotia’s justice and legal community launched a new collaborative effort – the Access to Justice Co-Ordinating Committee (A2JCC). Provincial Justice Minister Lena Metlege Diab and the Hon. Chief Justice Michael MacDonald are leading the initiative, acting on recommendations outlined in the Action Committee final report, Access to Civil & Family Justice: A Roadmap for Change.
The Terms of Reference for the Committee can be viewed here.
ajrn.org 