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.
A group of 11 Toronto family lawyers are petitioning the Law Society to lift its contingency fee prohibition. They argue that the current regulatory framework poses a disadvantage to parties with access to fewer resources. The lawyers also point out that the high number of self-represented litigants in the family justice system warrants a change to current billing structures.
To read more about the petition, see this Toronto Star article.
The National Self Represented Litigants Project blog has this post on the everyday real costs of family litigation.
The Toronto Star has an article discussing how court innovations in New York and Windsor, Ontario, are helping SRLs.
Matt Maurer has a very brief post here on courtroom innovations to help SRLs, and questions what’s being done in the Toronto area.
In Singapore, the government has announced that it will play a bigger role in criminal legal aid funding.
Richard Zorza’s access to justice blog has a post noting the improved communications capacity of the access to civil justice movement in the US, and another questioning whether new judicial ethics rules will increase complaints from SRLs.
The National Self Represented Litigants Project blog has a post on how doubtful assertions about SRLs can become “fact”.
The National Self Represented Litigants Project blog has this post on how lawyers can strive to alleviate the suffering of their clients by changing how they deal with clients.
JP’s blog features this post about the use of plain language in a recent Ontario Gladue court judgment.
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