Our People

We're an inclusive community-minded non-profit organization whose strengths are rooted in the dedication and passion of our diverse staff and directors.

Our Staff

Our staff is a diverse and vibrant mix of hard-working individuals with legal and non-legal backgrounds whose daily mission is to serve individuals and non-profit organizations seeking critical legal help.

Our Board of Directors

Our volunteer Board of Directors consists of several judges, lawyers, community leaders and other professionals from across the province who share a dedication to the pursuit of equal access to justice for all British Columbians.

This September, over 100 APB volunteer lawyers will provide free legal advice in the streets of Vancouver, New Westminster, Kelowna and Victoria to raise awareness and funds for APB's pro bono programs. The free legal advice-a-thon-- entitled Pro Bono Going Public 2012-- will facilitate access to justice for low- and modest-income people, including the homeless, by bringing APB's pro bono legal services outdoors where they are visible and accessible by all.

Several BC law firms and justice system stakeholders have stepped up to sponsor Pro Bono Going Public 2012, thus permitting APB to cover the infrastructure costs of holding large outdoor legal advice clinics in four different cities.

They are:

Canadian Bar Association -BC Branch (Presenting Sponsor)
MNP LLP (Presenting Sponsor)
Law Society of BC
Lawson Lundell LLP
McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Victoria Bar Association
Pryke Lambert Leathley Russell LLP
Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP
Ratcliff & Company LLP
Kelowna Bar Association
Richards Buell Sutton LLP
Advicescene.com
Stikeman Elliott LLP
Vancouver Bar Association
ProMacSupport

Our capacity to increase access to justice for low-income British Columbians relies on the charitable efforts of more than a thousand volunteers each year. Behind the scenes of hundreds of volunteer lawyers serving clients in clinics, hearing rooms and courthouses throughout BC, hundreds of administrative volunteers work diligently to ensure that our clients receive the timely legal services they need. Our profiled volunteer for July is Tiffany Thai.

Tiffany came to us from New Westminster Secondary School's Work Experience 12 Program where she was required to complete 90 hours of volunteer work with us. For four months, Tiffany commuted three times a week after school to our downtown office, contributing a few hours each time.

Once she finished her 90 hour commitment, Tiffany continued to volunteer with us. Her dedication to APB is impressive, and she has set a precedent for showcasing passion for social justice initiatives. Thank you, Tiffany!

This is how Tiffany describes her volunteer experience at APB:

"When I first started volunteering at APB, I knew that I would be learning about the legal field, but I had no idea about the priceless experiences that would be gained. I recently graduated from high school and was introduced to APB through the work experience program. As a Client Call Volunteer, I get to work in a great learning environment with amazing people who support one another. Helping others is something that I have always wanted to do and being at APB allows me to do that. Volunteering here has increased my interest in the field of law, as I have learned that being part of the legal sector can be greatly beneficial to others."

Vancouver, British Columbia, December 15, 2021 – The Access Pro Bono Society of BC has established a first-of-its-kind public interest law incubator to increase access to justice for British Columbians, and to address inequities in the province’s lawyer development system. Launching in May 2022 as part of the Law Society of BC’s Innovation Sandbox, the Everyone Legal Clinic will serve as BC’s first alternative to traditional articling as a final pathway to becoming a lawyer.

With a pioneering curriculum centered on the practical aspects of running a socially responsible law practice, the Clinic will employ several staff lawyers to annually train 30 articling students to be ready for their first day of private practice. And unlike any other lawyer development program in the world, the Clinic will support the virtual network of articling students to serve the unmet legal needs of a wide range of BC communities. It will increase capacity for legal aid and other forms of public interest legal service throughout the province.

The Clinic will also bring major structural improvements to BC’s lawyer development system by improving the equity, diversity, working conditions and the quality of education for articling students, and by promoting new virtual, fixed fee and modular forms of client-centred legal practice.

“BC’s articling system isn’t working for everyone. It excludes a disproportionate number of mature law grads, Indigenous law grads and people of colour. It can also give rise to poor working conditions,” said Jamie Maclaren QC, Access Pro Bono’s Executive Director. “The Everyone Legal Clinic is an important first step to prevent systemic discrimination from interfering with the dream of becoming a lawyer here in BC.”

Access Pro Bono will prioritize the acceptance of articling students who wish to practice in an underserved BC community, who have previous clinical experience serving vulnerable people, and who belong to equity-seeking groups. The Clinic will provide scholarships and bursaries to its students, and will maintain a particular focus on supporting Indigenous people to become lawyers in the province.

Access Pro Bono already promotes access to justice in BC by providing free legal services to people and non-profit organizations of limited means. As one aspect of its full spectrum of free legal services, volunteer lawyers conduct approximately 500 half-hour, face-to-face legal advice sessions each month in 55 cities and towns across the province.

The Everyone Legal Clinic offers low-cost legal services to all British Columbians on a fixed-fee basis— in person or by virtual connection. Articling clinicians work under the supervision of practising lawyers, and provide affordable help for family, tenancy/strata, employment, wills/estates, civil, corporate, consumer or criminal law issues.

British Columbians can access Clinic legal services via its 24/7 online booking service or by calling (778) 200-4478 on weekdays between 9:30am and 4:30pm. They can schedule their initial meeting online or by phone, and then meet their clinician by videoconference or phone.

Meet with an articling clinician

Clinic Objectives

The Clinic serves as an experiential learning centre for articling and notary clinicians, and as a solo and small firm incubator for practitioners who provide affordable legal services to underserved communities across BC.

Each year, the Clinic engages dozens of professional mentors, several supervising lawyers and one administrator to remotely train, supervise and support several articling clinicians over two six-month semesters.

The Clinic aims to:

Increase access to affordable and high quality legal services in communities throughout BC;
Increase professional capacity for public interest legal service throughout BC, particularly in underserved communities;
Provide a new generation of BC legal service providers with the substantive knowledge and practical skills (including practice management, cultural competency and human relationship skills) required to thrive in highly adaptive forms of public-minded legal practice;
Improve equity, diversity, working conditions and quality of education in BC’s lawyer and notary training systems, and reduce unmet need for articling positions in BC;
Promote new virtual, fixed fee and modular forms of legal practice.

In his regular Slaw.ca column, Access Pro Bono Executive Director Jamie Maclaren proposes a new lawyer-funded model for promoting the work of provincial legal aid organizations and other non-profit direct legal service providers. Labeled "Pay or Play for A2J", the model is summarized as follows:

"As part of his or her annual professional membership fees, a lawyer pays a $300 “A2J Contribution” (an amount roughly equivalent to the average hourly rate among Canadian lawyers) that is earmarked for direct funding of the province’s legal aid and public interest legal organizations. If a lawyer provided and recorded one or more hours of legal aid, pro bono or public legal education service in the previous year— as administered and verified by specific organizations— then his or her A2J Contribution is waived. Thus lawyers “pay or play” to promote access to justice."

Read the full Slaw column here.

In order to meet skyrocketing demand for free and timely legal advice service throughout British Columbia, Access Pro Bono is actively seeking lawyers in all parts of the province and of all practice areas to provide legal advice from their office to remote clients by Skype or telephone.

Lawyers who provide summary legal advice over Skype or the telephone typically volunteer for one or more two-hour clinics per month. Each clinic involves up to four half-hour client appointments with clients' legal issues screened and matched to the lawyer's stated practice areas. Conflicts are checked prior to each clinic. And lawyers are able to provide free legal advice to their remote clients from the comfort and convenience of their own offices.

APB’s Skype and telephone clinics serve to increase access to justice for low-income British Columbians residing in otherwise unserviced rural and remote communities, and to low-income British Columbians with mobility and/or English-language difficulties (who are matched with remote lawyers speaking the same language).

Please consider volunteering for an APB Skype or telephone clinic. You can register here.

Click here for more general information on APB's Summary Legal Advice Program.

This event is for volunteers only

Tim Roberts & Associates Consulting has completed an external evaluation of the Everyone Legal Clinic, based on interview feedback from 18 articling clinicians, 44 individual clients and 13 lawyer clients who engaged with the Clinic in its first year of operations.

The independent Evaluation Report describes total feedback received from clinicians and clients as "substantially positive", and lists ten recommendations for operational improvements (at page 32).

Tim Roberts is the principal of Tim Roberts & Associates Consulting, a Duncan-based research firm. Roberts co-founded one of BC’s first Community Law Offices, and went on to direct research and evaluations for federal, provincial and territorial governments, non-profit organizations and foundations for over 25 years.

After analyzing feedback on how well the Clinic met the needs and expectations of its three main stakeholder groups, Roberts concludes:

"Taken as a whole, the feedback from clinicians, clients and lawyer clients about the ELC has been substantially positive. In the course of one year, clinicians received considerable online training and direct experience with law firms and clients, law firms were able to use clinicians for a range of tasks in their settings, and clients received legal advice and guidance concerning cases in which they were involved. The clients rated the clarity of clinician answers to their questions very highly."

As an accompaniment to Roberts' evaluation, the Clinic has issued its own Continuous Improvement Report that describes its ongoing efforts to improve the user experiences of its articling clinicians and their clients.

The Clinic has adopted an experimental, iterative and user-focused approach to its development as a pilot. It is clinician-centred, and fosters a legal practice mindset that is client-centred. Its development relies on continuous assessment (internal and external) of user feedback, and continuous refinement of its training, support and service delivery systems.

Among 40 major system improvements made over the course of its pilot phase, the Clinic has integrated client service much earlier in clinicians' learning semester, and has opted to down-size future clinician cohorts to offer each clinician a baseline income of $40,000/year (and the opportunity to earn much more by way of client service) to better support their income security.

Access Pro Bono and its fellow co-hosts of the 4th National Pro Bono Conference in Montreal-- Pro Bono Québec (primary host), Pro Bono Law Alberta, Pro Bono Law Ontario and Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan-- seek nominations for the 2012 Canadian Pro Bono Awards honouring individuals, groups, or organizations from anywhere in Canada for their outstanding pro bono contributions in one of three categories:

A law firm committed to pro bono;
An individual actively involved in pro bono;
A pro bono program serving the community.

The Awards will be presented at the Conference Banquet and Awards Ceremony on November 1, 2012.

Prospective nominators are invited to consult the Awards Criteria and Nominations document for information on the criteria and nominations process. The deadline to submit nominations is September 21, 2012.

In the third leg of APB's four-leg free legal advice-a-thon tour of BC's biggest cities (see advice-a-thon.ca), 16 volunteer lawyers helped 40 Kelowna residents to move forward in resolving their legal problems yesterday.

The event generated some positive radio and print media attention, including this story by Kelowna's main news outlet Castanet: http://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/147803/Pro-bono-in-the-park

Legal Aid

In your search for free legal help, we encourage you to first determine whether you qualify for legal aid. In BC, legal aid services range from legal information and legal advice to legal representation (a lawyer to handle your case). If your legal problem involves criminal charges, mental health or prison issues, serious family problems or serious immigration problems, you may qualify for legal representation through legal aid. Please consult the Legal Aid BC website to see if you qualify under their rules and financial eligibility guidelines.

Community Legal Assistance Society

CLAS provides free legal assistance to disadvantaged people throughout BC, specializing in poverty, disability, workers’ compensation, employment insurance, mental health, human rights and equality law. Their activities include test case and Charter litigation; service case work and law reform; liaison and consultation with community groups; legal supervision of advocacy groups and law students; publication of legal materials designed to assist self-represented litigants; and legal training and support to lay advocates, community groups, law students, and lawyers doing pro bono work.

UBC Law Students Legal Advice Program

LSLAP is a non-profit society run by law students at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC. Law students provide free legal advice and representation to Vancouver-area clients who would otherwise be unable to afford legal assistance. LSLAP legal advice clinics are located throughout the Metro Vancouver.

University of Victoria Law Centre

A service of the University of Victoria Faculty of Law, the Law Centre provides legal advice, assistance and representation to Victoria-area residents who can't afford a lawyer.

Community Advocates

Community advocates help low- and modest-income British Coumbians find legal information, know their legal rights, argue their case in tribunal hearings, and/or lobby for political change. Advocates typically can't provide legal advice or representation, but they often have a very nuanced understanding of the legal issues that confront marginalized individuals. Depending on your circumstances, their services may be of equal or greater assistance to you than those provided by a lawyer.

You can receive 15 to 30 minutes of free consultation with a expert lawyer, notary or designated paralegal by following these steps:

Call our Legal Referral Service telephone line at 604-687-3221 from 8:30am to 4:30pm, Monday to Friday, or self-book online anytime.
Identify your legal problem. If you're self-booking online, you'll need to pay a $25 booking fee. If you're calling our LRS Coordinators, you'll need to pay a $25 booking fee only if your household earned a total of $100,000 or more in the past year.
Our LRS Coordinators or online booking system will then provide you with the name and contact information of a suitable lawyer, notary or paralegal to help you.
If schedules allow, your assigned legal professional will provide you with 15 to 30 minutes of free consultation to determine your legal needs and how you can serve them.
If you’d like further help from your assigned legal professional, you can retain them at an agreeable rate of charge. There's no obligation for either party to continue after the free consultation.

Please don't confuse our Legal Referral Service with legal aid. In BC, legal aid is provided exclusively by Legal Aid BC to British Columbians on very low income who qualify for their services.

Everyone Legal Clinic (lower cost representation services)

You can also receive referral to a supervised articling clinician at our Everyone Legal Clinic if you:

Have a family, tenancy, a employment, wills/estates, civil or consumer law issue
Have the ability to pay for the clinician’s fixed-fee representation services
Are willing to work with the clinician by telephone or videoconference
Can communicate in English

If you meet all of the above criteria, you can call the ELC Client Line (778-200-4478) to schedule an initial meeting with a clinician by videoconference or telephone. Our articling clinicians work under the supervision of practising lawyers, and provide legal services on a lower-cost, fixed-fee basis.

The Greater Vancouver Law Students Legal Advice Society (GVLSLAS) is hiring a Supervising Lawyer for its Law Students’ Legal Advice Program (LSLAP) located at the UBC Faculty of Law in Vancouver. LSLAP is run by approximately 200 law students who provide legal assistance to over 4,000 low-income individuals at 23 legal clinics throughout the Lower Mainland each year.

The Supervising Lawyer is responsible for training and supervising student volunteers, providing training in LSLAP’s practice areas and all aspects of legal procedure and ethics, as well as regular supervision and advice on a wide range of legal matters, including criminal, residential tenancy, debt/debtor, small claims, consumer, employee/employer, employment insurance, workers’ compensation, social assistance, wills & estates, contract disputes, and several other poverty law areas. In addition, the Supervising Lawyer is appointed as an adjunct faculty member at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law and is responsible for assigning academic credit to student volunteers.

GVLSLAS requires legal supervision for LSLAP for a one-year contract from May 1, 2012 to May 1, 2013, with the possibility of subsequent renewal.

For more information on this job posting, click here. For more information on LSLAP, visit www.lslap.bc.ca .

On June 6, 2013, over 1100 judges, lawyers and justice system stakeholders celebrated the eminent career of British Columbia's Chief Justice Lance Finch at his Retirement Dinner in Vancouver.

The Retirement Dinner featured such speakers as Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin, retired Supreme Court of Canada Justice Frank Iacobucci, and incoming British Columbia Chief Justice Robert Bauman.

In his closing remarks, Finch identified two initiatives as the "most important" undertaken by British Columbia's legal profession during his tenure as Chief Justice: (i) the 2010/11 Public Commission on Legal Aid chaired by Leonard Doust, QC; and (ii) the Access Pro Bono Society of British Columbia.

Finch stated:

"The Public Commission on Legal Aid, chaired by Len Doust, Q.C. was launched in 2010. It produced an excellent report in March 2011 which included nine specific recommendations as to how legal aid in this province could be improved. The most important of those recommendations was to amend the Legal Services Society Act to recognize legal aid as an essential public service, and the entitlement to legal aid where an individual has legal problems that put into jeopardy their or their family’s security - whether liberty, health, employment, housing or ability to meet basic necessities of life. This was a thorough, evidence-based study and the resulting recommendations are well-founded in the research that Mr. Doust undertook. It should be a matter of concern to all of us that some two years later none of these recommendations has been acted upon by the other branches of government.

By contrast, the profession itself has made significant advances in the area of providing pro bono services to those in need. Every year in British Columbia hundreds of lawyers undertake legal work for no fee whatever, providing millions of dollars of legal services to those who would otherwise not be able to afford them. I am very proud of the profession’s efforts in this behalf, and I applaud not only the Access Pro Bono Society for facilitating this work, but every lawyer and law firm who has so generously given of their time and expertise to assist those in need."

Read a full copy of Chief Justice Finch's remarks here.

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As part of its ongoing Justice Reform Initiative, British Columbia's Minister of Justice and Attorney General Shirley Bond released three reports on justice system reform to the public on August 30, 2012. They are:

- A Criminal Justice System for the 21st Century: Final Report to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General by Geoffrey Cowper, QC;

- British Columbia Charge Assessment Review by Gary McCuaig, QC (included as Schedule 11 to the Cowper Report); and

- Making Justice Work: Improving Access and Outcomes for British Columbians by the Legal Services Society.

The three reports should stir considerable discussion among BC's justice system stakeholders, the public and the media.

Seeking to support the private sponsorship efforts of BC individuals, groups and social service agencies, Access Pro Bono launched its new Refugee Program on November 23, 2015. The Program locates and helps volunteer lawyers to provide free legal advice and assistance to British Columbians wishing to sponsor refugees from Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.

Program lawyers provide free legal advice and assistance to self-identified sponsors for the benefit of refugees as they seek to settle in BC. APB arranges full insurance coverage with waived deductibles and surcharges for all Law Society of BC members in good standing who provide legal help through the Program. APB also extends limited disbursement coverage to Program cases.

Prospective refugee sponsors seeking free legal help may contact APB by telephone at 604-424-8286. Lawyers seeking to volunteer with the Program, or seeking APB's support for their pro bono representation of pre-identified sponsors, may also contact APB by telephone at 604-424-8286 or register for the Program at http://www.accessprobono.ca/lawyer-registration .

Access Pro Bono is now hiring 6-10 diverse and experienced BC lawyers to work half-time or more as a team to instruct, support and supervise Everyone Legal Clinic’s pilot year group of 25 articling students.

Seeking specialists across 8 practice areas: Admin, Civil Lit, Criminal, Employment, Family, Research & Writing, Solicitor’s Practice, Wills & Estates

Term: April 1, 2022 to May 5, 2023, with strong possibility of extension

Location: Anywhere in BC

Salary/wage: $100,000/year, prorated to FTE level

Posting period: January 10, 2022 to February 4, 2022

All 8 job postings and more info here: https://www.accessprobono.ca/program/everyone-legal-clinic

Apply online

If you believe you have experienced an act of antisemitism and you need legal advice, you may contact the Antisemitism Legal Helpline by calling 778-800-8917 or by emailing alh@accessprobono.ca.

Antisemitism can be experienced in different places such as at work, within a strata or co-op, or when accessing a service, like at a restaurant or coffee shop. The Helpline's volunteer lawyers will confidentially help you understand your rights and legal options.

When you contact the Helpline, its Coordinator will review your matter and, if necessary, contact you for more information. They will then connect you to an appropriate lawyer who will provide free legal advice for up to 30 minutes. If you need ongoing advice or support, the Helpline's Coordinator will connect you to other appropriate resources.

The Vancouver Sun reports that in staying a criminal charge for unreasonable systemic delay, Provincial Court Judge Brian Saunderson predicted that it will take the staying of a high-profile case like a serial child sex offender case before the provincial government addresses critical under-funding of the BC legal system.

Judge Saunderson remarked, "I suspect that what it will take is the sort of case that causes the public to be absolutely appalled at the circumstances, a case probably involving something as heinous as a series of child sexual assaults on little children, that kind of case to be stayed for delay - and the same rules apply - because of lack of funding [..] It will get the attention of the major news media in the province and probably across the country. It will take that kind of pressure to bring the government to its senses and to comply with its constitutional obligation."

Read the Vancouver Sun article here.

Pro Bono Going Public 2013 – Sept. 4 in New Westminster, Sept. 6 in Vancouver, Sept. 10 in Kamloops, Sept. 13 in Victoria, and Sept. 17 in Surrey.

Access Pro Bono seeks New Westminster, Vancouver, Kamloops, Victoria and Surrey lawyers to volunteer for its 6th annual free legal advice-a-thon in September.

In each outdoor advice-a-thon location, volunteer lawyers will provide free legal advice within their particular areas of expertise to one or two pre-booked or drop-in clients. Clients will be low- and modest-income individuals who may otherwise have limited access to traditional free legal advice clinics. Volunteer lawyers will be fully insured and able to choose their preferred volunteer shift(s). APB will match clients’ legal issues to lawyers’ areas of legal expertise, and will conduct thorough conflict checks for all clients.

Friends, family, co-workers and members of the public will pledge financial support for the volunteer lawyers. APB will also publicize and award prizes to the top 12 fundraising lawyers.

APB urges community-minded lawyers to register today and participate in this unique event designed to serve the public, spread awareness around lawyers' efforts to increase access to justice, and raise $60,000 or more for pro bono programs.

More information on Pro Bono Going Public 2013 is available at www.advice-a-thon.ca. You may also contact APB at (604) 482-3195 x 1501 or by email at abaric@accessprobono.ca .

Pro Bono Law Alberta

PBLA promotes access to justice in Alberta by creating and promoting opportunities for lawyers to provide pro bono legal services to persons of limited means. The PBLA website provides information about pro bono programs available in Alberta, and highlights PBLA’s ongoing efforts to promote pro bono opportunities in the province.

Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan

PBLS is a non-profit organization that improves access to justice in Saskatchewan by creating, facilitating and promoting opportunities for lawyers to provide high-quality pro bono legal services to persons of limited means. The PBLS website provides information about PBLS and the pro bono programs available in Saskatchewan.

Pro Bono Ontario

PBO provides a coordinated approach to the delivery of pro bono legal services in Ontario. PBO works to promote a pro bono culture, develop the pro bono capacity of the private bar, eliminate barriers to participation, and develop pro bono projects that address unmet legal needs in urban and rural communities across the province.

Justice Pro Bono

Justice Pro Bono was created in 2008 (then named Pro Bono Québec) on the initiative of the Barreau du Québec, with the mission to initiate, promote and coordinate pro bono legal work in the province. The Justice Pro Bono website is a meeting place for bringing together and generating pro bono legal initiatives aimed at improving access to justice for citizens across Québec.

Scheduled for November 1-2 in Montreal and co-hosted by Pro Bono Québec, Access Pro Bono, Pro Bono Law Alberta, Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan and Pro Bono Law Ontario, the 4th National Pro Bono Conference will provide a national forum for the exchange of knowledge and ideas concerning pro bono legal service provision.

The Conference will combine plenary sessions that address major issues and themes related to pro bono culture and practice, and breakout sessions that take a "nuts and bolts" approach to various aspects of developing pro bono projects and delivering pro bono services. It will build on the successes of the Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto conferences, held in 2010, 2008 and 2006 respectively.

Members of the legal profession, the judiciary, the voluntary sector and academia from Canada, the United States and abroad are invited to register for the Conference to share ideas and best practices in pro bono legal services, to forge new pro bono partnerships, and to explore challenging issues that still lie ahead in the pro bono sphere.

More information on the Conference is available here, and online registration is available here. A downloadable flyer is available here.

Nous espérons vous voir à Montréal!

Brian J. Wallace QC died in Victoria on December 1, 2015. Brian served as a volunteer lawyer with APB since our inception, and was particularly helpful in supervising our Paralegal Program over the past few years. He was a great source of friendly wisdom to all who knew him through our programs.

We will miss his leadership and unwavering dedication to helping low-income British Columbians to resolve their legal problems. We keep Brian in our fond memories and extend our condolences to his many loved ones.

Brian's obituary is posted here: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/vancouversun/obituary.aspx?pid=176912038

Vancouver, British Columbia, April 21, 2022 – Access Pro Bono has released a Call for Support document in aim of raising funds for its innovative Everyone Legal Clinic.

The Clinic launches in May 2022 as a world-first virtual public interest law teaching clinic and legal practice incubator, and as one of the first projects approved by the Law Society of BC’s Innovation Sandbox. It aims to increase access to justice for all British Columbians, regardless of their identity, income or location, while also increasing the diversity of BC’s legal profession.

In the Clinic’s first year of operations, 25 articling students and five new notaries will receive unprecedented skills training, before providing free and affordable legal services to several thousand British Columbians. Dozens of volunteer lawyer mentors will join 16 supervising lawyers and several APB staff to remotely train, manage and support the 30 clinicians as they complete their legal training.

The Clinic prioritizes the admission of law graduates who self-identify as members of one or more of the following groups:

Indigenous People
People of Colour and racialized individuals
People with disabilities
LGBTQ2S+ people

The Clinic also prioritizes law graduates who seek to practice in an underserved BC community, and who have previous clinical experience serving vulnerable people. It will provide a supportive and engaging educational experience for law graduates with foreign credentials. The Clinic’s first cohort of 25 articling students is a diverse and accomplished group that is 75% BIPOC and 25% Indigenous.

“The Everyone Legal Clinic is practical, and aims to stimulate innovation and diversity among new legal service providers. It could be replicated throughout Canada, and it has evaluation and knowledge sharing components to inform other access to justice initiatives.

I am delighted that the McLachlin Fund was able to provide support for this project, and I hope others will follow suit.”

— The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin, 17th Chief Justice of Canada

Over the past several years, Islamophobia has increased significantly in Canada. In response to the rise of Islamophobia, a group of legal organizations and concerned lawyers in British Columbia established the Islamophobia Legal Assistance Hotline in March 2016. Working in solidarity with Muslim and racialized communities, the Hotline aims to combat Islamophobia by providing free legal advice and representation to individuals and groups affected by Islamophobia. Individuals who have experienced Islamophobic discrimination will be assisted by BC lawyers to access available legal remedies.

The Hotline also opposes Islamophobia by providing public legal education, research, and systemic advocacy by working with diverse communities. This may include distribution of educational material, media engagement, community outreach in collaboration with mosques/faith centres, Muslim organizations, and other organizations interested in dismantling Islamophobia and related discrimination.

The Justice Education Society of BC (JES) is hiring for the position of Communications Coordinator at its Head Office in Vancouver. Reporting to the Communications and Web Manager, the Communications Coordinator develops fresh, brand-consistent web and print content in order to communicate the JES brand, resources and programs to key stakeholders and the public, and to drive online traffic to the Society’s websites.

The deadline for application is February 6, 2012. Read more about the position and JES here.

In Joseph v. Dzawada'enuxw (Tsawataineuk) First Nation, 2013 FC 974, APB volunteer lawyer Greg J. Allen of Hunter Litigation Chambers successfully represented some members of the Dzawada' Enuxw First Nation (the "Applicants") in their Federal Court judicial review of the Band Council's adoption of a new electoral code.

The Dzawada' Enuxw First Nation's (the "Band") reserve is located very remotely in Kingcome Inlet on the Central Coast of BC. The Applicants argued that the new electoral code discriminates against Band members living off-reserve by making it difficult for them to participate in band elections and governance, and by preventing off-reserve members from leading the Band Council. The judge agreed.

Justice O'Keefe found that the new electoral code further disenfranchises off-reserve members of the Band, and perpetuates the stereotype that they have less to contribute to their community than on-reserve members. He found this discrimination contrary to s.15 (the equality provision) of the Charter. He echoed previous judgments highlighting the importance of inclusion in Band affairs to aboriginal identity, regardless of whether a Band member lives on or off-reserve.

The Respondent in the case, the Band Council, argued that the changes in the electoral policy were justified to promote the valid goal of those governing the Band having a real, substantial and present connection to the community. The judge found that there was insufficient evidence to support the argument that off-reserve members lack a sufficient connection to the community. He further stated that discrimination against off-reserve members is especially unjustified when the great majority of Band members live off-reserve.

To read the full decision, click here.

How to Register

We offer several different pro bono programs and projects to suit volunteer lawyers' schedules, interests and needs. From providing legal advice for a few hours each month to selecting one or two full representation cases each year, litigators and solicitors can choose to volunteer with us in any number of ways.

Once you register for one or more of our programs, we'll contact you to get you started as a pro bono lawyer in your community.

Browse our Programs

Get Started

On Saturday, September 22, Access Pro Bono's founding President Bruce Fraser QC was awarded the 2012 Harry Rankin QC Pro Bono Award by the Canadian Bar Association - BC Branch.

Bruce practised in Prince George for most of his legal career, and decicated much of his practice there to legal aid and pro bono service. He later moved to Vancouver and became President of the Western Canada Society to Access Justice while working closely with the late Dugald Christie and Allan Parker QC. He facilitated the merger of the Western Canada Society to Access Justice and Pro Bono Law of BC into Access Pro Bono.

Bruce also wrote a novel titled On Potato Mountain: A Chicotin Mystery that was published in 2010 and whose partial sale proceeds were donated to Access Pro Bono.

Details of Bruce's remarkable accomplishments and award ceremony are available here.

Nicole is a Community Worker volunteer for our Mental Health Program. She heard about the Program through Simon Fraser University’s volunteer engagement office and began volunteering with us at the inception of the Program in July 2014.

Nicole is coming to the end of her Health Sciences and Sociology Honours undergraduate degree at SFU. Her research interests focus on climate change-related insecurity and human trafficking. She also holds a Research Assistant position at SFU. Her values align with the work that we do to increase access to justice, especially for disenfranchised groups. She believes the Mental Health Program does extremely important work by providing legal representation and other support for persons who have been involuntarily detained under the Mental Health Act, and who cannot obtain legal aid or afford a lawyer.

She has had the opportunity to work with amazing clients and volunteer lawyers and law students. This volunteer work has provided her with an intriguing position and perspective from which to better understand the mental health care system in Metro Vancouver. This has strengthened her interest in working on research that focuses on and informs policy on progressive, accessible, holistic and fair mental health care.

Vancouver, British Columbia, April 21, 2022 – Access Pro Bono is delighted to welcome Megan Tweedie to its growing team of legal professionals dedicated to increasing access to justice for all British Columbians .

Megan is an experienced lawyer with expertise in litigation, employment and public interest law, who spent eight years in private practice before moving to the non-profit sector. She most recently served as Senior Litigation Counsel at the BC Civil Liberties Association.

In the brand new role of Tribunals Program Manager & ELC Supervising Lawyer, Megan will manage APB’s Residential Tenancy Program, Employment Standards Program and Mental Health Program. She will also provide legal supervision and support to Everyone Legal Clinic articling students.

Megan has appeared as counsel at various levels of court, before administrative boards and tribunals, and at a high-profile public inquiry. She is a passionate advocate who brings kindness and empathy to her important new role.

In a blunt and hard-hitting editorial, the Victoria Times Colonist identifies British Columbia's over-burdened Provincial Court system as "dysfunctional" and requiring an overhaul. Noting that the provincial crime rate has decreased over time and at at pace with the reduction in number of Provincial Court judges, the newspaper lays the blame for court delays at the feet of those who manage the system:

"Hiring more judges will not solve this problem. Plain and simple, the model is broken [...] There is only one way forward. Fundamental reforms, of the kind our health-care system has undergone, are needed in court administration."

Read the editorial here.

APB seeks qualified individuals to fill up to three vacancies on its volunteer Board of Directors, each for a renewable two-year term. The APB Board of Directors provides overall leadership and financial management for the organization. Regular Board meetings are held five times per year (in person or via teleconference), while the Annual General Meeting is held each October in Vancouver.

APB is particularly interested in hearing from individuals who:

are familiar with the legal needs of low-income Vancouver Island, Kootenay or Nothern BC residents;
have non-profit fundraising experience;
have demonstrated engagement in providing or facilitating pro bono legal services; and/or
reflect the diversity of BC by way of their physical abilities, gender, ethnicity and cultural perspective.

TERM

Two years, renewable with member approval for a maximum of three consecutive terms.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Attendance at Board and Committee meetings;
Organizational leadership;
Financial oversight;
Development and guidance of APB policies;
Support and participation in community events;
Fundraising and community outreach.

TIME COMMITMENT

Four to six hours per month.

HOW TO APPLY

Please email a cover letter and resume to APB President Dale Darychuk at daled[at]pocolawyers.com by November 15, 2013.

Each spring, we honour three of our volunteers who provided outstanding service to the public through our programs. We present the Allan Parker QC Award for Representation Service to a volunteer lawyer who went above and beyond as an advocate for their clients in BC's courts or tribunals. We present the David Garner Award for Administrative Service to a volunteer who provided exemplary service in support of our staff and frontline legal service providers. And we present the Dugald Christie Award for Advice Service for the volunteer lawyer who advised the most clients through our Summary Advice Program.

It's the World’s Fastest Law Suit! On Sunday, October 7, Adam Campbell will race in the Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon and attempt to beat the Guinness World Record for being the fastest man in history to run a marathon in a business suit.

Adam is not only a world class ultramarathon runner and an all-around remarkable individual; he is also an associate lawyer with Hemminger Schmid Lawyers and Mediators. And as a person who cares deeply about his community, he is running to raise awareness and funds for Access Pro Bono.

Hemminger Schmid-- a Victoria law firm with its own strong ties to its community-- is extremely proud to welcome Adam as the newest member of its legal team, and to support him in achieving his goals.

Adam is quite confident that he will be able to break the record of 3 hr 24 min 46 sec, currently held by Paul Buchanan. Buchanan made this time running in the Adidas Dublin Marathon in Dublin, Ireland on October 26, 2009. So, watch out, Victorians! On October 7, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the Hemminger Schmid team of Campbell supporters-- decked out in their bright orange team t-shirts!

Go, Adam, go!

For more information on Adam Campbell and his historic running effort, click here.

"I started volunteering with APB in June 2015 as a Clinic Assistant with the Summary Advice Program and as a Community Worker with the Mental Health Program after reading a CBC article about APB’s work. I support APB’s legal professionals in a wide and engaging variety of tasks. There are always records to gather, forms to sign, summaries to write, appointments to confirm, and clients to interview. With many years of experience working in the mental health setting, I also helped develop safety guidelines for MHP volunteers. Since I started with APB, I have met with many clients and learned about the varied legal problems they face. Being able to constantly connect with our clients and assist our lawyers continues to motivate me to volunteer with APB.

Prior to APB, I received an undergraduate honours degree in history from UBC. My graduating thesis traces a group of individuals from all walks of life who came together and created an NGO to provide refugee relief in 1930s China. My research has reinforced my belief that anyone can contribute something, no matter how challenging the task. APB is proof of that. Not only are legal professionals and law students volunteering, APB offers community members with no legal background like myself a way to step up in a very hands-on way. Access to justice is everyone’s responsibility, and I truly feel I am making a difference as an APB volunteer."

APB seeks a community advocate, paralegal, experienced legal administrative professional, or non-profit service provider for a part- or full-time one-year contract position as Lawyer Referral Service Coordinator for the Everyone Legal Clinic.

The Lawyer Referral Service Coordinator is responsible for completing a preliminary assessment of incoming client calls to APB’s Lawyer Referral Service to determine legal services/resources required. This involves gathering accurate information in a sensitive and effective manner while matching the client’s needs with the appropriate Everyone Legal Clinic clinician and other legal and non-legal services, and while entering client information into APB’s case management systems. Information on the Everyone Legal Clinic’s mission and structure is available here.

This is a one-year, part- or full-time contract position, with the possibility of contract renewal. The position offers an FTE annual salary of between $50,000 and $55,000 (depending on experience), benefits and five weeks of vacation. The successful candidate may be located anywhere in BC, or from the Access Pro Bono head office in downtown Vancouver. Position starting date will be in late September or early October 2022.

Main Duties & Responsibilities

answering a high volume of calls to the Lawyer Referral Service hotline, assessing legal problems, and making appropriate referrals to Everyone Legal Clinic clinicians
facilitating free consultations between clinicians and clients through the Lawyer Referral Service online platform
entering client information accurately into the Lawyer Referral Service case management system
determining whether clients meet financial criteria for APB’s pro bono services and making referrals where appropriate
training and supervising volunteers on the Lawyer Referral Service client hotline
performing general administrative duties in support of APB’s Executive Director, including generating monthly call and case data
attending occasional public legal education and information events as a staff representative of the Everyone Legal Clinic

Qualifications, Experience & Skills

post-secondary education or equivalent experience in law, legal administration, social services, counselling, or criminology
legal, paralegal, or advocacy training and/or experience
demonstrated commitment to the advancement of social justice
knowledge of BC’s justice system, court procedures, and legal resources
high-level professionalism and confidentiality
excellent verbal communication and writing skills
strong record-keeping and administrative skills, including the ability to maintain reliable and accurate notes of APB clients and other contacts
ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment with a high volume of client requests
demonstrated ability to work effectively with people of diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds
demonstrated ability to work independently and in a team environment
proficiency with Mac computers and Microsoft Office, and a willingness to learn and continuously adapt to new legal technologies
proficiency in several languages an asset

How to Apply

Interested candidates should email emonahan@accessprobono.ca by 4:00pm on Wednesday, August 10, 2022 with their cover letter and resume attached in PDF format as one continuous document. No telephone calls please. Interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis so please apply early. Only candidates who are shortlisted for an interview will be contacted.

APB is committed to building an inclusive and diverse workplace, representative of the diverse communities that make up BC. We strongly encourage applications from all qualified applicants. Applicants from traditionally underrepresented or marginalized groups including Indigenous people, people of colour, LGBTQ+, and people with disabilities are encouraged to self-identify in their cover letter if they feel comfortable doing so.

Download the job posting here

Access Pro Bono (APB) seeks an articling student to start in September 2026. This position is for a full articling term of 12 months, including PREP. Under the supervision of the student’s principal, APB’s Executive Director, and working closely with APB’s Program Managers and Staff Lawyers, the articling student will support APB’s Roster, Tribunals, and Summary Advice Programs.

APB’s Mission

APB’s mission is to promote access to justice in British Columbia by providing and fostering quality pro bono legal services for people and non-profit organizations of limited means. Our clients include some of the province’s most vulnerable and at-risk residents – single parents, people with disabilities, newcomers, refugees, seniors, youth, and unhoused individuals – many of whom risk losing employment, housing or custody of their children without free or affordable legal help.

Articling with APB

The APB articling experience is unique in that it offers students the opportunity to build their file management, advocacy, interviewing, research, and writing skills across a wide spectrum of legal areas. APB’s staff and volunteers serve clients in the areas of civil litigation, family litigation and mediation, administrative law, wills and estate planning and litigation, not-for-profit, and charities law. In addition, the articling student will have the opportunity to collaborate with other community and social justice organizations on issues affecting people with low and modest incomes and other intersecting vulnerabilities.

The APB articling student will have the opportunity to engage in supervised court work and client service in some or all of the following courts and tribunals:

BC Provincial Court (civil and family)
BC Supreme Court (civil chambers matters, family, and judicial reviews)
Employment and Assistance Appeal Tribunal
Social Security Tribunal
Federal Court
Employment Standards Branch
Residential Tenancy Branch
BC Human Rights Tribunal

The APB articling student will serve as junior counsel to APB staff lawyers and volunteers. They will have the opportunity to support senior counsel through legal research, drafting pleadings, preparing affidavits, communicating with clients, and developing case strategies. In addition, the APB articling student will have direct contact with clients and their own files to manage from start to finish.

The salary for this position is $65,000, and APB will cover the articling student’s Practice Readiness Education Program (PREP) fees. This position will involve a mixture of onsite and remote work.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should email emonahan@accessprobono.ca by 4:30pm on Friday, March 20 2026 with your cover letter addressed to Erin Monahan, Director of Projects and Operations. Please include your cover letter, resume, and law school transcripts attached in PDF format as one continuous document.

APB is committed to building an inclusive and diverse workplace, representative of the diverse communities that make up BC. We strongly encourage applications from all qualified applicants. Applicants from traditionally underrepresented or marginalized groups including Indigenous people, people of colour, LGBTQ+, and people with disabilities are encouraged to self-identify in their cover letter if they feel comfortable doing so.

Only candidates who are shortlisted for an interview will be contacted. Interviews will take place on a rolling basis.

Download the Job Posting

APB is particularly interested in hearing from individuals who:

are familiar with the legal needs of low-income Vancouver Island or Kootenay residents;
have non-profit fundraising experience; and/or
reflect the diversity of British Columbia by way of their physical abilities, gender, ethnicity and cultural perspective.

TERM

Two years, renewable with member approval for a maximum of three consecutive terms.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Attendance at Board and Committee meetings;
Organizational leadership;
Financial oversight;
Development and guidance of APB policies;
Support and participation in community events;
Fundraising and community outreach.

TIME COMMITMENT

Four to six hours per month.

HOW TO APPLY

Please email a cover letter and resume to APB President Dale Darychuk at daled[at]pocolawyers.com by March 9, 2012.
For more information on this volunteer opportunity, click here and search through this website.

Thanks to our amazing volunteer lawyers and donors, Pro Bono Going Public 2013 was another roaring success.

Over the five days in New Westminster, Vancouver, Kamloops, Victoria and Surrey, 110 volunteer lawyers provided legal advice to 232 pre-booked and walk-up clients. Clients were overwhelmingly appreciative of the opportunity to receive free legal advice in public spaces, and many of them personally thanked our staff and volunteers for offering such a great service to their community.

The event also succeeded in raising considerable public awareness of APB's pro bono services, and showcased the generosity of BC’s pro bono lawyers and their commitment to increasing access to justice. It received widespread and glowing publicity in national, provincial and local media of all types.

Last but certainly not least, participating lawyers raised over $40,000 in support of our direct pro bono services. Together with $17,000 in corporate sponsorships, the event raised more than $57,000 for the maintenance and expansion of our vital pro bono programs as we forge ahead into 2014.

The top fundraising lawyers were:

1. Greg Heywood (Roper Greyell) - $7,010

2. Bill Maclagan (Blakes) - $4,400

3. William Storey (Kitsilano Family Law Group) - $4,255

4. Jamie Maclaren (Access Pro Bono) - $4,055

5. Tamara Hunter (Davis) - $2,700

6. Roy Millen (Blakes) - $1,960

7. Sarah Nelligan (Lawson Lundell) - $1,380

8. Charlene Le Beau (Martin & Martin Lawyers) - $1,310

9. David Moriarty (Richards Buell Sutton) - $1,000

10. Sarah McEachern (Borden Ladner Gervais) - $870

11. David Gibbons (Blakes) - $800

12. Nicola Allen (Schuman Daltrop Basran & Robin) - $730

13. Shannon Salter (WCAT) - $705

The top fundraising law firms were:

1. Blakes - $7,410

2. Access Pro Bono Non-Profiteers - $4,085

3. Davis LLP - $4,010

4. Team Lawson - $2,398

5. Brown Henderson Melbye - $1,630

We thank everyone who was involved in making Pro Bono Going Public 2013 such a huge success, and we look forward to doing it all again in 2014.

Eary Life

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Legacy

Access Pro Bono's Board of Directors has named the organization's annual Lawyer of the Year Award for Representation Services in honour of the late Allan Parker QC.

The Allan Parker QC Award for Representation Services is now a companion award to the Dugald Christie Award for Advice Services, and both awards will be presented annually in March at APB's Appreciation Breakfast. Past winners of the Award have been: Jennifer Spencer, Brent Olthuis, Troy McLelan and Catherine Brink.

Allan Parker QC was admired inside and outside of BC’s legal community for his relentless passion for law and social justice. He served the public interest in many diverse ways throughout his storied legal career, including as a poverty law lawyer in Nanaimo, as a teacher of the Law Society of BC’s Professional Legal Training Course, as the manager of the Legal Services Society of BC’s former LawLINE service, as a Provincial Court mediator, and as an architect of the Law Foundation of BC’s Legal Advocacy Training Course.

He was best known in BC’s pro bono community for having led the Western Canada Society for Access to Justice in the critical years following Dugald Christie’s own untimely passing in 2007, and for having steered the organization toward its monumental 2010 merger with Pro Bono Law of BC into APB. Allan was appointed as Queen’s Counsel in 2010. He passed away on June 13, 2012.

Mr Songose joined Access Pro Bono due to its community involvement and initiative to make legal services accessible to all, including poor individuals and families who otherwise could not afford a lawyer. In addition, as an aspiring lawyer, experiencing the legal industry through interactions with lawyers as well as clients who need legal help is very useful.

Bismark is also a Clinic Assistant at St. Clements Church in North Vancouver as well as the Courthouse Clinic located in downtown Vancouver within the BC Supreme Court building. Being a Clinic Assistant at St. Clements Church is especially challenging as the Clinic Assistant at that particular location is required to ensure that access to the church is made available to the lawyers and clients by opening and closing the Church premises at the appropriate time, which is in addition to the regular duties of assisting the clients and the lawyers at the pro bono clinic.

“Bismark has performed his duties admirably over an extended period of time,” says Clinic Coordinator, Frank Yates. He has also received numerous comments from clinic attendees that Bismark is a highly skilled and organized individual.

Bismark Songose is a third year undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia in the Political Science Major program and aspiring to become an intellectual property lawyer in the future. He is also part of the UBC Canadian Liberal Party club and was notably part of the campaign team of the current Canadian Defence Minister Hon. Harjit Sajjan during the 2015 federal election. Bismark is also part of the UBC African Awareness Initiative Soccer Team.

Access Pro Bono (APB) seeks an administrative professional with proven experience in the non-profit sector for a new, full-time position of Volunteer Coordinator.

The new APB Volunteer Coordinator is responsible for volunteer engagement, support and training across APB’s full range of legal service programs.

This is a full-time permanent position, offering an annual salary of between $50,000 and $60,000 (depending on experience), benefits and five weeks of vacation. The successful candidate will work from the APB head office in downtown Vancouver, with the possibility of a hybrid in-office/work-from-home arrangement. The ideal candidate will start as soon as possible.

Main Duties & Responsibilities

In collaboration with program staff, recruit lawyer and non-lawyer volunteers to support APB’s pro bono programs
onboard and train new client call volunteers to take calls from APB’s client hotline and respond to online inquiries through APB’s online triage form
act as the first point of contact for all interested and new APB volunteers, ensuring all lawyer and non-lawyer volunteers have accurate information about APB’s programs, volunteer opportunities, and resources
develop systems to ensure consistent communication with volunteers across all APB programs
in collaboration with program staff, support the development of volunteer training and resource manuals for all APB programs
attend occasional public legal education and information events as APB’s representative
lead the planning of volunteer recognition events including APB’s annual volunteer appreciation breakfast and Pro Bono Going Public Advice-A-Thon
in collaboration with communications staff, track and promote volunteer accomplishments in APB newsletters, on social media, and in reports to funders

Qualifications, Experience & Skills

post-secondary education
2 or more years of experience working for a non-profit organization
strong record-keeping and administrative skills
ability to liaise and coordinate with vendors, government agencies, law firms, and community organizations
experience coordinating events
experience training and managing volunteers
knowledge of BC’s justice system, court procedures, and legal resources
excellent verbal communication and business writing skills
ability to organize, prioritize, multi-task, meet tight deadlines and thrive in a fast-paced environment
demonstrated ability to work independently and/or in a strong team environment, and to see projects through to completion with minimal direction
proficiency with Mac computers and Microsoft Office, and a willingness to learn and continuously adapt to new legal technologies
demonstrated commitment to the advancement of social justice

Interested candidates should email Heather Wojcik at hwojcik@accessprobono.ca by 4:00pm on Friday, October 21, 2022 with their resume and cover letter as one continuous document. No telephone calls please. Interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis.

APB is committed to building an inclusive and diverse workplace, representative of the diverse communities that make up BC. We strongly encourage applications from all qualified applicants. Applications from historically underrepresented or marginalized groups including Indigenous people, people of colour, LGBTQ2S+ people, and people with disabilities are encouraged to self-identify in their cover letter if they feel comfortable doing so.

Although we thank all applicants for their interest, only those candidates selected for interviews will be contacted.

Download the Job Posting

Courthouse Libraries BC has launched a wiki guide for non-legal professionals in BC to learn where to direct clients when they encounter legal problems. As part of much greater Clicklaw offerings, Legal Help for British Columbians covers 40 common legal problems faced by low-income clients in BC, outlines first steps to address problems and suggests options for further information and assistance.

Visit the Clicklaw Wiki here.

On November 15, 2013, Craig Ferris, Jamie Maclaren and Sharon Matthews QC-- three stalwart volunteer lawyers for Access Pro Bono (Jamie is also the Executive Director)-- were elected for two-year terms as new Benchers of the Law Society of BC.

Their election continues a recent but proud tradition of APB supporters being elected to the Bencher table. Benchers are volunteer directors tasked with ensuring that British Columbians are well-served by a competent, honourable and independent legal profession.

View the 2013 Bencher General Election results here.

Eary Life

Legacy

On October 7, 2012, Victoria lawyer Adam Campbell of Hemminger Schmid Lawyers and Mediators placed 6th in the Victoria Marathon with a time of 2:35:51. Even more amazingly, Adam ran the entire marathon in a full business suit!

By accomplishing this remarkable feat, Adam set a new Guinness World Record-- crushing the previous Guinness World Record of 3:24:46 set by Paul Buchanan in the Dublin Marathon on October 26, 2009.

Adam also used the event to raise $2,200 in support of APB's pro bono legal services. And so we thank Adam from the bottom of our admiring hearts.

Read more about the "World's Fastest Lawsuit" here, and watch a short video of Adam running the marathon here.

APB Program Manager, Priyan Samarakoone, makes the case in his blog for Clicklaw that low income renters and landlords need legal help now more than ever: http://blog.clicklaw.bc.ca

Access Pro Bono has answered that call. Marie-Noel Campbell, the staff lawyer behind the Mental Health Program, has built a new program based on the same model with students and senior lawyers filling a gap in our legal aid system as best as volunteers and pro bono lawyers can. For more information click here.

The new Residential Tenancy Program began training at the end of August, and will be helping low income tenants, and low income landlords, with hearings starting in the fall. Contact us at tenancylaw@accessprobono.ca for more information.

1. Free Legal Service Providers

2. Online Resources

3. Court Resources

Beginning in late April 2012, federal Department of Justice lawyers and articling students will participate in a one-year pro bono clinic-based pilot project designed to draft and execute simple Wills and Powers of Attorney for low-income individuals, including elderly people and people with terminal illnesses.

Clinics will be held each Wednesday at the Vancouver Justice Access Centre (290 – 800 Hornby Street, Robson Square) from 11:30am to 1:30pm. At each clinic, up to four volunteer lawyers and articling students will each assist a low-income individual to draft a simple Will or Power of Attorney.

Clients will book clinic appointments by calling the APB client line at 604-878-7400.

Check this website for updates on the Wills Clinic Project closer to its launch in late April.

Access Pro Bono President Dale Darychuk was among 32 British Columbia lawyers whose Queen's counsel (Q.C.) designations were announced this morning.

The Q.C. designation is an honour conferred annually on members of the legal profession to recognize exceptional merit and contribution. The successful candidates demonstrate professional integrity and good character, and have been a member of the British Columbia bar for at least five years.

The following was written about Dale in the Ministry of Justice press release:

Dale William Darychuk is a partner with Darychuk Deane-Cloutier and has been practising civil litigation law for 30 years with emphasis on personal injury and estate disputes. Since mid-2010, Mr. Darychuk has served as president of the Access Pro Bono Society and has overseen its growth into Canada's flagship pro bono organization serving over 20,000 individuals each year. He is also the supervising lawyer for the Tri-Cities SHARE Legal Advocate program. In the past three years, he has provided critical pro bono legal services to more than 600 low-income individuals.

Congratulations to Dale for this well-deserved honour!

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In a October 22 news conference at Thompson Rivers University, BC Minister of Justice Shirley Bond introduced a white paper on justice reform that identifies "timeliness, transparency and balance [as] essential parts of effective justice and public confidence."

According to a news release posted on its website, the BC government will immediately begin to implement the following 10 activities in furtherance of justice reform:

1. Establish a new governance structure, through a Justice and Public Safety Council, to set strategic direction and ensure co-ordination across the justice system.

2. Develop an annual Justice and Public Safety Plan that will set goals for the justice system and report publicly on performance measures.

3. Hold a regular Justice Summit, beginning March 2013, with justice system leaders to discuss the progress and direction of reforms.

4. Create better administrative management tools that will help enhance transparency and accountability within the system.

5. Transform justice information systems, beginning with the release of a Technology Strategy for Justice Information by spring 2013.

6. Construct a business intelligence system, starting with developing an Action Plan on Business Intelligence, that will help measure and report on how the system operates.

7. Create a costing methodology that considers the key cost drivers across the system and determines, in co-operation with the judiciary, the appropriate judicial complement for the Provincial Court.

8. Set performance measures that are relevant to the public and report on progress using tools like the Justice and Public Safety Plan and the JusticeBC data dashboard.

9. Reduce case backlogs and improve overall efficiency with a new court scheduling system, Crown file ownership, expansion of criminal duty counsel services, and an early resolution pilot project.

10. Streamline routine practices such as the way information flows from prosecutors to accused and their defence counsel, admission and discharges from corrections and workflow practices in courthouses to improve efficiency and service delivery.

Come hear all about the award winning Mental Health Program

Date: Thursday, October 6, 2016

Time: 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Location: Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, 1200-200 Burrard Street, Vancouver

Panel Discussion:

The Mental Health Program and Access to Justice – A panel discussion on the Access to Justice needs of BC’s most vulnerable residents. 

Panel members include: 

Marie-Noel Campbell, Access Pro Bono  
Kate Feeney, BC PIAC 
Ryley Mennie, Pro Bono Lawyer.

Canadian Lawyer magazine has profiled Access Pro Bono's new Everyone Legal Clinic in its December online edition. The profile includes comments and reflections from ELC clinicians Lincoln Hallgren and Avneet Athwal, and from APB Executive Director Jamie Maclaren KC.

Read the article here: https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/resources/legal-education/bcs-everyone-legal-clinic-opens-to-offer-lower-cost-legal-services-while-providing-articling-jobs/372254

We give the Allan Parker QC Award for Representation Services each year to a volunteer lawyer or a law firm who has shown outstanding commitment to providing representation services. The award is named in honour of the late Allan Parker QC who was an Executive Director of the Western Canada Society to Access Justice and our Associate Executive Director.

Past Recipients

2025 Magal Huberman

2024 David Wende

2023 Matthew Nied

2019 Kate Feeney

2018 Ashley Syer

2017 Les Blond

2016 Daniel J. Barker

2015 Mathew Good

2014 Jeremy Shragge

2013 Gavin Laird

2012 Claire Hunter

2011 Catherine Brink

2010 Troy McLelan

2009 Brent Olthuis

2008 Jennifer Spencer

In the wake of recent BC government musings on justice reform, the Courts of British Columbia have released a joint statement discussing the principle of judicial independence. The statement is available on the Courts’ website here.

On December 17, the Canadian Bar Association's Access to Justice Committee released a 172-page report entitled, Reaching Equal Justice Report: An invitation to Envision and Act.

The Report outlines 31 targets for achieving equal access to justice in Canada by 2030, and identifies various forms of action that Canadian justice system stakeholders should take in pursuit of that goal.

Noting that a previously released summary of the Report does not explicitly identify increased engagement in pro bono legal services as a helpful form of action for achieving equal access to justice, Access Pro Bono Executive Director Jamie Maclaren penned an online opinion piece entitled, "Increasing Access to Justice Is Not a Zero-Sum Game".

Concurrent to the release of the full Report, the CBA's Access to Justice Committee released a thoughtful statement saying that pro bono legal service is indeed one of many solutions to improving access to justice, and that the CBA has previously called on each member of the legal profession to contribute 50 hours or three percent of billings per year on a pro bono basis.

Eary Life

Legacy

VANCOUVER – The Canadian Bar Association BC Branch today launched a campaign to build support for additional provincial funding of legal aid in the province. CBABC President Sharon Matthews says that the campaign will be fact-based and targeted at the general public.

“Our research shows that the more the public knows about the real costs of continuing to under fund legal aid, the more supportive they are of legal aid. People understand that real justice can only be achieved through equal access and that it is our mothers, children and grandparents who are being most negatively impacted by the status quo. Through our website and on-line ad campaign we will have real people speaking of their personal experiences in the system.”

Matthews says while fair access to justice is a major issue in the campaign, the public is also concerned about the impact of the status quo on the overcrowded court system.

“What we are seeing is that because of the under-funding of legal aid, more and more people are representing themselves. This means that our courts are being jammed up with cases that otherwise could be dealt with in a more fair and cost effective manner outside of court. Aside from the costs to the system, this is one reason for delays that lead to more and more criminal cases being dismissed because they aren’t heard in a timely manner. This is bad for taxpayers and bad for public safety.”

Matthews says that the campaign is not going to be adversarial and is instead intended to provide the provincial government with the public support required to start rebuilding the system.

“The current situation has been caused by chronic underfunding of legal aid. We fully understand the fiscal pressure the government is under; we want to engage the government in a positive fashion to begin the process of catching up.”

The campaign unveiled its website (weneedlegalaid.com) and internet ads today. Matthews will be touring interior and Island communities beginning October 17th.

Vancouver family lawyer John-Paul Boyd has written an excellent introduction to the new BC Family Law Act for justice system workers and advocates.

J-P is a litigator, arbitrator, mediator and parenting coordinator at Aaron Gordon Daykin Nordlinger and the author of the very popular bcfamilyresource.com self-help resource.

Stacey Ng currently interns as a Research Assistant at APB. Stacey conducts telephone interviews with randomly selected pro bono clients who sought summary legal advice in immigration law in 2015. She records how clients actually accessed APB's legal advice and information services, and then organizes responses and prepares summaries to help identify the social barriers to accessing legal services. She learned about this position through the Arts Internship Program at UBC and began interning in January 2016.

As there is only one year left for her Psychology and Sociology program at UBC, Stacey has decided to become a social policy maker focusing on human rights and gender equality after she graduates.

Outside of volunteering for APB, Stacey is also heavily involved with the Alma Mater Society of UBC.

The David Garner Award for Administrative Services is given each year to recognize an office or field volunteer who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to support our staff and volunteers. It's named in honour of David Garner who was a beloved member of BC's labour law community, and one of our most committed volunteer lawyers.

Past Recipients

2025 Kush Kapur

2024 Nicholas Woo

2023 Jocelyn Toledo

2019 Christine Yang

In a blunt letter to the British Columbia government regarding Premier Clark's recent insinuations that budgetary allocations to the Ministry of the Attorney General have risen over the past few years, the Coalition for Public Legal Services presents contradictory evidence gleaned from previous government statements and documents.

The Coalition for Public Legal Services is a group of advocates and organizations-- including Access Pro Bono-- advocating for a universally accessible justice system in British Columbia.

Read the Coalition letter here.

Tiffany Glover, LLM CL candidate at UBC Law, penned this research essay on the concept of equality of arms for Access Pro Bono last September.

Originating from the “right to a fair trial” provisions in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the modern principle of equality of arms seeks to ensure that each individual litigant is provided reasonable opportunity to present his/her case under conditions that do not place him/her at a substantial disadvantage to another.

We look forward to a version of the equality of arms principle being advanced in Canadian courts in assertion of a right to civil legal aid.

Western Canada Society to Access Justice (1990 to 2010)

Access Justice was founded by Dugald Christie in 1990 and was originally known as the Lower Mainland Society to Assist Research of Trials, comprised mainly of senior litigation lawyers. Dugald served as the organization's tireless leader until his untimely death in 2006.

Access Justice had a history of research, and provided a number of working papers on the length of court proceedings and other access to justice issues. Among other campaigns, it advocated for the abolition of PST and GST on legal bills. From 1999 onward, the organization’s main thrust was the development of pro bono advice clinics across western Canada. Dugald introduced the clinic model to BC while working with the Salvation Army.

For anyone interested in more detail about the origins of Access Justice and Dugald’s work, there are several printed and web-based resources including a commemorative issue of the UBC Law Review (Volume 40, Number 2; October 2007), and various annual reports for the organization. These materials are available through our office.

Pro Bono Law of BC (2002 to 2010)

Pro Bono Law of BC arose as a joint initiative of the Canadian Bar Association (BC Branch) and the Law Society of BC. A series of reports and a community forum in October 2001 culminated in the incorporation of PBLBC in April 2002. Its original mandate, as supported by Law Foundation of BC funding, was to engage in community development, lawyer recruitment, and the development of a pro bono community website.

PBLBC began its service delivery initiatives in 2005 with two court-based programs in Vancouver. It then started its Roster Program for legal representation in selected case areas, including judicial review, the Federal Court of Canada, and non-profit and charity law. PBLBC also developed supportive text resources like the Community Partnership Manual.

For anyone interested in more detail about the establishment of PBLBC, there are a number of reports and resources available, including a 2002 report entitled “Pro Bono Publico - lawyers serving the public good in British Columbia”. The report is also available through our office.

The Merger (2008 to 2010)

The growth of BC's organized pro bono movement in the austerity-minded 2000s was accompanied by a growing expectation of service cost-efficiency. In 2008, Access Justice and PBLBC engaged in a collaborative research project focused on the possibility of a corporate merger. Later in the year, the two organizations met under the sponsorship of the Law Foundation of BC, agreed to merge their operations under a new society name. The two organizations moved to a joint office on Beatty Street in late 2009. The merger was formalized in April 2010 with the incorporation of the Access Pro Bono Society of BC, and its registration as a charitable entity.

VANCOUVER – The Law Society has completed the selection process for members of the public chosen to sit on hearing panels that discipline lawyers and those that examine the fitness and character of a person applying to be a lawyer. This is the first time that people who are neither lawyers nor members of the Law Society board of governors will sit on the influential panels. Among the 20 people named to do so are a university professor, a retired social worker, a former forest industry executive, an architect, a band chief, and retired police officers.

This past spring the Society ran a province-wide ad campaign to attract applicants. Nearly 600 people from across BC applied. The screening and selection process was assisted by a third-party recruitment team. “We recognize it’s not enough to say ‘trust us,’” said Society president Gavin Hume, QC. “We need to be transparent to the public, and involving people who aren’t lawyers in our processes is one of the ways we’re demonstrating the Law Society’s commitment to maintaining public confidence.” One of the people selected is the former mayor of Sidney, BC, Donald Amos. “The number one reason I put my name forward is the opportunity to contribute to the community interest,” said Amos. “I felt with my background and work history I could make a positive contribution to the Law Society’s hearing process.”

Earlier this year, the Law Society took the first step toward broader participation in hearings by inviting lawyers who are not Benchers (members of the Society’s board of governors) to serve as members of a similar pool from which hearing panels are drawn. The Law Society of British Columbia regulates the more than 10,000 lawyers in the province, setting and enforcing standards of professional conduct that ensure the public is well-served by a competent, honourable legal profession. More information is available here: http://www.lawsociety.bc.ca/page.cfm?cid=2308&t=Members-of-public-will-be-among-those-to-discipline-lawyers

The Vancouver law firm of Hunter Litigation Chambers will be awarded the 2012 Canadian Pro Bono Award for a Regional Firm at the 4th National Pro Bono Conference in Montreal.

Since its formation in 2006, many Hunter Litigation Chambers lawyers have consistently represented pro bono clients through Access Pro Bono and other organizations. Brent Olthuis, Greg Allen, Mark Oulton, Gib van Ert and Claire Hunter have been particularly active in APB's Court of Appeal Program, Judicial Review Program and Civil Chambers Program. Together, they have represented many indigent clients and have developed important jurisprudence for the advancement of marginalized individuals.

In honour of Hunter Litigation Chambers' exemplary pro bono efforts, former United Nations Deputy Secretary General Louise Fréchette will present the Award to Claire Hunter at the Conference Banquet and Awards Ceremony on November 1, 2012.

Here's what Felix had to say about hia volunteer experience at APB:

I am currently a third-year Criminology student at Simon Fraser University. I started volunteering with APB in June 2016 as an Events Marketing Assistant for the Pro Bono Going Public 2016 Advice-a-thon. I feel very grateful to be a part of this wonderful organization. During the past few months, I supported APB’s Operations Coordinator with a wide variety of tasks, such as researching and compiling lists, drafting letters, and sending emails to different law firms. I also helped Pro Bono Going Public 2016 Vancouver location.

I continue to volunteer with APB and assist with post-event activities as well as maintaining APB’s database. Being able to assist people and work with great team members continues to motivate me to keep volunteering with APB. I want to give special thanks to APB staff members, especially Paula LaBrie, Jimmy Yan, Marie-Noel Campbell and Vivian Song who have helped me during my time at APB. The experience that I have gained is extremely invaluable.

Our Dugald Christie Award for Advice Services is given each year to a volunteer lawyer or law firm showing extraordinary commitment to pro bono service through our Summary Advice Program. The award is named in honour of the late Dugald Christie who was the founder of the Western Canada Society to Access Justice.

Past Recipients

2025 Nicholas Terry

2024 Scott Taylor

2023 Peter Shrimpton

2019-22 (not awarded)

2018 Katherine Wellburn

2017 Shannon Williams

2016 Ram Joubin

2015 Forrest Nelson

2014 Hartney & Company

2013 Les Blond

2012 Daniel Barker

2011 Allison Sawyer

2010 Dale Darychuk

2009 Thomas Braidwood

2008 Catalin Mitelut

In a Vancouver Sun column addressing the recent Coalition for Public Legal Services letter to Premier Christy Clark, Ian Mulgrew makes the argument that the true costs of administering justice are difficult to ascertain because of divergent components and metrics in various jurisdictions.

Read his column here.

Access Pro Bono seeks volunteer lawyers and law students for its new Mental Health Program set to launch in the late spring of 2014.

The Program runs in partnership with the BC Mental Health Review Board and the Community Legal Assistance Society’s Mental Health Law Program, and aims to provide free legal representation to individuals contesting their involuntary detainment in hearings held under the BC Mental Health Act. More information is available here.

Lawyers and law students interested in volunteering for the Program may contact APB's Clinic Coordinator Frank Yates at 604-482-3195 ext.1508 or via fyates@accessprobono.ca.

We're holding our tenth Annual General Meeting by Zoom on October 21, 2020. We'll honour our former director Lance S.G. Finch who passed away on August 30, 2020, and we'll elect new directors to our Board.

In mid-September 2011, over 80 lawyers, law students and paralegals provided free legal advice to 144 individual clients in the streets of Vancouver, Kelowna and Victoria in order to raise awareness and funds for BC's pro bono programs.

The free legal advice-a-thons facilitated access to justice for low- and modest-income people, including the homeless, by engaging lawyers, law students and paralegals in advising pre-scheduled and drop-in clients on all legal issues.

Sponsored by the Canadian Bar Association - BC Branch and several BC law firms, the event raised $54,222 in support of APB. The top five fundraising lawyers were Grey Heywood, Roy Millen, Keri Grenier, Meika Lalonde and Nicole Chen. The top fundraising law firms were Blake, Cassels & Graydon, Pushor Mitchell and Lawson Lundell.

Details are available here: www.advice-a-thon.ca .

The Canadian Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Access to Justice has released a discussion paper entitled, "Tension at the Border": Pro Bono and Legal Aid. The paper is intended to foster discussion on the relationship between pro bono and legal aid as the two major types of organized free legal service for increasing access to justice in Canada (the former in ascent and the latter in descent).

The Committee is chaired by Vancouver lawyer and legal consultant Melina Buckley. It will consider discussion on "Tension at the Border" in its Final Report and eventual recommendations to the CBA at the Canadian Legal Conference in August 2013.

Here’s what Raymond had to say about his volunteer experience at APB:

I graduated from Simon Fraser University in June 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a minor in Philosophy. Currently, I’m a first-year Paralegal student at Capilano University.

I began volunteering with APB as a Clinic Assistant in the Summary Advice Program in January 2016. My interest in helping others as well as my drive to learn more about the legal profession convinced me to get involved with the organization. Volunteering in this program has given me the opportunity to learn from various lawyers working in different legal areas. Additionally, conversing with clients on a weekly basis has given me a better perspective about the various legal issues that one faces.

What I find most rewarding about the program is hearing success stories from clients and the legal challenges that they overcame. I am grateful for the experience I have gained and to be part of a program that is capable of making a difference in the lives of individuals.

Our Mental Health Program offers up to 30 minutes of free legal advice over the telephone to individuals (and their relatives) who seek release from detainment under BC's Mental Health Act. Our volunteer lawyers can advise on the following topics:

What it means to be certified under the Mental Health Act  
Right to a second opinion
How to apply for a review
Legal test and procedures at review hearings
Consequences of cancelling vs postponing a hearing
How to prepare for a hearing

To book an advice session, you can fill out our Online Triage Form, email us at mentalhealth@accessprobono.ca or call us at 1-877-762-6664 ext. 1500 or 604-482-3195 ext. 1500. If you email or call us, please provide your name, contact information, and hearing date if one has been set. We can usually book an advice session within three business days.

For information about your rights under BC's Mental Health Act, consider the following resources:

Our Staff

Our Board of Directors

In a forceful rebuke of the public statement on judicial independence recently issued by British Columbia's Chief Justices, Geoff Plant QC calls on the judiciary to engage constructively in the British Columbia government's judicial reform initiatives.

Read Mr. Plant's opinion piece in the Vancouver Sun here.

Awarded annually by the Canadian Bar Association's BC Branch, the Harry Rankin QC Pro Bono Award recognizes significant contributions of: pro bono legal services to a client; community organizing in establishing pro bono clinics; coordinating pro bono services, and education and advocacy work to promote pro bono culture.

On Saturday, June 21 in Vancouver, CBABC President Dean Crawford presented the 2014 Harry Rankin QC Pro Bono Award to Jamie Maclaren, Executive Director of Access Pro Bono and a Vancouver Bencher of the Law Society of BC, for his leadership in provincial and national initiatives to increase access to justice through pro bono legal service.

Read Jamie's acceptance speech here.

Volunteer lawyers will provide free legal advice by telephone or online in a 10-day province-wide advice-a-thon. Clients will be low-to-modest income British Columbians in need of urgent legal advice. All appointments will be pre-scheduled. This annual event raises much-needed funds and awareness for APB’s pro bono programs.

Clicklaw

Clicklaw is a website aimed at enhancing access to justice in BC. It features legal information and education, but it is not a site of laws. Instead, Clicklaw features legal information and education designed for the public from over 24 contributor organizations, as well as selected others.

JusticeBC

JusticeBC contains easily accessible information for court users, victims of crime, witnesses, offenders and anyone interested in knowing more about the criminal justice system, and what services and resources are available.

Justice Education Society of BC

JES creates innovative programs and resources that improve access to justice in BC. JES offers over 50 legal publications, 28 websites and more than 50 instructional videos on issues relating to BC’s justice system. Their programs and resources serve the public, teachers, youth, persons with disabilities, Indigenous people and immigrants.

People’s Law School

The People’s Law School delivers public legal education and information to British Columbians for the purpose of increasing awareness and understanding of legal rights and responsibilities. Among other things, it publishes plain language content on legal topics, offers public legal information in multiple media formats, and provides seminars on legal topics such as employment, criminal and consumer law.

Family Law in BC

Family Law in BC is a legal information website that provides information and resources covering a range of family law issues. It includes self-help guides, fact sheets, current family law information and resources, and links to useful related sites. The website is maintained by the Legal Aid BC.

CanLII

CanLII’s website is recognized as the largest online resource providing free access to case law and legal documents from Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments for both legal professionals and the public. CanLII is now an essential component of the legal information system in Canada.

PovNet

PovNet provides online tools that facilitate communication, community and access to information around poverty-related issues in BC and Canada. It collects relevant news and resources of use to advocates, community workers, marginalized communities and the public.

Courts of BC

The Courts of BC website provides information and resources relevant to the three levels of court in BC; the Provincial Court, the Supreme Court, and the Court of Appeal. The BC Superior Courts consist of the BC Court of Appeal and the BC Supreme Court. Appeals from the Court of Appeal go to the Supreme Court of Canada, which is located in Ottawa. The Federal Court of Appeal, Federal Court, and Tax Court of Canada also have jurisdiction in BC.

Cliquez Justice (French Only)

Cliquezjustice.ca offers legal information to all French Canadians to help them face various life situations, such as a divorce, buying or selling a house, bullying at school, etc.

The Justice Education Society of BC (JES) has been pioneering the development and delivery of public legal education and information for more than twenty years. With 25+ websites, 100+ instructional videos, and dozens of publications, the Society provides a range of resources that help 300,000+ British Columbians address their legal issues each year.

JES is hiring a new PLEI Project Manager to plan, execute, and finalize projects according to specified deadlines and within budget. Reporting to the Communications and Web Manager, primary activities will involve coordinating the efforts of a steering committee, team members and third- party contractors in order to deliver projects according to plan.

More information on the position and how to apply (by November 4, 2011) is available here.

Costs arguably create the most substantial financial barrier to access to our courts, as the “costs follow the event” rule casts a particular chill on litigants of limited means. Confronted with the uncertainty of how substantial their costs will be, they often abandon important and meritorious cases.

Access Pro Bono has been exploring the potential use of Protective Cost Orders (PCOs) to increase access to justice and to protect pro bono clients with cases of public importance from the deterrent and punitive effects of adverse cost orders.

The Supreme Court of Canada framed discretionary PCOs in British Columbia (Minister of Forests) v. Okanagan Indian Band, 2003 SCC 71. The Court held that for such an order to be awarded, a litigant would need to prove that:

they cannot afford to pay for the litigation and it cannot otherwise proceed;
their claim is prima facie meritorious; and
the issues transcend private interests, are of public importance, and have not been previously resolved in other cases.

Thus far, very few applications for PCOs have been made in Canada, and none have been granted.

With the above in mind, Access Pro Bono commissioned pro bono lawyer Jennifer Winstanley of Camp Fiorante Matthews Mogerman to draft a legal opinion on how and when to apply for a PCO in the pro bono context. We thank Jennifer for her excellent legal opinion and exemplary volunteer efforts.

Read Jennifer's legal opinion on PCOs here.

After articling for a civil litigation firm, Casey has found a niche in criminal law where she gets to focus on client-oriented work and working with marginalized individuals. She went to law school in Winnipeg where she volunteered for Pro Bono Students Canada. She also worked at the student Legal Aid office where she developed a passion for criminal law and social justice work.

Casey is a long-standing volunteer at Atira Women's Resource Society where she helps women with a range of legal issues including tenancy issues, criminal and family issues and employment issues. She has been volunteering with APB for the past 6 months in both the Mental Health Program and Residential Tenancy Program.

APB has partnered with the kind folk at the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia to develop and present several CLE-TV episodes on "Pro Bono Practice in BC". The first episode provides an introduction to APB and how the organization engages lawyers and other legal service providers in serving BC's people and non-profit organizations of limited means. Subsequent episodes will focus on substantive legal matters relating to the most common areas of pro bono practice.

The first noon-hour CLE-TV episode on Tuesday, May 8 is complimentary to all members of the Law Society of BC. It qualifies as one hour toward the Law Society's Compulsory Professional Development requirement, and has the following description:

"Have you always wanted to do pro bono work but worried that would not be a good fit with your skills? Then this is the course for you. Everything you always wanted to know about pro bono but did know who to ask. This program will introduce you to APB, what it does, how lawyers are connected to pro bono clients, and the myriad of programs and resources that are there to support pro bono counsel. Doing pro bono work on terms that are a good fit for you as counsel has never been easier."

To register for the first episode on May 8, please click here. We look forward to having you in our TV audience.

Access Pro Bono and its fellow co-hosts of the 5th National Pro Bono Conference in Regina-- Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan (primary host), Pro Bono Law Alberta, Pro Bono Law Ontario and Pro Bono Québec-- seek nominations for the 2014 Canadian Pro Bono Awards honouring individuals, groups, or organizations from anywhere in Canada for their outstanding pro bono contributions in one of three categories:

A law firm committed to pro bono;
An individual actively involved in pro bono;
A pro bono program serving the community.

The Awards will be presented at the Conference Banquet and Awards Ceremony on September 25, 2014.

Prospective nominators are invited to consult the Awards sub-page of the Conference website for information on the criteria and nominations process. The deadline to submit nominations is August 15, 2014.

Family mediation is a collaborative way for parties to come to an agreement on issues that arise when a marriage or common law relationship ends, including:

Property division;
Debt division;
Parenting arrangements;
Child support; and
Spousal aupport.

To qualify for Virtual Family Mediation Program service, both parties must be willing to mediate, and at least one party must meet our pro bono eligibility criteria.

To apply for the Virtual Family Mediation Program, email us at familymediation@accessprobono.ca,

Access Pro Bono launches its new website today at accessprobono.ca. The new website puts a strong emphasis on pointing British Columbia's individuals and organizations of limited means to the entry-level pro bono legal services that APB offers. Website users are led through the 3-step process for meeting with an APB lawyer for free legal advice. The 3-step process is supported by a checklist, a PDF outlining how to prepare to meet a pro bono lawyer, and a few videos.

The new website also provides information on APB's programs and resources, and outlines how lawyers and non-lawyers can volunteer to support the mission to provide equal access to justice to all British Columbians.

Over four days in Vancouver, New Westminster, Kelowna and Victoria, 109 volunteer lawyers provided free legal advice to 202 pre-booked and walk-up clients as part of Pro Bono Going Public 2012.

Clients overwhelmingly appreciated the opportunity to receive free legal advice in accessible public spaces, and consistently thanked APB staff and volunteers for offering such a valuable service.

The event also succeeded in raising considerable awareness of APB's pro bono legal services and BC lawyers' commitment to increasing access to justice. It generated excellent publicity through several media outlets, including CBC Radio, CFAX radio and a number of major newspapers.

Last but certainly not least, participating lawyers raised $41,250 in direct support of APB's front-line services. Including $22,000 in corporate sponsorships, the event raised $63,250 for the maintenance and expansion of vital pro bono programs as APB forges ahead into 2013.

The top fundraising lawyers were:

Greg Heywood (Roper Greyell LLP) $5,550
William Storey (William R. Storey Personal Law Corp.) $3,865
Nicole Garton-Jones (Heritage Law) $2,775
Keri Grenier (Pushor Mitchell LLP) $2,580
Claire Hunter (Hunter Litigation Chambers) $2,210
Jessie Hadley (Community Legal Assistance Society) $1,710
Roy Millen (Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP) $1,510
Sarah Nelligan (Lawson Lundell LLP) $1,435
Steven Meurrens (Larlee Rosenberg) $1,280
William Roberts (Lawson Lundell LLP) $1,100

The top fundraising law firms were:

APB thanks everyone who contributed to making Pro Bono Going Public 2012 such a huge success. We look forward to doing it all again in 2013.

Juliana has been the Roster Program administrative volunteer since September 2016, and has far exceeded our expectations for the role! She is currently completing her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and International Relations at UBC. Juliana's keen interest in becoming involved in the non-profit sector led her to APB.

She has proven herself to be organized, methodical, and very personable in fulfilling her task of contacting Roster Program lawyers to update their information and reaffirm their commitment to volunteering with APB. Throughout the past few months, she reports having gained invaluable experience prioritizing and achieving work-life balance between full-time studies, part-time employment, and skills-based volunteering.

Through this opportunity, Juliana says she has gained professional insight and respect for our organization and all that we strive to achieve. Above all, volunteering with APB has shown her the importance of operationalizing the motto, “Justice for All”. She says that becoming involved with APB has been nothing short of a rewarding experience for her, and that it has been an honour to work alongside individuals who share a desire to make legal services more readily accessible to those who need it most.

It's always nice to be recognized for our diversity and access to justice efforts! Our Everyone Legal Clinic has been twice honoured as a 2023 Excellence Awardee by the Canadian Law Awards for:

Diversity Initiative of the Year; and
the Lincoln Alexander School of Law Award for Shaping the Future.

The Everyone Legal Clinic was twice selected as a 2023 Excellence Awardee from among hundreds nominations of law firms and legal departments across the nation.

The Diversity Initiative of the Year is judged on "the concrete steps the law firm or law department took during 2022 to promote diversity and inclusion in the legal profession." The Lincoln Alexander School of Law Award for Shaping the Future is judged on "the concrete steps taken by the law firm during 2022 to demonstrate a commitment to any or all of the following; EDI as a core organizational value, to strengthen access to justice for underrepresented communities, to advance legal services through innovation, and to invest in legal education through mentorship and beyond."

Read about the 2023 Canadian Law Awards here. Overall category winners will be announced on May 12, 2023 in Toronto. #LawAwardsCA

APB will launch a new “low bono” project tentatively named the Commercial Trial Assistance Project in the next few months. Read the APB Executive Director's description of the unique Project in his regular Slaw.ca column.

The first of its kind in Canada, the Commercial Trial Assistance Project will engage several large Vancouver law firms in providing pro bono legal consultations and subsequent reduced-rate legal representation at trial to middle-income commercial litigants. The participating BC law firms include:

Scheduled for September 24-26 in Regina and co-hosted by Pro Bono Law Sakatchewan, Access Pro Bono, Pro Bono Law Alberta, Pro Bono Law Ontario and Pro Bono Québec, the 5th National Pro Bono Conference will provide a national forum for the exchange of knowledge and ideas concerning pro bono legal service provision.

The Conference will combine plenary sessions that address major issues and themes related to pro bono culture and practice, and breakout sessions that take a "nuts and bolts" approach to various aspects of developing pro bono projects and delivering pro bono services. It will build on the successes of the Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto conferences, held in 2012, 2010, 2008 and 2006 respectively.

More information on the Conference is available here, and online registration is available here.

Access Pro Bono’s directors and staff were very sad to learn that the organization’s own Honourable Lance S.G. Finch QC passed away on August 30, 2020. Lance was a strong supporter of the access to justice movement in BC, a founding trustee of Pro Bono Canada, and a cherished APB director from October 6, 2016 until the day of his passing.

Lance was best known, of course, for being the Chief Justice of British Columbia from 2001 to 2013. He returned to private practice after retiring from the bench, and found new passion in his roles as private mediator and arbitrator. His many honours and awards include the 2002 Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, the 2012 Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and the 2013 UBCLaw Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2015, and appointed to the Order of British Columbia in 2017.

For all of his incredible accomplishments and honours, Lance was exceptionally kind and humble. He was, first and foremost, a caring friend to APB staff and fellow directors, and he showed genuine interest in their personal and professional lives. He was, in every sense, a stalwart supporter of APB’s people and collective mission.

We at APB were all very fortunate to have worked with Lance, and we will miss him dearly. We extend our most sincere condolences to his wife Judy and to his loving family. Rest in peace, Chief.

Solicitors’ Program

Our Solicitors’ Program provides specific pro bono legal services to charitable and non-profit community organizations of limited means. We invite requests for help by email to roster@accessprobono.ca, and then match each qualifying request to a volunteer lawyer within workable reach. Our volunteer lawyers provide legal help in all areas of non-profit law, including incorporation and by-laws, registrations for charitable status, employment matters, contracts and lease agreements.

Law for Non-Profits

Law for Non-Profits is an initiative of the Pacific Legal Education and Outreach Society. It offers an interactive online tool to help BC non-profit organizations access legal information and education, and understand their legal obligations and compliance requirements.

Flowing from last week's National Pro Bono Celebration in the US, the American Bar Association has set up an online dialogue concerning the state of access to justice in America, and the efforts of pro bono service providers to increase access to justice.

The ABA's Standing Committee on Pro Bono & Public Service and the Center for Pro Bono offer the following introduction to the National Pro Bono Conversation:

"The need for legal services for low income Americans has never been greater than it is today. How can we frame a new way of thinking about and delivering pro bono legal services? Please add your ideas and insights to this conversation. You are invited to think creatively; don’t feel limited by concerns about resources or current realities. Imagine. Dream. Draw on your own experience, skills, and intuition, and respond as thoughtfully and thoroughly as you can. If you don’t like the question, say why and articulate your own perspective on the issue. Twice weekly, on Mondays and Wednesdays, a new question will be posted for your reflection and comments; you may comment on the current post as well as prior posts and responses. Please join the conversation now, invite your colleagues to do the same, and come back often to keep the conversation going."

Andrew Pilliar's research looks at two problems - access to justice and lawyer career satisfaction - and explores a better way to practice law through a case study of Pivot Legal LLP.

Andrew recently received his LLM from UBC, where he is currently pursuing a PhD in law. His research focuses on access to legal services, lawyer career satisfaction, and innovative law firm business models.

Before returning to law school, Andrew worked as a litigator in downtown Vancouver for several years, at both large and small law firms. He previously clerked for the British Columbia Supreme Court, and is an Action Canada Fellow for 2012-2013.

Read Andrew's Thesis here, and the Executive Summary of his Thesis here.

Last Friday, a group of Client Call Volunteers from APB went on a guided tour of Vancouver's downtown court buildings. The tour included visits to the courthouse library, Provincial Court, Supreme Court and the Justice Access Centre.

The group learned about the various legal resources that are made available to self-represented litigants through the courthouse library. And they were lucky enough to catch a bit of traffic court. Their main stop was the Justice Access Centre where they learned more about the self-help and information resources available there, as well as the various service agency representatives available by appointment.

If you are interested in volunteering with APB as a Client Call Volunteer, and helping with our Summary Advice Program, please contact our Intake Coordinator Kayla Johnson.

Everyone Legal Clinic staff are presenting at two North American justice conferences over two weeks in April and May 2023.

In Vancouver on April 27, Christine Arnold, Erin Monahan and Jamie Maclaren presented on the topic, "Justice for Everyone: Revolutionizing Canada’s System for Training New Lawyers [Or Trying Anyway]" as the feature of the NALP 2023 Annual Education Conference's Public Interest Luncheon. They shared the methodology behind ELC's planning and execution, as well as stories and lessons learned from the first year of its two-year pilot.

NALP kindly chose Access Pro Bono as its charity of choice for attendee donations and for proceeds from its 5K Fun Run and Walk along Vancouver's seawall.

One week later at the 2023 ABA/NLADA Equal Justice Conference in Dallas, Christine, Erin and Jamie present on the topic, "The Above the Line Network: Innovative Service Models for Those Legal Aid Can't Help" along with staff from fellow incubators at The Chicago Bar Foundation and Charleston Legal Access.

The Above the Line Network is a new group of incubators, non-profit law firms, sliding-scale legal aid programs and other entities working to better serve the huge group of people who make too much to qualify for free legal aid or pro bono services, but struggle to find affordable legal help.

New York state has become the first jurisdiction in North America to require lawyers to provide some measure of pro bono legal service before being admitted to the bar. Each year, approximately 10,000 applicants to the New York bar will need to demonstrate that they have performed 50 hours of pro bono legal service prior to receiving a license to practice.

To learn more about this bold new initiative, read this New York Times article.

APB is particularly interested in hearing from individuals who:

are familiar with the legal needs of low-income Vancouver Island, Kootenay or Nothern BC residents;
have non-profit fundraising experience;
have demonstrated engagement in providing or facilitating pro bono legal services; and/or
reflect the diversity of BC by way of their physical abilities, gender, ethnicity and cultural perspective.

TERM

Two years, renewable with member approval for a maximum of three consecutive terms.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Attendance at Board and Committee meetings;
Organizational leadership;
Financial oversight;
Development and guidance of APB policies;
Support and participation in community events;
Fundraising and community outreach.

TIME COMMITMENT

Four to six hours per month.

HOW TO APPLY

Please email a cover letter and resume to APB President Dale Darychuk at daled[at]pocolawyers.com by October 1, 2014.

Our major funders include the Law Foundation of BC, the Law Society of BC, the Province of BC and the City of Vancouver. We also receive generous donations from many corporate and individual donors.

Law Foundation of British Columbia

The Law Foundation of BC is a non-profit foundation created by legislation in 1969 to receive and distribute the interest on clients' funds held in lawyers' pooled trust accounts maintained in financial institutions. The Legal Profession Act directs the Law Foundation to distribute these funds in five areas: legal education; legal research; legal aid; law reform; and law libraries.

Law Society of British Columbia

The Law Society of BC regulates the province's legal profession, protecting the public interest in the administration of justice by setting and enforcing standards of professional conduct for lawyers. It also brings a voice to issues affecting the justice system and the delivery of legal services.

Province of British Columbia

The Government of BC is made up of ministries, agencies and Crown corporations. Access Pro Bono receives yearly funding from the Community Gaming Grants Branch, and collaborates with the Court Services Branch and the Ministry of Attorney General.

City of Vancouver

Bordered by the Coast Mountain Range and the Pacific Ocean, Vancouver is recognized as one of the world’s most livable cities with one of the smallest carbon footprints of any major city in North America. The City of Vancouver is renowned for its innovative programs in the areas of sustainability, accessibility and inclusivity.

The BC Ministry of Attorney General now considers the scope of law firms' pro bono engagement in BC communities when awarding contracts for civil legal services. Upon responding to a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) by the Director of Civil Forfeiture for outside counsel, lawyers and law firms must include information on the type and scope of pro bono legal services they provide in their community.

In line with APB and most pro bono organizations, the Ministry defines "pro bono" as "any legal services that are provided to, or in the interest of, people and non-profit organizations of limited means without expectation of a fee."

More information is available here: http://www.cba.org/BC/pdf/news_releases/ministry_0_12_11.pdf

Frank Yates-- Access Pro Bono's Clinic Coordinator-- successfully advocated on behalf of his widowed step-mother in a recent British sexual discrimination case regarding "frozen" retirement pensions. The case has positive implications for over 100,000 female pensioners worldwide.

In Alma Yates v. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (RP) [2011] UKUT 324 (AAC), a British Appeals Tribunal found that female pensioners like Alma Yates who received a "frozen" retirement pension based in whole or in part on their late husband's contributions, were attributed much smaller pension amounts than their male counterparts between 1994 and 2010. Ms. Yates' pension increased from 11 pounds per week to 75 pounds per week as a result of the Tribunal decision, and she was awarded compensation for past underpaid amounts.

The British government has chosen not to appeal the decision, and thousands of female pensioners now stand to gain from its outcome. Read more about the decision and its implications in this Telegraph article.

Minjin volunteers with us as Clinic Intern, Clinic Assistant and Interpreter. We are truly grateful for the immense amount of excellent volunteer work that she's undertaken for our organization.

Here's what Minjin has to say about her volunteer experience at APB:

"Since I started volunteering with APB, I have worked to become a bridge between our pro bono lawyers and clients. I have focused my time in scheduling more lawyers into clinics, and on recruiting new lawyers for the Summary Advice Program. Although this task is not always easy, I believe it is worth the effort. As a Clinic Assistant, I assist both the lawyers and the clients to ensure that the clinics run smoothly. I take this duty seriously, as I have seen many legal advice appointments result in the client realizing that they can overcome their legal challenge.

In addition to the aforementioned duties, I also volunteer as a Korean interpreter at a clinic in Richmond. I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the valuable experience I have gained during my time at APB. My time here has truly solidified my goal to pursue a career in service to people and society."

Civil Chambers hears all interlocutory applications leading up to a BC Supreme Court trial (i.e. brought within an existing proceeding). This includes applications for interim orders, preliminary matters and procedural matters. These applications can help to move a case forward, but usually don’t result in a final decision.

If you've already filed a civil claim or had a claim filed against you, our Civil Chambers Program can assist you with:

Scheduling a hearing or appearance in Chambers;
Representation at a Chambers hearing; and
Representation at an appearance leading up to a trial.

Our Civil Chambers Program cannot assist you with:

Representation at trial;
Commencing a claim (such as drafting and filing a Notice of Civil Claim);
Providing summary legal advice*; or
Providing long-term legal representation on a matter.

As an individual (and not a representative of an organization or company), you may call (778)-357-1300 or email civilchambers@accessprobono.ca to determine your eligibility and book an appointment with a Chambers Lawyer.

*If you need summary legal advice, you can contact our Summary Advice Program. It provides free 30 minute legal advice appointments for low and modest income individuals.

The UBC Faculty of Law profiles APB Roster Coordinator and 2005 graduate Kristy Sim for the wonderful work she has done and continues to do in the field of social justice.

View Kristy's profile here.

The Lawyer's Weekly writer John Schofield reports on how APB "is stepping in to help the hundreds of institutionalized mental health patients in [BC] who receive no representation in review panel hearings to determine their freedom."

APB's Mental Health Program provides pro bono representation services to individuals contesting their involuntary detainment under the BC Mental Health Act. APB staff and Mental Health Program initiators Frank Yates and Marie-Noel Campbell feature prominently in the article.

Read the article here.

Our official name is the Access Pro Bono Society of British Columbia, and we were incorporated as an independent member-run society in April 2010. We received our charitable status later that year.

Our fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31. Our finances are audited each year by a Chartered Professional Accountant, and our yearly Audited Financial Statements are listed below.

After more than 14 years serving BC communities, the Salvation Army Pro Bono Program permanently shuttered its operations on Monday, November 26.

The Program Client Line (604-694-6647) is now redirecting callers to APB's Legal Help Line (604-878-7400 in the Lower Mainland, 1-877-762-6664 elsewhere in BC). Some of the Program's legal advice clinic locations may persist as stand-alone operations, but it is expected that the vast majority of Program clinics will soon close their doors if they have not done so already.

APB will be working quickly to set up new legal advice clinics in BC communities that are now left unserved. APB will also serve individuals from communities without a clinic via telephone or Skype.

Access Pro Bono has long been concerned by the relatively small number of case referrals made from its summary advice clinics to its representation programs. APB's Project & Information Officer Jimmy Yan set out to research why such referrals are not being made in proportion to legal needs, and how to encourage more clinic lawyers to make referrals.

Jimmy's research used telephone interviews to explore the diverse settings of pro bono legal services for issues of family law. He interviewed 82 randomly selected APB clients who sought legal advice in family law in 2016. He used the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to diagnose APB's linear program model for family law clinics. Based on interview responses, Jimmy's study used a statistical model to identify significant effects of factors on how clients access legal services, i.e., gender, age, email usage, abusive relationship, education level, family law issues, emotions, prior consultations with other lawyers.

Ultimately, Jimmy recommended that APB enhance the quality of client case preparation prior to clinic consultations, and client case assessment during clinic consultations. He also recommended that APB give more attention to family law issues associated with financial support and children to pave the way for more successful referrals and representation. Last but not least, Jimmy encouraged APB to communicate these research findings to its community partners to help create and inform a multidisciplinary services network.

You can access the full text of Jimmy's research paper at http://www.accessprobono.ca/sites/default/files/FAM_YAN_20170520.pdf

Our Wills Clinic provides low and modest income clients, who are over 55 years of age or terminally ill, with Wills, Representation Agreements and enduring Powers of Attorney.

To see if you or someone you're helping qualifies for our Wills Clinic, use our Online Triage Form, email willsclinic@accessprobono.ca, or leave a voicemail at 604-424-9600, with your contact information and basic information regarding your legal needs. Wills Clinic intakes are currently held over the phone.

For information on Wills, and personal and advanced care planning, consider the following online resources:

The Wills Clinic Project operated by Access Pro Bono and staffed by federal Department of Justice lawyers is now underway in Vancouver.

Department of Justice lawyers and articling students are volunteering in the one-year pro bono pilot to draft and execute simple Wills for low-income seniors (55+) and people with terminal illnesses. Clinics are held each Wednesday at the Vancouver Justice Access Centre (290 – 800 Hornby Street, Robson Square) from 11:30am to 1:30pm.

Clients can book clinic appointments by calling the Wills Project line at 604-424-9600 or the regular APB client line at 604-878-7400.

Join Us December 2, 2014 for GivingTuesday

Most people are aware of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and if you haven’t heard of GivingTuesday, we're happy to let you know all about it. In the same way that Black Friday is known for kicking off the holiday shopping season, GivingTuesday is the opening day of the giving season!

Now in its second year in Canada, GivingTuesday seeks to direct the holiday spirit of giving to charities serving the less fortunate. It’s a time when charities, companies and individuals join together to rally for their favourite cause.

We're partnering with GivingTuesday.ca and asking you to help some of BC's most vulnerable residents achieve greater access to justice by donating to our pro bono programs on Tuesday, December 2.

Get Involved

If you would like to support us in our holiday fundraising campaign, please visit GivingTuesday Canada for ideas on how you can get your co-workers, family and friends excited about a national day for giving back!

If you are interested in volunteering with us, please visit our homepage for more information.

If you would like to help us spread the word about #GivingTuesday online and through social media, please contact Annie Baric, APB Operations Coordinator, at 604-482-3195 x. 1501 or by email at abaric@accessprobono.ca . Annie will be happy to help you.

CLICK HERE to jumpstart your holiday giving.

Thank you for your support and happy holidays!

Last week, Access Pro Bono wrapped up its annual two-week legal service and fundraising event called Pro Bono Going Public 2020. This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, APB shifted all of the event's in-person advice services to telephone and online delivery. Volunteer lawyers provided free legal advice to low and modest income individuals throughout BC, and solicited donations in support of their charitable contributions.

Over PBGP 2020's ten service days, 149 volunteer lawyers advised a record-breaking total of 388 individual clients. They also raised $59,564 in personal donations which, when added to $34,000 in corporate sponsorships, yielded another record-breaking total of $93,564 in support of APB's COVID relief services.

The top 5 fundraising lawyers were:

Emily Raven - $4,948
Vyvyan Tsui - $4,250
Troy McLelan - $2,750
Danielle Broadfoot - $2,344
Matthew Nathanson - $1,000

The top 5 fundraising law firms were:

Lawson Lundell LLP - $14,626
Clark Wilson LLP - $10,230
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP - $5,410
Thorsteinssons LLP - $3,505
Simpson, Thomas & Associates - $3,000

APB extends its sincere thanks to all of the volunteer lawyers and fundraisers who made PBGP 2020 its greatest edition yet.

More information on PBGP 2020 is available at advice-a-thon.ca.

The Islamophobia Legal Assistance Hotline––operated by Access Pro Bono–– seeks an experienced Islamophobia research contractor to help facilitate a new knowledge initiative called the Reporting Islamophobia project.

“Reporting Islamophobia” is a three-month $30,000 research project that seeks to canvas how reports about Islamophobia are presently gathered by Statistics Canada, civic organizations, community groups (if any), and how this information is collated and reported to the public. Upon conducting the preliminary findings, the research contractor will help prepare and print informational brochures that will be distributed across British Columbia in various languages.

The contractor should have the requisite research background with experience working with the Muslim community to conduct focus groups to gather information and create a report illustrating the findings.

Read the job posting here: https://islamophobiahotline.org/contact-us/careers/

The Trial Lawyers Association of BC is organizing a public awareness campaign entitled "The Battle for Legal Aid" that encourages lawyers to wear light blue ribbons to court in support of legal aid renewal in BC.

A noon-hour 'Rally in Ribbons and Robes' event will be staged in various courthouses across BC at 1pm on Wednesday, November 30, 2011. According to the Trial Lawyers Association of BC website, the event will sound the warning of the duty counsel withdrawal in early 2012.

In its 2012 Year End Report, the Law Society of British Columbia's Access to Legal Services Advisory Committee considered the following issues relating to pro bono legal service:

How should the Law Society define pro bono?
Should pro bono participation be mandatory?
Should Law Society funding for pro bono be increased?
How can participation in pro bono be improved?

In answer to the first question, the Committee proposed the following operative definition: “pro bono means providing legal advice or legal services to individuals of limited financial means without expectation of a fee or reward.”

The Committee also concluded that the Law Society should not require lawyers to perform a minimum amount of annual pro bono legal service, but should instead encourage lawyers to provide pro bono legal services to people of limited means.

In answer to questions 3 and 4, the Committee recommended further analyses as to whether the current method and level of Law Society funding of organized pro bono legal services are appropriate, and how the Law Society ought to encourage lawyers to provide pro bono legal services-- particularly through regional Justice Access Centres operated by the provincial government.

The Committee's Report was likely finalized prior to the November 26 announcement of the closure of the Salvation Army Pro Bono Program, and will be presented to the full Benchers table on Friday, December 7. It can be read here.

The 2017 wildfires have displaced many people in large and small BC communities. They've also given rise to many legal issues and questions.

In response to the 2017 wildfires, Access Pro Bono has:

set up a free telephone advice service ( 1-877-762-6664 ) for affected people; and

enlisted several volunteer lawyers to provide answers to frequently asked legal questions in different areas of law covered in separate information sheets (currently being developed):

2017 BC Wildfires FAMILY Law FAQ

2017 BC Wildfires LANDLORD-TENANT Law FAQ

2017 BC Wildfires EMPLOYMENT Law FAQ

2017 BC Wildfires STRATA (CONDO) Law FAQ

2017 BC Wildfires INSURANCE Law FAQ

2017 BC Wildfires DEBTOR-CREDITOR Law FAQ

To see if you qualify for free legal assistance from our Employment Standards Program, fill out our Online Triage Form, email us at esp@accessprobono.ca or call us at 604-482-3195 ext. 1500. If you email or call us, provide your name and contact information. Please allow up to two business days for us to call you back.

For information about your employment law rights, consider the following resources:

Employment Standards Act
Employment Standards Regulations
Interpretation Guidelines
Employment Standards Branch Information Officers 1-800-663-3316

In March 2012, the Coalition for Public Legal Services sent a letter to British Columbia Premier Christy Clark challenging her insinuations that budgetary allocations to the then-Ministry of the Attorney General increased over the previous two years. In its letter, the Coalition presented contradictory evidence gleaned from government statements and documents.

Recently, Minister of Justice and Attorney General Shirley Bond responded to the Coalition challenges with a letter authored on behalf of Premier Clark. The Minister's letter outlines and explains information that challenges, in turn, the Coalition's previous assertions. Read the Minister's letter here.

The Coalition for Public Legal Services is a group of advocates and organizations– including Access Pro Bono– advocating for a universally accessible justice system in British Columbia.

Each workday until GivingTuesday on December 2, we profile one of the wonderful volunteers who make APB so vital to access to justice in BC. Today's profiled volunteer is Kathy Tran.

Kathy is one of our most experienced and reliable Client Call Volunteers. She works on the front line interacting with the public to carry forward our vision of a justice system where having limited means does not limit access to justice.

Kathy and other CCVs handle much of our client intake processes. These include screening clients through brief telephone interviews and booking clients into our legal advice clinics across the province.

A graduate of SFU’s business program, Kathy has considerable experience in human resources. She is diligent, patient and mature beyond her years. She always goes above and beyond to help the less fortunate in their quest to obtain free legal help. Kathy is a shining example of the volunteer spirit that infuses everything we do at APB.

As for previous Law Society of BC Bencher elections and by-elections, we inform BC lawyers and the public about Bencher candidates who've actively volunteered with the organization or who've donated to our cause over the past two years. These are lawyers who've recently given their valuable time and/or money to serve their communities through our programs, and thus increase access to justice for marginalized people.

We believe they deserve lawyers' votes in the Vancouver County by-election occurring October 30 to November 13.

In their order on the online ballot, these candidates include:

• LEE, Kyla (volunteer)

• WAHID, Jasmeet K. (volunteer & donor)

• WINDER, Steve M. (donor)

• VEYLAN, Saravan J. (volunteer)

• MANDANICI, Sandra (volunteer)

• LUITINGH, Hermann (volunteer)

• WESTELL, Kevin (donor)

• ZEGREAN, Ivona-Elena (volunteer)

• CLOUGH, Emily L. (volunteer & donor)

• STEPHENS, K. Michael (volunteer)

Online voting occurs between October 30 and November 13. More information is available here.

The Antisemitism Legal Helpline (ALH) Steering Committee and Access Pro Bono (APB) seek a highly organized legal professional, community organizer or non-profit service provider to take on the 0.5 – 0.6 FTE role of Coordinator for its community connection and outreach efforts.

The successful candidate will be responsible for coordinating and managing all ALH operations, including responding to and appropriately directing inquiries for legal assistance. This role will be supervised by the Steering Committee and Access Pro Bono (APB) executive staff.positive and energetic candidate who is both a team player and highly self-motivated for the position of Volunteer Coordinator.

Basic Terms of Employment

This is a part-time position (20-24 hours a week) offering a first-year salary of $30,000 to $40,000 (equivalent of $60,000 FTE), depending on the candidate’s experience and qualifications. It also offers five weeks (15 days) of paid vacation each year and can be structured to include extended health benefits.

The successful candidate will ideally be based or have strong connections in BC's Lower Mainland and may work from home and from the APB head office in downtown Vancouver, as duties require. The position start date will be in February or March 2025.

Main Duties & Responsibilities

Respond to and direct inquiries for legal assistance
Manage a roster of volunteer lawyers
Coordinate with community organizations, legal advocacy groups and other relevant partners to promote ALH and to increase its reach
Develop and maintain strong relationships with communities impacted by antisemitism, including ALH stakeholders and partners
Coordinate closely with the ALH Steering Committee to implement program goals
Create and distribute outreach materials, including the development and coordination of educational workshops
Oversee the growth and maintenance of an ALH website, including writing content
Maintain accurate records of all cases handled by ALH
Monitor and evaluate ALH performance, including regular analysis of data and feedback from clients, volunteers and partners
Plan, coordinate and execute ALH programs and events, ensuring they align with organizational goals and objectives
Prepare grant applications
Track and report on ALH expenses
Report regularly to the ALH Steering Committee, to APB staff, and to applicable funders as needed
Collect and analyze ALH program data to measure success and identify areas for improvement
Represent ALH in public and private meetings and events
Provide administrative support to the ALH Steering Committee as needed, including the scheduling of meetings, preparation of meeting agendas, and minute taking
In collaboration with program staff, recruit lawyer and non-lawyer volunteers to support APB’s pro bono programs

Qualifications, Experience & Skills

Post-secondary education or equivalent experience in a relevant field, such as legal services, social services, counseling, criminology, non-profit management
Three or more years of experience in program management, the legal industry, community engagement or a related field
Demonstrated knowledge of issues related to antisemitism and/or discrimination
Cultural sensitivity to communities impacted by antisemitism
Excellent organizational, interpersonal and communication skills, including public speaking
Ability to work independently
Strong project management skills, and experience with budget management
Proficiency with cloud-based technology, and a willingness to learn and continuously adapt to new communication technologies
Ability to travel within the Lower Mainland

How to Apply

Interested candidates should email their application to Heather Wojcik (she/her) at hwojcik@accessprobono.ca by 3:00pm on Friday, February 28, 2025, with their cover letter (addressed to the ALH Steering Committee) and their resume attached in PDF format as one continuous document. No telephone calls please.

Interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis, and we may make an offer of employment prior to the posting end date, so please apply early. Only candidates who are shortlisted for an interview will be contacted.

APB is committed to building an inclusive and diverse workplace, representative of the diverse communities that make up BC. We strongly encourage applications from all qualified applicants. Applicants from traditionally underrepresented or marginalized groups including Indigenous people, people of colour, 2SLGBTQ+, and people with disabilities are encouraged to self-identify in their cover letter if they feel comfortable doing so.

Download the Job Posting

The Everyone Legal Clinic (ELC) has issued its Call for 2025/26 Articling Applications. ELC is Access Pro Bono BC's international award-winning and BC-wide public interest law incubator that launched in May 2022 as part of the Law Society of BC’s Innovation Sandbox.

For 2025/26, ELC is accepting up to 10 new articling clinicians (final number to be determined by level of external funding), and is providing a baseline annual income of $40,000 to each clinician for work they do through/for Access Pro Bono BC and ELC. Clinicians will still have the opportunity to earn up to $30,000 more by way of fee-paying client work and outside employment (so long as it does not interfere with their professional development).

The Clinic encourages applications from members of communities that face discrimination and disadvantage, and gives preference to applicants who self-identify as a member of one or more of: Indigenous people, persons with disabilities, 2SLGBTQ+ people, and people of colour/racialized people.

Download and read ELC's Call for 2025/26 Articling Applications, and submit ELC's Online 2025/26 Articling Application if interested.

The Law Foundation of BC is funding a research project on the experiences of BC self-represented litigants involved in family or civil cases, as conducted by Julie McFarlane of the University of Windsor's Faculty of Law. Among other questions, the study will ask the following questions of self-represented litigants in Vancouver, Surrey, Prince George and Nanaimo:

- What are your goals?

- What motivated you to manage your case without a lawyer?

- Have there been any surprises or any disappointments?

- Did you consider any alternatives to going to court?

- What is important for policymakers, judges and justice system officers to know about your experience as a self-represented litigant?

To participate in an interview or focus group, or if you have questions regarding the research project, please email Julie Macfarlane at juliem@uwindsor.ca or check out the project website at www.representing-yourself.com .

Angus M. Gunn Jr.-- a litigation partner at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP and a volunteer Director and Program Coordinator for Access Pro Bono-- was one of thirty lawyers designated as Queen's counsel today by British Columbia's Cabinet through order-in-council.

Per a Ministry of Justice News Release: "The Queen's counsel designation is an honour conferred annually on members of the legal profession to recognize exceptional merit and contribution. The successful candidates demonstrate professional integrity and good character and have been a member of the British Columbia bar for at least five years."

In addition to his many other professional and volunteer duties at APB, Angus takes on several pro bono cases each year. His dedication to promoting access to justice earned him the Canadian Bar Association - BC Branch's Harry Rankin QC Award in 2008. He was a Finalist for the 2012 International Bar Association Pro Bono Award, and a two-time winner of the UBC Law Adam S. Albright Award for Outstanding Teaching by an Adjunct Professor.

APB congratulates Angus on this most well-deserved honour.

On April 19, 2018 in downtown Vancouver, over 100 Access Pro Bono volunteers and supporters attended its annual Pro Bono Appreciation Breakfast. There, directors and staff awarded Vancouver lawyer Ashley Syer the 2018 Allan Parker QC Award for Representation Services.

For over five years, Ashley has been a regular volunteer with APB's Civil Chambers Program. She has represented dozens of low- and modest-income clients in chambers hearings and mediations in matters ranging from employment law to residential tenancy law. Recently, Ashley was instrumental in assisting a client whose disability prevented him from being able to talk from losing his home.

Ashley is a shining example of the selfless volunteer spirit that propels APB forward in its mission to increase access to justice for all British Columbians. Thank you, Ashley!

Each year at its annual Appreciation Breakfast, Access Pro Bono presents awards to two pro bono lawyers who show outstanding commitment to providing free legal services to low-income British Columbians. One award-- the APB Dugald Christie Award for Advice Services-- is presented to a lawyer who volunteers at APB's summary legal advice clinics. The other award-- the APB Award for Representation Services-- is presented to a lawyer who provides pro bono representation to one or more individuals through APB's Roster Program and/or Civil Chambers Program.

This year, the APB Award winners are Alison Sawyer (Advice Services) of Gibsons and Catherine Brink (Representation Services) of Pryke Lambert Leathley Russell in Richmond.

Alison Sawyer is a sole practitioner who has single-handedly carried APB's Sunshine Coast presence on her back. Over the past several years, Alison has volunteered at two APB clinics per month on average, and served more than two hundred clients. When APB's only Sunshine Coast clinic site was closed for renovation, Alison arranged to provide free legal advice out of an elementary school classroom. Recently, Alison's exemplary individual effort to increase access to justice in British Columbia was profiled in a community newspaper.

Catherine Brink practises family law with a collaborative divorce focus at Pryke Lambert Leathley Russell in Richmond. She is also a certified family law mediator. With little regard to the notion that family law is the most difficult area of law for matching pro bono lawyers with deserving clients, Catherine provided remote legal assistance to a low-income client in Bella Coola who was struggling to complete a separation agreement. She also offered to assist a single parent with three children who was suffering from MS and wanted to finalize a divorce. And she stepped forward to represent a recent immigrant with limited English skills who was filing for divorce.

Both Alison and Catherine were presented their awards in the presence of Chief Justice Lance Finch and Chief Judge Thomas Crabtree at the APB Appreciation Breakfast a few weeks ago.

Each workday until GivingTuesday on December 2, we profile one of the wonderful volunteers who make APB so vital to access to justice in BC. Today's profiled volunteer is Ashley Syer.

Ashley is a stalwart volunteer lawyer with our Civil Chambers Program in Vancouver. She has been volunteering with us for two of the four years since her call to the Bar, and she regularly serves as duty counsel for otherwise unrepresented litigants appearing in BC Supreme Court and Court of Appeal chambers matters. She serves her clients with compassion and understanding, and will often take on full representation clients when the need arises.

Ashley is a sole practitioner and a former associate at two top-tier boutique litigation firms in Vancouver. She is a past co-chair of the Young Lawyers Lower Mainland subsection of the BC Branch of the Canadian Bar Association (CBABC), a member-at-large of the ADR subsection of the CBABC, and a member of the Women Lawyers Committee of the Trial Lawyers Association of BC. Ashley is also an Associate Civil Roster Mediator with Mediate BC.

Ashley provides one shining example of the benevolence and dedication that hundreds of volunteer lawyers bring to our programs each year.

Last week, The Advocates' Society announced that its 2019/2020 TAS Gives Back campaign raised $50,000 for Pro Bono Canada.

Founded in 2012, Pro Bono Canada supports and distributes funds to Canada's six provincial pro bono organizations (Access Pro Bono BC, Pro Bono Law Alberta, Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan, Pro Bono Ontario, Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia and Justice Pro Bono Quebec) using a formula that considers the number of people in each province who live in poverty. Pro Bono Canada holds the residue in trust for the future development of regional pro bono organizations in the remaining provinces and territories.

Since 2010, The Advocates' Society's TAS Gives Back campaign has raised over a half million dollars for charitable causes through its Donate Your Rate™ campaign which asks its members to donate the equivalent of 15 minutes of their billable rate.

Each workday until GivingTuesday on December 2, we profile one of the wonderful volunteers who make APB so vital to access to justice in BC. Today's profiled volunteer is John You.

John is one of our new Mental Health Program volunteers. He's doing a great job providing free legal representation to people being detained involuntarily under the Mental Health Act. Here is how he describes the experience:

"I am a recent graduate of UBC Law. I started volunteering with the Mental Health Program because I thought representing a patient at a Mental Health Review Board tribunal would help me get some experience in litigation.

Being an advocate, however, was challenging at times because patients often held on to delusional beliefs as a result of their mental illness. The last patient I represented also seemed to hold on to such beliefs. Moreover, contrary to his medical certificate, which stated that he was arrested multiple times, he was adamant that he was arrested only once. By this time, I had formed my own bias against people who have a mental disorder, and I assumed that he was delusional. I trusted the medical certificate because a doctor had signed it. My patient expressed his dissatisfaction with his doctor, but all of my previous patients were unhappy with their doctors. Why should this one be any different? Luckily, the other advocate, with the help of an APB Program Coordinator, discovered that my patient was telling the truth. That was when I realized why I was there. I wasn’t there to get some experience in litigation or a line in my resume, but I was there to advocate on behalf of my patient who was entitled to a fair hearing."

The Paralegal Program is staffed by paralegals from several Vancouver law firms, and legal supervision is provided by APB volunteer lawyers. The Program operates on Wednesday evenings from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. Appointments are necessary and can be made by calling the Vancouver Justice Access Centre at 604-660-2084.

Access Pro Bono is pleased to share the release of “Flourishing: A plan to strengthen public legal education and information, the BC PLEI Ecosystem Project”. Authored by Catherine Dauvergne KC, this report published by UBC summarizes a comprehensive study, started in January 2024, on public legal education and information (PLEI) in British Columbia. The study employed diverse methods, including focus groups with PLEI users and frontline providers, a user survey, analysis of legal problems data, and a partnership with the BC First Nations Justice Council (BCFNJC). It also incorporates research from other jurisdictions and workshops with ecosystem leaders.

The report describes the PLEI space as an "ecosystem", characterized by diverse participants and organic growth, but also by a lack of sustained collaboration. This fragmentation hinders innovation and a comprehensive understanding of evolving public needs. A key finding was the strong desire of clients for personal interaction, even brief, to confirm understanding, with frontline providers highly valued.

The report also highlights a notable shortage of PLEI tailored for First Nation, Métis, and Inuit communities. Incorporating Indigenous perspectives and successes into the PLEI ecosystem through integrating the BC First Nations Justice Council is proposed as a means to address this shortfall.

Of the key recommendations made in this report, Access Pro Bono’s Any Door Project was deemed to be transformative and a significant opportunity for growth in the PLEI space. The Any Door Referral Project aims to build a coordinated, client-centred referral network. Led by Access Pro Bono, the project will support participating organizations in making “warm referrals”—direct, informed, and collaborative handoffs—to ensure that no matter where someone enters the system, they’re connected to appropriate legal help through any door. Specifically, the report promotes leveraging technological developments in AI to scale up the Any Door Project, which could translate into expanding the scope of the Lawyer Referral Service to encompass warm referrals to a wide range of legal support resources beyond traditional lawyers.

Access Pro Bono is committed to incorporating the findings and insights of the report to strengthen the Any Door Project, and to expand our reach to clients in need through coordination and collaboration with community partners in the PLEI space.

While touring British Columbia and publicizing the dire need for a replenished legal aid system, Canadian Bar Association - BC Branch President Sharon Matthews took the time to commend the remarkable pro bono contributions of BC's lawyers. The Prince George Citizen reports on Matthews' views on the role of pro bono legal services and organized efforts to alleviate the access to justice crisis in the province.

More information on the We Need Legal Aid campaign is available at www.weneedlegalaid.com .

Today, the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch announced a justice platform document called "An Agenda for Justice". The document recommends specific short-term and long-term actions to increase the effectiveness of BC’s justice system and laws.

“Everyone who seeks public office should be asked what they and their party will do to protect the ability of families, communities and businesses to prevent and resolve legal issues in a fair, timely and effective way,” said Kerry Simmons, President of the Branch. “We have prepared this platform document to help start that conversation.”

An Agenda for Justice outlines the following four key pillars for justice system reform, incremental investment and changes in law:

Stability for Families
Security for Communities
Certainty for Business
Accountability to the Public

The full An Agenda for Justice document is available online here.

On April 19, 2018 in downtown Vancouver, over 100 Access Pro Bono volunteers and supporters attended its annual Pro Bono Appreciation Breakfast. There, directors and staff awarded Vancouver lawyer Shannon Williams the 2018 Dugald Christie Award for Advice Services.

Shannon is a Strathcona-based sole practitioner who also works with Community Legal Assistance Society, Legal Services Society and Pivot Legal Society to provide legal services to people living in poverty and social exclusion. In 2017, she was APB's most active volunteer lawyer by a substantial margin. She helped over 200 clients with their legal problems through APB's Mental Health Program and Carnegie clinic in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Shannon is a record-setting volunteer lawyer for APB. We're incredibly grateful for the out-sized time and care that she gives to our client community. Thank you, Shannon!

The Access Pro Bono Society of British Columbia is recruiting for its volunteer Board of Directors. A legal background is not required. Applications are open for two (2) Board of Director positions.

We are particularly interested in hearing from individuals who reside in rural, remote, northern, southern or central areas of BC, and individuals who:

are passionate about access to justice;
have experience in non-profit governance;
have experience or training in the financial management or oversight of non-profit organizations;
work in community organizations providing services to people of limited means; and/or,
have experience in non-profit fundraising, donor relations, or volunteer recruitment.

APB is committed to building an inclusive and diverse organization, representative of the diverse communities that make up BC. We strongly encourage expressions of interest from all qualified applicants. Applicants from traditionally underrepresented or marginalized groups including Indigenous people, people of colour, 2SLGBTQIA+, and people with disabilities are encouraged to self-identify in their cover letter or expression of interest if they feel comfortable doing so.

Mission

APB’s mission is to promote access to justice in British Columbia by providing and fostering quality pro bono legal services for people and non-profit organizations of limited means. For more information about APB’s mission, principles, programs, directors, and staff, please visit www.accessprobono.ca.

Responsibilities of the Board

Attending board and committee meetings, providing organizational leadership and financial oversight, helping to develop and guide APB’s policies, supporting and participating in APB’s community events, and engaging in fundraising and community outreach.

Time Commitment

Four to six hours per month. At this time, Board meetings are held virtually every 6-8 weeks from 4:30 to 6:00pm.

Term

Two years, potentially renewable for a maximum of three terms.

How to Apply

Please email a resume and cover letter or expression of interest to Nadia Farinelli at nadia.farinelli@gov.bc.ca by October 13, 2023.

Get up to date with recent developments and events at APB by reading the APB Spring 2012 Newsletter here.

Access Pro Bono has a long tradition of leveraging the volunteer and paid efforts of law students in helping to administer its many pro bono service programs. Law students invariably bring a tonne of enthusiasm and knowledge to their vital administrative roles, and their very presence brightens APB's Vancouver head office. History shows that they almost always go on to become excellent pro bono and/or public interest lawyers later in life.

This summer, APB is happy and proud to welcome three law students to its head office as summer staff:

Kawon Cheung (graduate) from the Law School at University of Leicester;
Duncan Farthing-Nichol from Harvard Law School; and
Geoffrey Lim from the University of Calgary Faculty of Law.

Each workday until GivingTuesday on December 2, we profile one of the wonderful volunteers who make APB so vital to access to justice in BC. Today's profiled volunteer is Mosope Fagbongbe.

Mosope is an exceptional volunteer who commits her time to no less than three of our pro bono programs: the Wills Clinic Project, the Civil Chambers Program and the Summary Legal Advice Program.

Mosope practiced law in Nigeria briefly before moving to teaching and legal research with a specialty in public law. She earned Masters and Doctoral degrees in Canada, and has worn many hats at different times as a lawyer, researcher, teacher, trainer, human rights activist and advocate. She was a sessional lecturer at UBC Law, and recently qualified to pursue a legal practice in BC. She volunteers with other social justice groups as well as APB, mostly serving vulnerable people like seniors and women in dangerous situations.

Mosope's dedication, hard work and positive attitude make her a highly valued member of our volunteer family.

Legal Issue Types

This descriptive list of legal issue types is provided to assist APB staff, clinic coordinators, and volunteers who book clinic appointments. The list is used to categorize legal issues that APB lawyers may encounter while providing legal advice in APB clinics.

Criminal

Criminal law is quite different from all other fields of law. It covers any government charge against an individual involving a penalty. Such matters as traffic tickets, dog license violations, sanitary violations, shoplifting, and parking tickets are all in the criminal category. When clients are told that they are to see a “criminal lawyer” for a simple parking offense, they may point out that they are not criminals. That is certainly so, but in legal parlance all these matters are “criminal law.” Sometimes a client will not be sure whether the matter is a criminal matter. Frequently, the right question to put to them is, “Have you received a summons from the police?” If it is a police summons, it is a criminal matter. There are various matters which are criminal and also involve other matters, such as assaults: if a person is assaulted and wants to recover damages, it is a civil matter; if the client is charged with an assault, it is a criminal matter. The process for dealing with claims for damages and Crown offenses are entirely different, though they may cover the same events. The general principle is that criminal law has to do with punishment. Civil law has to do with claims.

Family

Family law covers all kinds of disputes between family members and includes: separation agreements; divorces; child custody applications; child apprehension orders (the child is apprehended by the government); maintenance and alimony; and division of family assets. For charges of assault within the family (this is borderline between family law and criminal law), we usually send the clients to a family law clinic first. Family matters can be dealt with in either Provincial Court (Family Division) or Supreme Court, depending on the issue(s). Note that in addition to our clinic services, clients can often be assisted by duty counsel programs in both Family Court and Supreme Court, operated by the Legal Services Society.

Immigration

This covers immigration to Canada and also refugee matters. If someone inquires whether we will prepare an application for a refugee to stay in the country, you have to be a little guarded on that issue. Some of our lawyers will not give such advice because they feel that the Legal Services Society should provide the service, though immigration and refugee assistance from LSS is now very limited.

Civil

All matters not covered by Criminal, Family, Immigration, or Mediation will be covered by Civil. The Civil category has been set up with a number of subcategories. When a matter is civil, then one of those subcategories must be picked.

Aboriginal Law

Aboriginal law should be chosen where the main legal issue involves Indian Act matters such as estate rights on reserve, residential schools, band status, welfare and housing rights on reserve, and hunting and fishing rights. Where the legal issue involves an Aboriginal person but the relevant law is of general application, the appropriate Civil category would still be used (e.g. an off-reserve rental housing issue for an Aboriginal caller would be entered under Housing – Residential Tenancy). Note that advising on Aboriginal land claims are not part of our clinic coverage as these issues are not approved services under our extended the Law Society of BC pro bono insurance coverage.

Admin-General

Administrative law is a very wide category and generally covers regulatory matters involving government services or agencies, or self-governing bodies such as professional associations. This category covers all matters except for the three more specific categories we have designated under Admin for Pensions, WCB, and Welfare. There are generally two levels of need for clients under Administrative law – either with the agency or tribunal itself, or for a review of the decision that has been made. A review of the decision will involve either an appeal or a judicial review application in the Supreme Court. We can give summary advice in any of these instances, though if representation services are eventually need we may refer the client to our Judicial Review Program.

Admin-Pension

This covers all entitlements to government pensions, other than welfare services. Examples include CPP and OAP benefits.

Admin-WCB

This covers all matters relating to Workers’ Compensation Act. This is often a complicated area of the law where the client will need representation services. We may wish to consider a referral instead to the BC Workers’ Advisers Office, or the Lawyer Referral Service for a lawyer who does WCB cases. Where a client is in a union, we may refer them to their union for advocacy service assistance.

Admin-Welfare

This covers all matters dealing with provincial welfare services including regular welfare benefits and also benefits for persons with disabilities. Currently, the BC statutes that cover most of these matters are the Employment and Assistance Act and the Employment and Assistance for Persons with Disabilities Act. Often, a client with a welfare-related matter will need representation-level services and we may consider a referral to a welfare advocacy organization including a number of the agencies with which we have clinics, or services listed at the PovNet website.

Civil Procedure

In general, we will use one of the other subcategories for civil matters, depending on the specific type of issue that the client has. This is usually called the client’s “substantive” issue, such as contract or tort. Where the client’s main question is “procedural” and only involves a question about taking a step in a court or tribunal process, then we may consider it procedural and use this category. This would cover, for example, questions about steps in Small Claims Court, Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and also the Federal Court of Canada. It would cover questions about Supreme Court Chambers, which are pre-trial summary hearings that are conducted daily or weekly in most courts in BC and involve brief matters before a judge where the evidence is presented in affidavit form.

Contracts

This category covers all non-debt contractual matters between parties, regardless of whether a court action has been started and, if a court action has been started, regardless of court level. Typical examples are sale of goods matters, and service contracts. Often, these matters are covered by the common law of contracts and/or government legislation such as the BC Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act. This category would also cover most small business matters, and also complaints against professionals regarding services (except for negligence-type situations). This category also includes entertainment law (e.g. film and TV), intellectual property (patents, trademark, copyright), and related matters.

Debt-Bankruptcy

This covers all bankruptcy-related matters, where the general issue is a debtor’s inability to pay on their debts. The debtor may not be in bankruptcy yet, but may seek legal advice about whether to declare bankruptcy or not. Or the debtor may already be in bankrtupcy but have some kind of legal issue within that process such as a dispute about their discharge from bankruptcy. If the debtor has not applied for bankruptcy, a lawyer can give general advice, but if the debtor has received advice and is intending to go ahead with the process, then they should be referred to a bankruptcy trustee (listings in the Yellow Pages) because it is trustees, not lawyers, who process bankruptcies.

Debt-Collections

This covers all debt matters, other than the more specific categories of Debt-Bankruptcy and Debt-Foreclosure. Usually the caller is going to be a debtor rather than creditor, but the category covers both parties. The focus is generally on one debt, and may involve either a first party collector such as a bank, credit union, or other lender such as a payday lender (or government) – or, it may involve a collection agency. An alternate service where the debtor has more than one creditor is the Credit Counselling Society of BC.

Debt-Foreclosure

This covers all matters when a debtor is facing foreclosure on their residence because they have defaulted on their mortgage. Usually the creditor is a financial institution, though this can also cover condo situations where the strata council is taking action against the owner for unpaid assessments. Besides our giving advice at a clinic, a very good resource to recommend for the client is the LSS booklet (available at the LSS website or in hard copy) called -Cannot Pay Your Mortgage?

Employment-Other

This covers all employment related matters except wrongful dismissal. The client will usually be an employee and have questions about their rights under BC legislation such as the Employment Standards Act (e.g. hours of work, overtime pay) or under federal legislation such as the Employment Insurance Act (for unemployment and maternity benefits).

Employment-Wrongful Dismissal

This covers all matters related to someone terminating or being terminated from employment. Generally, the client will be the employee. In most instances, the employee will not be in a unionized setting, and common law principles apply. If the employee is in a union, generally they should be referred to their union for assistance. Note that there may be related human rights issues associated with the termination.

Housing-Residential Tenancy

This covers all landlord/tenant matters governed by the BC Residential Tenancy Act. In most instances, we may be able to provide summary advice. If the matter is particularly urgent, we may consider referring the client to the hotline service of the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre. There are many written and web materials that may also supplement the assistance that we can give, which can be found at the LSS LawLINK website.

Housing-Other

This covers all housing matters other than landlord/tenant matters covered by the Residential Tenancy Act, and other than foreclosures. Examples include real estate matters, strata housing (including leaky condos), and coop housing.

Human Rights & Privacy

This type of law covers both the federal and provincial human rights legislation. If clients claim that they have been dismissed or let go from their employ due to some alleged human rights issue (e.g. sex or race), they should be encouraged first to see a wrongful dismissal lawyer.

Insurance

This category covers all non-government insurance matters between an insurance company and a policy holder. Examples include life insurance, insurance for credit agreements, and disability insurance. If the client needs help with government benefits, use the Admin-Pension or Admin-Welfare categories. This would also cover non-personal injury ICBC matters, such as where a person has been denied coverage because of an alleged breach of the insurance contract.

Taxation

This category covers all situations where the main issue for the client is to do with taxes, whatever the level of government. Examples include municipal property taxes, provincial taxes such as the PST, and federal taxes such as GST and income tax. Most often, the matter is going to involve the caller owing taxes.

Torts-Intentional & Other

Torts are civil wrongs and are generally divided into two categories – intentional, and negligence. For our purposes, this intentional subcategory includes matters such as assault (sometimes described as battery), wrongful taking or keeping of someone else’s property, and other civil wrongs such as libel or slander, and nuisance (e.g. barking dogs, overhanging tree branches). Note that non-intentional torts are generally categorized under the negligence heading, where someone has no specifically intended to commit a harm but they have been careless or their conduct has fallen below accepted standards such that the law will impose liability for the loss suffered. In these instances, use Personal Injury & Negligence.

Torts-Personal Injury & Negligence

This covers damages for personal injury and property loss. That includes motor vehicle mishaps and ICBC matters (except for criminal charges arising from the motor vehicle mishap, which are criminal matters), claims of negligence against doctors, lawyers or other professionals, and injury or damage from all other forms of negligence.

Wills & Estates

This category covers all aspects of a person’s estate matters, including wills, administration of estates, representation agreements, powers of attorney, committeeship (when someone is incapable of administering their personal affairs), and wills variation claims. We do not generally provide assistance with probate though we may give summary advice.

Clicklaw

Visit: Clicklaw

UBC Law Students Legal Advice Manual

The Law Students Legal Advice Program (LSLAP) Manual is comprised of approximately 1000 pages of legal information, divided into 23 chapters by area of law. The Manual is easy-to-use and provides quick answers to many legal issues. Originally designed as an educational resource for LSLAP students, it is now used by hundreds of legal and non-legal organizations across BC. With the assistance of legal professionals, LSLAP students revise the Manual annually to reflect changes in the law. It is published each August as a binder-bound hard copy, fully updated with new cases and new or amended legislation.

Visit: UBC Law Students Legal Advice Manual

Other Resources

If you need to determine the legal meaning of a word or term, consider referring to the online Law Dictionary.

Access Pro Bono has been approved for a grant of $28,000 from the Victoria Foundation to promote accessible legal services for Victoria residents. APB sought this funding in order to sustain and expand its services to low income residents of Victoria dealing with legal issues that are jeopardizing their housing stability, employment, and overall well-being. This grant will be used to strengthen APB staff and volunteer coordination, by funding intake coordinator and staff lawyer positions for staff who are serving Victoria residents. It will also help us to improve administrative infrastructure, allowing APB to leverage new technology to update our clinic management system. These updates will enhance client support in Victoria through effective triaging and lawyer referrals based on expertise and urgency.

Access Pro Bono thanks the Victoria Foundation for its ongoing support of our efforts to reduce systemic barriers to access to justice in Victoria.

Kristy Sim joins Access Pro Bono on November 15 as the interim Roster Coordinator while Michelle Quigg is on maternity leave. Kristy comes to us from Prisoners' Legal Services in Abbotsford and a prior stint as an associate of Bull Housser & Tupper LLP. Called to the BC bar in 2006, she practices in the areas of criminal defence, labour and employment, and human rights.

After and while working to match APB's roster lawyers with suitable pro bono cases, she will be completing a Master’s in Studies in International Human Rights Law at Oxford University.

This morning, British Columbia Minister of Justice and Attorney General Shirley Bond released the second part of her government's justice reform plan, entitled the White Paper on Justice Reform, Part Two: A Timely, Balanced Justice System.

According to a Ministry of Justice news release, Part Two builds on the government vision outlined in Part One: A Modern, Transparent Justice System: "It commits government to a 7-point justice reform plan and, in conjunction with Part One, is a road map for how we will reform and modernize the justice system. Part One focused on system governance, business intelligence, and enhanced decision making to ensure a transparent system that is capable of reform. Part Two presents our plan for reforms to front-line services and internal process to make the system more timely and balanced."

The White Paper follows on recommendations made in a number of government-commissioned reports including, A Criminal Justice System for the 21st Century by Geoffrey Cowper, Q.C., the British Columbia Charge Assessment Review by Gary McCuaig, Q.C., Making Justice Work: Improving Access and Outcomes for British Columbians by the Legal Services Society, and Forsaken: The Report of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry by Commissioner Wally Oppal, Q.C.

The Ministry of Justice invites public comments to JusticeReform@gov.bc.ca .

Pro Bono Canada, Access Pro Bono BC, Pro Bono Law Alberta, Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan, Pro Bono Ontario and Pro Bono Québec seek nominations for awards honouring individuals, groups or organizations from anywhere in Canada for their outstanding pro bono contributions in the following three categories:

A law firm committed to pro bono
An individual actively involved in pro bono
A pro bono program serving the community

Awards will be presented at the National Pro Bono Awards Dinner on October 4, 2018 as part of the 7th National Pro Bono Conference in Vancouver, BC.

We invite you to review the criteria below. If you know a deserving nominee, please take the opportunity to submit a nomination and help to recognize the contribution of lawyers and organizations to improving access to justice in Canada.

Canadian National Pro Bono Law Firm Award

This award recognizes a Canadian law firm that has made an outstanding contribution to the provision of pro bono legal services. The Awards Committee will consider law firms that have made significant strides toward the establishment of policies and programs that encourage lawyers to volunteer to represent low-income individuals. The committee is particularly interested in firms that have demonstrated dedication to the development and delivery of legal services to low-income recipients through a pro bono program, or have contributed significant work toward developing innovative approaches to delivering volunteer legal services.

Canadian National Pro Bono Distinguished Service Award

This award recognizes an individual lawyer who has made an outstanding contribution to the provision of pro bono legal services to Canadians. Nominees may be individual lawyers who do not obtain their primary income delivering legal services to low-income clients. The Awards Committee will evaluate nominations on the basis of an individual’s demonstrated commitment to pro bono work on behalf of individual clients, communities, or charitable organizations.

Canadian National Pro Bono Program Award

This award recognizes a specific Canadian pro bono program that increases access to legal services for poor persons. The Awards Committee will consider a pro bono program that has achieved excellence in one or more of the categories:

Addressing a gap in existing services or the unmet legal needs of a community
Using innovative strategies to increase access to justice
Enhancing private bar participation in pro bono activities Promoting collaboration between legal and community services providers

Nominations Process

To submit a nomination, please provide a copy of:

Personal/corporate details and contact information for the nominated individual or group
Narrative explaining why the individual or group is being nominated and why they deserve to win the award. This section should be limited to five pages and provide background information about the individual/group, the pro bono activities undertaken and the impact of these activities.
Letters of support

Nominations may be submitted by e-mail at: jmaclaren[at]accessprobono.ca The deadline to submit nominations is August 24, 2018

Selection Process

All nominations will be reviewed by the Awards Committee, which includes representatives of Pro Bono Canada, Access Pro Bono BC, Pro Bono Law Alberta, Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan, Pro Bono Ontario and Pro Bono Québec.

Barristers’ Program

Our Barristers’ Program serves as a general litigation program for civil, criminal and administrative law matters, but does not cover BC Provincial Court or Supreme Court trials. Roster lawyers provide a variety of limited and extended litigation services, such as drafting court documents (e.g. petition, affidavits), researching and preparing written submissions, preparing chambers records, and presenting legal arguments in court.

Court of Appeal Program

Our Court of Appeal Program provides a level of pro bono service to all civil and family self-represented litigants in the BC Court of Appeal. The Program is a coordinated effort between Access Pro Bono, the Court of Appeal Registry, and dedicated pro bono lawyers from firms across the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.

Family Law Program

Through our Family Law Program, volunteer lawyers provide assistance and representation to clients in matters such as drafting and arguing applications, conducting trials, mediating disputes, drafting separation agreements, and securing consent orders. Although the range of potential assistance is unlimited, our Family Law Program is specifically designed to enable pro bono help in the form of limited-scope or “unbundled” tasks.

Refugee Program

Our Refugee Program matches and supports volunteer lawyers in helping British Columbians (as individuals or groups) who seek to sponsor one or more refugees from Syria, Iraq or elsewhere. Volunteer lawyers provide free legal help to self-identified sponsors for the benefit of the refugees who seek to settle in BC.

Wills & Estates Program

Our Wills & Estates Program is designed to facilitate the provision of pro bono legal services in non-litigious estate matters, such as drafting wills, powers of attorney, committee agreements, and representation agreements.

In a 178-page judgment on whether or not-- in the name of access to justice-- a low-income plaintiff ought to be relieved of hearing day fees imposed by the BC government for use of a courtroom for child custody proceedings, BC Supreme Court Justice Mark McEwan rules that Supreme Court hearing fees (as set out in paragraph 14 of Appendix C Schedule 1 of the governing Regulations) are an unconstitutional impediment to access to the courts.

In the second to last paragraph of his judgment, McEwan writes:

"The Court is an essential forum of that common life, and cannot perform its necessary function if it, like so much else, is subject to the values of the marketplace the government has used to justify the fees. Some things cannot be for sale."

Read the entire judgment here.

Each workday until GivingTuesday on December 2, we profile one or more of the wonderful volunteers who make APB so vital to access to justice in BC. Today's profiled volunteers are Emma Abdjalieva and Feruza Abdjalieva.

Emma is a long-time volunteer Clinic Assistant with our Summary Advice Program. Her dedication and loyalty have been invaluable to our volunteer lawyers and their clients.

Here is what Emma thinks of her APB volunteer experience:

"The beauty of a program like APB is the support it provides to people who need it most in society-- those who are disadvantaged and have no one to guide them. I have been involved with this organization since I was in high school. No matter how much I have changed, and no matter where my career takes me, I hope to remain an APB volunteer for as long as possible. I believe that all individuals despite their economic situation deserve access to justice and that this should be a fundamental human right for all Canadians.”

A few weeks ago, Canadian Lawyer magazine profiled Matthew Nied of Nied Law Litigation Counsel, and the fact that he secured a costs award for a successful appellant before the BC Court of Appeal. Matthew donated the cost award back to APB in appreciation of the disbursement coverage and help provided to him by APB staff, including Heather Wojcik-- APB's Director of Legal Services. He hopes that his example will inspire more lawyers to take on pro bono cases, and also to pay any pro bono costs forward to help the broader cause of access to justice. We hope so too!

Read about Matthew's successful case and magnanimous gesture here in Canadian Lawyer.

Access Pro Bono is pleased to provide free legal support to victims of the Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy, in partnership with Filipino BC, AC Friends of Court and BC lawyer Joseph Cuenca. The organization now maintains a special roster of volunteer lawyers who are willing and able to assist victims, their families, and others impacted by the tragic circumstances of Lapu-Lapu Day 2025 in Vancouver.

APB's volunteer lawyers practice in the following areas of law:

Employment/WorkSafe
Insurance Claims
Family Law
Personal Injury
Wills & Estates
Civil Litigation

If you know someone with a legal issue in any of these or other areas arising from Lapu-Lapu Day 2025, please refer them to Gina Addario-Berry, APB Director of Legal Services, for the possibility of free legal assistance.

On Sunday, April 7, Access Pro Bono staff, volunteers, friends and supporters will participate in "Catch Me if You Can"-- the 2013 Law Week 5km Run and Family Friendly Obstacle Race.

Organized by the BC Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, the Fun Run will begin and finish at Vancouver's Creekside Park by Science World. The first 100 participants will receive a free Fun Run t-shirt.

Proceeds from the Fun Run will support Access Pro Bono and Law Week events throughout BC.

For more information and to register for the Fun Run, click here.

On October 3 2018 from 7-10pm, join community-minded lawyers, judges and other distinguished guests from across Canada for an evening showcasing some of British Columbia’s best wineries. A great selection of bottles have been generously donated by members of the legal and business communities to be bid on during a silent auction.

Excellent wine, good company, food, refreshments and music will make for a lively and enjoyable evening - all to support a very important cause in the BC legal community - Access Pro Bono.

Find out more at: wineprobonobc.com.

Our staff screen requests for eligibility, connect small charities and non-profit organizations to volunteer lawyers, and then provide ongoing support.

Volunteer lawyers provide legal help to organizations in all areas of non-profit law, including incorporation and by-laws, registrations for charitable status, employment matters, contracts and lease agreements.

In a press release dated May 23, 2012, the Canadian Bar Association - BC Branch applauded the recent Supreme Court of BC decision in Vilardell v. Dunham where Justice Mark McEwan held that civil hearing fees are unconstitutional.

“We are delighted that access to the courts has been upheld as a “common good” and that government has been found responsible for ensuring equality of access for all,” said CBABC Past President Stephen McPhee, QC.

Read the CBABC press release here.

Feruza graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from UBC, and then completed her Psychiatric Nursing degree at Douglas College. Feruza currently practices as a psychiatric nurse at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam.

Feruza began volunteering with APB because it provided a natural outlet for her interest in helping people approach and cope with complex and often intimately disruptive matters. Her younger sister and fellow APB volunteer Emma Abdjalieva inspired her to use and integrate her unique therapeutic skills as a Clinic Assistant for the Summary Advice Program.

Our 2025 to 2028 Strategic Plan

Our broad and inclusive approach to delivering legal services defines who we are. Over the years, we've developed programs and services to meet the growing needs of many British Columbians who couldn't otherwise access critical legal services, and we've become known for our innovative and agile approach to service delivery. Our 2025 to 2028 Strategic Plan is built around maintaining these core values while strengthening our ability to best serve those in greatest need.

Mission (What We Do)

Improve the justice system in British Columbia by providing access to free or affordable legal services.

Why We Do It

The vast majority of people in British Columbia cannot obtain the help they need to resolve their legal issues. By providing access to free or affordable legal services, we empower people to address their legal issues with confidence and dignity, and contribute to a more just and stable society.

How We Do It

We share what we learn from our service experiences.

We are honest and transparent about what we learn from clients and volunteers, and we offer our experiential knowledge to support improvements to the justice system in BC.
We put human beings at the centre of what we do.

We meet people where they are, as they confront life-changing legal issues. We approach each person with compassion and humility.
We strive to be inclusive.

We offer a broad range of programs serving diverse legal needs, and we seek to help everyone who comes to us, either through our own services or through connections to more appropriate service providers.
We value our volunteers.

We rely on volunteers to deliver free or affordable legal services to communities throughout BC, and we provide the necessary training and tools to support them.
We innovate.

We continually seek new ways to adapt and respond to unmet legal needs, and to improve the justice system in BC, while also managing risks to our sustainability.
We collaborate with others.

We recognize that people are better served by a diversity of legal service providers who work together to address unmet legal needs, and we combine our efforts with those of other organizations who share in the cause of access to justice.

Strategic Objectives for 2025 to 2028

Prioritize reconciliation.

We will find concrete ways to advance reconciliation.
Expand the reach of our impact.

We will expand our presence in all communities across BC, and make our services more accessible.
Streamline to sustain our inclusive approach to providing services.

We will clarify and define the scope of services we offer, and direct our limited resources to those services where we have the greatest impact.
Grow our resources to serve more people.

We will grow our service capacity by engaging more volunteers, finding greater efficiencies, and securing increased funding.
Communicate about inequitable access to justice and its implications for our communities.

We will be transparent, and we will share our service experiences and the lived experiences of our clients to inform government and others about how to improve access to justice in BC.
Strengthen our infrastructure to support and sustain continued innovation.

We will build internal processes and supports that sustain our operations and growth.

Principles

Pro bono legal services are those legal services that are provided to people and non-profit organizations of limited means without expectation of a fee.
Pro bono legal services should be designed and provided according to the changing social and legal needs of the people and non-profit organizations of limited means for whom they are intended.
Pro bono legal services should be provided to people and organizations of limited means according to the same standards of dedication, excellence, and professional ethics as paid legal services.
Pro bono legal services should serve to complement and not replace government-funded programs advancing access to justice; a collaborative pro bono system should not substitute for a properly funded legal aid system.

The 2011 Fall Edition of the APB e-Newsletter is now out.

Feel free to give it a read and pass it on to friends and contacts.

Access Pro Bono has moved its head office into new space on the third floor of the Law Society of BC building at 845 Cambie Street in Vancouver.

The previous office at 873 Beatty Street was located in a building that is being demolished to make way for a new fashion school.

The public can continue to visit APB in search of free legal help at the following address:

300 - 845 Cambie Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 4Z9

Wildfires have displaced many people in large and small BC communities. They've also given rise to many legal issues and questions.

As we did for last year's wildfires, Access Pro Bono has:

set up a free telephone advice service ( 1-877-762-6664 ) for affected people; and

enlisted several volunteer lawyers to provide answers to frequently asked legal questions in different areas of law covered in separate information sheets:

BC Wildfires FAMILY Law FAQ

BC Wildfires LANDLORD-TENANT Law FAQ

BC Wildfires EMPLOYMENT Law FAQ

BC Wildfires STRATA (CONDO) Law FAQ

BC Wildfires INSURANCE Law FAQ

BC Wildfires DEBTOR-CREDITOR Law FAQ (WIP)

Administrative Volunteers

Administrative volunteers are the heart and soul of APB. They perform many important tasks, including: typing and correcting documents, liasing with social agencies and volunteer lawyers, and booking or referring clients. Our administrative volunteers tend to work during office hours from Monday to Friday.

Client Call Volunteers

We have a large roster of volunteers who are responsible for client triage. Our Client Call Volunteers are up to date on everything that APB does, and they answer clients’ questions, refer clients to other service organizations, and book clients into our legal advice clinics.

Clinic Assistants

We rely on volunteers to attend our legal advice clinics and assist our volunteer lawyers and/or clients as needed. Our Clinic Assistants confirm client bookings and send client information to our volunteer lawyers. Most of our clinics run during office hours from Monday to Friday.

Community Workers

We are always seeking volunteers for our Employment Standards Program, Residential Tenancy Program and Mental Health Program. Volunteers will ideally have an interest in mental health or social work, and will support volunteer lawyers and law students.

Research & Development Volunteers

We also seek volunteers to help us carry out researches so in turn we can apply evidence-based practice to optimize pro bono outcomes.

The BC Ministry of Justice confirms that it is appealing the ruling in Vilardell v Dunham 2012 BCSC 748 to the BC Court of Appeal.

In response to the Supreme Court ruling, the BC Court Services Branch has suspended the processing of payments or issuance of invoices for hearing fees for Supreme Court civil jury and non-jury trials and applications under Appendix C, Schedule 1, Items 9 and 10 of the Supreme Court Civil and Family Rules while the matter of the constitutionality of civil hearing fees is before the courts.

Each workday through GivingTuesday on December 2, we profile one of the wonderful volunteers who make APB so vital to access to justice in BC. Today's profiled volunteer is Lisa Nevens.

Lisa is a civil litigator with the federal Department of Justice. She completed her law degree at UBC and holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and psychology from McGill University. Prior to being called to the Bar, Lisa was a law clerk for the Nunavut Court of Justice, an intern for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and a policy analyst for the Legal Services Society. In addition to volunteering with us, she is involved with the Canadian Centre for International Justice, the Public Sector Lawyers Section of the CBA, and the CBA’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conference. Lisa has also held many other jobs and volunteer positions along the way, including farm hand, donut maker, and bowtie-wearing usher.

She has volunteered with our Wills Clinic since its inception and has provided free estate-planning services to many low-income seniors in BC. Thank you Lisa for your hard work and dedication to providing access to justice to BC seniors over the past few years!

On February 4, staff from Access Pro Bono and the Community Legal Assistance Society (CLAS) co-presented a 1.5-hour webinar on the free legal services each organization offers to low and modest income British Columbians.

Watch the video to learn about the various free legal advice and representation services that legal service providers and their clients can access as needed. The webinar was designed to raise awareness of the type and scope of services offered, provide new volunteer opportunities for lawyers and paralegals, and enable more effective client referrals.

BC lawyers who watch the video may claim up to 1.5 hours of CPD credit, including 1 hour of Practice Management credit.

Last week at the CBA - BC Branch's Fall Conference in Las Vegas, Chief Justice Robert Bauman of the Supreme Court of BC delivered a powerful challenge to all justice system stakeholders to defend the justice system against the impacts of inadequate funding.

The full transcript of Chief Justice Bauman's speech is available here.

Beginning in January 2014, APB's Executive Director Jamie Maclaren will lead a new UBC Law seminar tentatively entitled, "Access to Justice and the Modern Individual Litigant".

The seminar will investigate the deepening crisis in access to justice for low- and middle-income Canadians, with particular focus on how individuals approach and navigate civil justice systems in pursuit of timely and fair resolutions to legal problems.

Guest lecturers, experts and students will explore the philosophical foundations of the common law, trace the evolution of the concept of equal access to justice, and discuss different sociological analyses of how Canadian civil justice systems serve individuals across a range of social categories. The seminar will also review the history of public legal services in Canada, and analyze past and present justice reform efforts undertaken by the legal profession, the judiciary, governments and other justice system stakeholders.

Students will be asked to think critically and creatively as they engage the problem of limited and unequal access to justice from an individual user perspective. The seminar will involve a small experiential learning component in which students select and visit a site of “street-level” legal service provision, and then reflect on the experience. A major goal of the seminar is to encourage UBC Law students to develop new and varied responses to the problem of unequal access to justice in Canada, and to add their own ideas to the body of knowledge passed on to future law students

At the Law Society of BC's Annual General Meeting on October 30, the Access Pro Bono Society of BC will propose an amendment by substitution to Member Resolution 2 that --if otherwise successful-- would mandate pro bono and/or legal aid service by all BC lawyers. Member Resolution 2 can be read here.

Though APB is pleased to see two member resolutions aimed at increasing member participation in pro bono work on the apparent premise that lawyers have a professional obligation to make critical legal services available to people who cannot afford to pay for them, it believes that impactful access to justice in BC would be better achieved by more qualified lawyers willingly engaging in pro bono and legal aid service.

APB's proposed amendment reads: "The Law Society of British Columbia shall consider and develop new ways to both incentivize, and reduce barriers to, member engagement in legal aid and pro bono service provision, in aim of reaching universal member engagement with an annual average of 50 legal aid and/or pro bono service hours per member.”

Read the full text of APB's statement.

To see if you qualify for our free legal assistance and representation services through the Residential Tenancy Program, email us at tenancylaw@accessprobono.ca. If you email us, please provide your name, contact information, and hearing date if one has been set. Please allow up to two business days for us to call you back.

Our Residential Tenancy Program can assist you with the following matters:

Contesting an eviction
Disputing an illegal rent increase
Seeking compensation for loss of quiet enjoyment (e.g. illegal entries, incessant noise)
Seeking an order for repairs
Recovering a security deposit
Appearing at a hearing

For information about your tenancy law rights, consider the following resources:

It is with profound sadness that we announce that Allan Parker QC- once a founding Executive Director of Access Pro Bono- passed away peacefully on June 13, 2012 in the loving company of his wife Boni and daughter Cassandra. Allan's obituary can be viewed here.

Allan was admired inside and outside of BC's legal community for his relentless passion for law and social justice. He served the public interest in many diverse ways throughout his storied legal career, including as a poverty law lawyer in Nanaimo, as a teacher of the Law Society of BC's Professional Legal Training Course, as the manager of the Legal Services Society of BC's former LawLINE service, as a Provincial Court mediator, and as an architect of the Law Foundation of BC's Legal Advocacy Training Course.

He was best known in BC's pro bono community for having led the Western Canada Society for Access to Justice in the critical years following Dugald Christie's own untimely passing in 2007, and for having steered the organization toward its monumental 2010 merger with Pro Bono Law of BC into Access Pro Bono. Allan was appointed as Queen's Counsel in 2010.

Words cannot convey how much everyone at Access Pro Bono misses Allan. He was a wonderfully dedicated co-worker, mentor and "soldier for access to justice" (as he often described others in our field). But first and foremost, he was a loving and ever-positive friend. Even amidst darkness and struggle, he saw and pursued the good in things.

We miss him dearly.

Our capacity to increase access to justice for low-income British Columbians relies on the charitable efforts of more than a thousand volunteers each year. Behind the scenes of volunteer lawyers serving clients in clinics, hearing rooms and courthouses throughout BC, hundreds of administrative volunteers work diligently to ensure that our clients receive the timely legal services they need. So each month beginning now, we will profile one of the wonderful volunteers who make APB so vital to access to justice in BC. February’s profiled volunteer is Marissa Di Lorenzo.

Marissa has been a valuable member of our client intake team since 2013. She is pursuing a full-time bachelor's degree in Business and Psychology at SFU, and is also a teaching assistant for an upper division commercial law course this semester. Despite intense demands on her time, Marissa always makes her volunteer shift at APB a priority.

As one of our most dedicated and skilled client intake volunteers, Marissa has played a key role at APB by helping to train and mentor new volunteers. And she always assists our clients with utmost patience and empathy. With future aspirations that include attending law school, we hope to have Marissa back as a volunteer lawyer one day!

At our Summary Advice Program clinics, volunteer lawyers provide free legal advice to low and modest income individuals on a wide range of legal issues, including family, immigration, criminal, and civil law (such as debt, employment, welfare and housing matters).

To book a clinic appointment, please call our Client Line at 604-878-7400 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM or from 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM, Monday to Friday (excluding holidays). Alternatively, you can fill out our Online Triage Form.

In his November 23, 2011 column in the Vancouver Sun entitled, "Better funding the only fix for crippled civil-justice system", Ian Mulgrew identifies the severe need to better fund civil justice systems throughout Canada. Mr. Mulgrew laments the lack of political will to address the crisis, and questions why governments do not recognize how improved funding of civil justice systems serves to save government resources in the long term.

Read Ian Mulgrew's column here.

APB is pleased to announce the public launch of the Commercial Trial Assistance Project (CTAP).

CTAP is a pilot project that matches large law firm associates in search of commercial trial experience with unrepresented commercial litigants in need of trial support before the BC Supreme Court. All services offered under CTAP are at a significantly reduced, flat-rate fee. This exciting "low bono" project compliments existing pro bono services by providing access to the commercial courts at more affordable rates.

Over the past 16 months, a group of Vancouver litigators, Mr. Justice McEwan of the BC Supreme Court and Jamie Maclaren of APB met to discuss and create CTAP. The pilot seeks to tackle two serious problems: (i) dwindling opportunities for junior lawyers to obtain valuable trial experience, and (ii) the many difficulties that unrepresented commercial litigants encounter as they try to manage complicated commercial trials on their own.

CTAP has received a strong endorsement from the BC Supreme Court. A number of Supreme Court judges have agreed to participate in the pilot by providing an information handout to unrepresented commercial litigants who appear to meet CTAP's eligibility criteria.

CTAP is now looking for lawyers' referrals and self-referrals of unrepresented commercial litigants who are within four to eight months of proceeding to trial under the Fast Track Litigation Rule (Rule 15-1) in BC Supreme Court. APB will provide qualifying litigants with some initial free legal advice and a review of their case to ensure that only legitimate commercial disputes with a significant likelihood of proceeding to trial are served.

If you are aware of an unrepresented commercial litigant who may benefit from this service, please complete and send a CTAP Referral Form to CTAP@accessprobono.ca, or encourage the litigant to call the CTAP Line at 604-424-9600.

If you would like more information about CTAP, please contact Jamie Maclaren at APB or Morgan Camley at McCarthy Tétrault.

The National Pro Bono Awards recognize innovation and leadership in pro bono programming and pro bono service at the institutional and individual levels. The winners of the 2018 National Pro Bono Awards were announced on October 4, 2018 during the 7th National Pro Bono Conference, hosted by Access Pro Bono in Vancouver, BC.

The National Pro Bono Distinguished Service Award recognizes an individual lawyer who has made an outstanding contribution to providing pro bono services. The 2018 recipient, Julien Matte, is an excellent ambassador for pro bono in Nova Scotia with a long-standing commitment to pro bono service dating back to his days as a government lawyer. Since starting his own practice in the north end of Halifax, Julien’s pro bono service ranges from delivering workshops for the Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia, to providing summary legal advice and mentoring students in clinics, to developing innovative tech tools that add efficiency and reduce cost. Julien’s Small Claims Court App is recognized as a significant development to support access to justice for many lower-income Nova Scotians.

The National Pro Bono Law Firm Award recognizes a Canadian law firm or in-house team that has made an outstanding contribution to the provision of pro bono legal services through leadership in establishing policies and programs. The 2018 recipient is Norsask Law, a three-lawyer firm based in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. Norsask is a full-service, general practice law firm that punches well above its weight in serving the legal needs of residents of northern Saskatchewan. The three lawyers at the firm alone make up about 80% of the pro bono lawyer pool in the area, regularly going above and beyond in providing pro bono summary legal advice and committing to taking on 3-6 full representation files a year. The firm is also working pro bono to have designated as a municipal heritage site a cemetery connected to one of the Prairies’ first residential schools.

The National Pro Bono Program Award recognizes a specific Canadian pro bono program that increases access to legal services by addressing a gap in existing services or the unmet legal needs of a community, using innovative strategies to increase access to justice, promoting collaboration across sectors, and enhancing participation in pro bono initiatives. The 2018 recipient is Pro Bono Ontario’s Free Legal Advice Hotline. The hotline provides just-in-time legal assistance to low-income Ontarians with everyday civil legal problems. Using a sophisticated platform and case management system, the hotline streamlines service delivery and permits pro bono counsel to simply pick up the phone and provide summary legal advice to people from across the province. The program is expected to serve as a model for other jurisdictions and has increased pro bono participation in the legal community. Within a year of operation, the hotline had served well over 11,000 people with consumer protection, employment, housing, education, small business and power of attorney matters.

On behalf of the Steering Committee of its new Anti-Semitism Legal Assistance Hotline (ASLAH), Access Pro Bono is hiring for a first Anti-Semitism Legal Assistance Hotline Coordinator position.

ASLAH is an initiative that provides free legal information and assistance to support, educate and empower British Columbians who experience acts of anti-Semitism. Due to launch in December 2023 or January 2024, It will operate in parallel to Access Pro Bono's Islamophobia Legal Assistance Hotline.

The ASLAH Steering Committee seeks a highly organized legal professional, community organizer or non-profit service provider to take on the role of Coordinator for its community outreach efforts. The successful candidate will be responsible for coordinating and managing all ASLAH operations, including responding to and appropriately directing enquiries for legal assistance. This role will be supervised by the Steering Committee and Access Pro Bono (APB) executive staff.

Basic Terms of Employment

This is a part-time position (20-24 hours a week) offering a first-year salary of $30,000 to $40,000, depending on the candidate’s experience and qualifications. It also offers five weeks (15 days) of paid vacation each year, and can be structured to include extended health benefits.

Qualifications, Experience & Skills

Post-secondary education or equivalent experience in a relevant field, such as legal services, social services, counseling, criminology, non-profit management
Three or more years of experience in program management, the legal industry, community engagement or a related field
Demonstrated knowledge of issues related to anti-Semitism and/or discrimination
Cultural sensitivity to communities impacted by anti-Semitism
Excellent organizational, interpersonal and communication skills, including public speaking
Ability to work independently
Strong project management skills, and experience with budget management
Proficiency with cloud-based technology, and a willingness to learn and continuously adapt to new communication technologies
Ability to travel within the Lower Mainland

Main Responsibilities

Plan, coordinate and execute ASLAH programs and events, ensuring they align with organizational goals and objectives
Coordinate with community organizations, legal advocacy groups and other relevant partners to promote ASLAH and to increase its reach
Develop and maintain strong relationships with communities impacted by anti-Semitism, including ASLAH stakeholders and partners
Coordinate closely with the ASLAH Steering Committee to implement program goals
Create and distribute outreach materials, including the development and coordination of educational workshops
Oversee the development and maintenance of an ASLAH website, including writing content
Manage the recruitment, training and supervision of volunteers
Maintain accurate records of all cases handled by ASLAH
Monitor and evaluate ASLAH performance, including regular analysis of data and feedback from clients, volunteers and partners
Track and report on ASLAH expenses
Report regularly to the ASLAH Steering Committee, to APB staff, and to applicable funders as needed
Collect and analyze ASLAH program data to measure success and identify areas for improvement
Represent ASLAH in public and private meetings and events
Provide administrative support to the ASLAH Steering Committee as needed, including the scheduling of meetings, preparation of meeting agendas, and minute taking

How to Apply

Interested candidates should email their application to Jamie Maclaren KC (he/him) at jmaclaren@accessprobono.ca by 4:00pm on Thursday, December 14, 2023, with their cover letter (addressed to the ASLAH Steering Committee) and their resume attached in PDF format as one continuous document.

No telephone calls please. Interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis, so please apply early. Only candidates who are shortlisted for an interview will be contacted.

APB is committed to building an inclusive and diverse workplace, representative of the diverse communities that make up BC. We strongly encourage applications from all qualified applicants. Applicants from traditionally underrepresented or marginalized groups including Indigenous people, people of colour, 2SLGBTQ+, and people with disabilities are encouraged to self-identify in their cover letter if they feel comfortable doing so.

Download the job posting.

As part of its Families First Agenda, the British Columbia government has announced that it will soon expand its Justice Access Centres (JACs) beyond Vancouver and Nanaimo.

The current JACs arose from a holistic service concept where government and self-help legal services are supplemented by legal aid services and non-governmental services (legal and non-legal) in a single location in or near a courthouse. In the Vancouver JAC at 800 Hornby Street, for example, Access Pro Bono operates several Summary Advice Program clinics, the Paralegal Program and the Wills Clinic Project in coordination with mediation services, debt counselling services, self-help services and several other legal and non-legal services.

More information on the JACs is available here.

The News Release from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Family and Child Development is available here.

Clara is a family lawyer at Aaron Gordon Daykin Nordlinger LLP in Vancouver. She has volunteered countless hours to APB as Coordinator of our Family Law Roster Program. Clara reviews family law cases for merit and contacts lawyers on our family law roster to obtain pro bono assistance for eligible clients.

There is a huge need for pro bono family law services. Far too many people appear in court unrepresented for family matters of utmost importance to their and their children’s lives.

We thank Clara for her generous contribution of time and expertise. APB is always looking for more family law lawyers to join our Family Law Roster. If you’re an interested lawyer, please see here for more information: http://www.accessprobono.ca/roster-program.

By submitting personal information to the Access Pro Bono Society of BC (APB), you agree that we may collect, use and disclose such personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and as permitted or required by law.

Consent

Subject to legal and contractual requirements, you may refuse or withdraw your consent to certain of the identified purposes at any time by contacting the APB Privacy Officer. If you refuse or withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide you or continue to provide you with certain services or information which may be of value to you. If you refuse or withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide you or continue to provide you certain services or information which may be of value to you. If you provide APB with personal information of another individual, you represent that you have all necessary authority and/or have obtained all necessary consents from such person to enable us to collect, use and disclose such personal information for the purposes set forth in this Privacy Policy.

What Personal Information do we collect?

Canadian privacy legislation defines “Personal Information” broadly as information about an identifiable individual or as information that allows an individual to be identified. For the purposes of this policy, Personal Information means information about an identifiable individual as defined from time to time in applicable privacy legislation. Generally speaking, Personal Information does not include what is considered business contact information: your name, title or position, business address, telephone number, facsimile number, or e-mail address. The types of Personal Information that APB may collect about you include your name, business address, telephone number, personal email address, information about a client’s legal issue and other information incidental to providing pro bono legal services (including Personal Information about witnesses, family members, beneficiaries, directors, officers, employers, adverse parties, parties-in-interest, investigators, decision makers, experts, other professional advisors).

Why do we collect your Personal Information?

In general, APB collects, uses and discloses Personal Information about its registrants in order to provide our clients with professional legal services. More specifically, we collect, use and disclose your Personal Information for the following purposes:

to establish and manage volunteer relationships, provide pro bono legal advice, perform pro bono legal services, fulfill legal duties, and avoid conflicts of interest;
to share Personal Information to and from third parties for the purpose of providing pro bono legal services;
to distribute our quarterly newsletter and other material to individuals on our mail and e-mail lists;
to detect and protect APB against error, negligence, breach of contract, fraud, theft and other illegal activity, and to audit compliance with APB policies and contractual obligations;
as permitted by, and to comply with, any legal or regulatory requirements or provisions; and
for any other purpose to which you consent.

To whom do we disclose your Personal Information?

From time to time, APB may disclose your Personal Information to:

our Program Managers, Intake Coordinators, administrative staff and other service providers retained by APB to perform functions on its behalf;
any third party or parties, where you consent to such disclosure or where disclosure is required or permitted by law.

Where do we store your Personal Information?

Your Personal Information is stored in secured locations and on servers controlled by APB, located at our office in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

How may you obtain access to your Personal Information?

Upon your written request, subject to certain exceptions, APB will inform you of the existence, use, and disclosure of your Personal Information and will give you access to that information. Access requests should be sent in writing to our Privacy Officer, using the contact information below.

How do we protect your Personal Information?

To help protect the confidentiality of your Personal Information, APB employs administrative and technological safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of your Personal Information. Where Personal Information is sent to a third party for processing, we ensure, through our contracts with them, that all Personal Information is kept secure. We operate secure data networks protected by industry standard firewall and password protection systems.

How long do we retain your Personal Information?

We retain your Personal Information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected or to meet legal and professional obligations. When your Personal Information is no longer required, we securely destroy or anonymize it.

Privacy and our Website

Cookies - When an individual visitor accesses the www.accessprobono.ca website, we may use a browser feature called a ‘cookie’ to collect information such as the type of Internet browser and operating system the visitor uses, the domain name of the website from which the visitor came, date and duration of the visit, number of visits, average time spent on our website, pages viewed and number of cookies accumulated. A cookie is a small text file containing a unique identification number that identifies the visitor’s browser, but not necessarily the visitor, to our computers each time our website is visited. Unless a visitor specifically informs us (e.g. by registering for an event or sending us correspondence from the website), we will not know who the individual visitors are. In addition to the identified purposes described in our Privacy Policy, we may use this website information and share it with other organizations to measure the use of our website, to improve the functionality and content of the website and to facilitate usage by a visitor. Visitors can reset their browsers either to notify them when they have received a cookie or refuse to accept cookies. However, if a visitor refuses to accept cookies, he or she may not be able to use some of the features available on our website.

E-Mail Communications - Occasionally, we may send informational or promotional e-mail communications to you with information that may be useful, including information about pro bono opportunities with APB and third parties. We will include instructions on how to unsubscribe and inform us of preferences if you decide you do not want to receive any future informational or promotional e-mails from APB.

Links - Our website may contain links to other websites which are provided as a convenience only. Visitors are advised that other third party websites may have different privacy policies and practices than APB, and APB has no responsibility for such third party websites.

Changes to the Privacy Policy

APB reserves the right to modify or supplement this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make a change to this Privacy Policy, we will post such changes on our website and make such revised policy and changes available upon request to the APB Privacy Officer. However, APB will obtain the necessary consents required under applicable privacy laws if it seeks to collect, use or disclose your Personal Information for purposes other than those to which consent has been obtained unless otherwise required or permitted by law.

Further Information

APB has appointed Gina Addario-Berry as Privacy Officer to oversee compliance with this Privacy Policy and applicable privacy laws. For further information on APB’s privacy practices, please contact the APB office at:

Access Pro Bono Society of British Columbia
300 – 845 Cambie Street
Vancouver, BC
Canada V6B 4Z9

Business Line: 604.482.3195 ext 1600
Fax Line: 604.893.8934
E-mail: privacy[at]accessprobono.ca

Updated August 28, 2025

Vancouver Sun columnist Ian Mulgrew reports on the growing tension between BC's legal stakeholders and the provincial government over the issue of funding for legal aid. The Trial Lawyers Association of BC is organizing a public awareness campaign in several courthouses today, and is calling for mounting withdrawals of legal aid duty counsel services in 2012 if government does not move to address the issue of underfunding.

Mulgrew's article chronicles escalating moments of friction between BC's judicial and legislative branches of government, and concludes with the following reductive statement: "With only a limited pot, if you had to decide whether to give more money to lawyers and judges or crippled kids, which would you choose?"

Read the article here.

The British Columbia Court of Appeal issued its 2012 Annual Report on March 27, 2013.

The 2012 issue is the last Annual Report under Chief Justice Lance Finch's leadership, as he approaches his mandatory retirement date in June 2013.

On page 34 of the Annual Report, the Court's Pro Bono Committee, led by Justice Ian Donald, thanks Access Pro Bono for its work in facilitating free legal assistance and representation for otherwise self-represented Court of Appeal litigants. The Committee also lists APB's many volunteer lawyers who appeared before the Court in 2012.

The Court notes at page 13 that the number of civil filings for self-represented litigants increased 2% over 2011, while the number of civil hearings involving self-represented litigants remained the same. Meanwhile, the number of criminal appeals filed where one party was self-represented slightly increased over 2011, and yet there was a significant reduction in the number of self-represented litigants in appeals heard.

The entire 2012 Annual Report can be read here.

In support of Access Pro Bono, ZSA Legal Recruitment is pleased to host the 2nd Annual Great Wines Charity Auction on Thursday, May 16, 2019 at the stunning Bill Reid Gallery in downtown Vancouver. Attendees will enjoy a wide range of BC wines, all while helping to raise funds in support of access to justice in BC.

The evening will feature a live auction, a silent auction and a raffle. Bid items and prizes will include, wine, gift baskets, experiences to name a few.

Join us for a fabulous night of food and wine tastings, entertainment and great company – all to support a very important cause in BC: Access Pro Bono.

For tickets and more info, visit https://wineprobonobc.com

The Everyone Legal Clinic (ELC) has issued its Call for 2024/25 Articling Applications. ELC is our international award-winning and BC-wide public interest law incubator that launched in May 2022 as part of the Law Society of BC’s Innovation Sandbox.

For 2024/25, ELC is accepting up to 10 new articling clinicians (final number to be determined by level of government funding), and is providing a baseline annual income of $40,000 to each clinician for work they do through/for Access Pro Bono and ELC. Clinicians will still have the opportunity to earn up to $20,000 more by way of fee-paying client work and outside employment (so long as it does not interfere with their professional development).

The Clinic encourages applications from members of communities that face discrimination and disadvantage, and gives preference to applicants who self-identify as a member of one or more of: Indigenous people, persons with disabilities, 2SLGBTQ+ people, and people of colour/racialized people.

Download and read ELC's Call for 2024/25 Articling Applications, and submit ELC's Online 2024/25 Articling Application if interested.

APB seeks lawyers practicing in or near Vancouver, New Westminster, Kelowna and Victoria to volunteer for Pro Bono Going Public 2012-- the fifth iteration of its annual outdoor legal advice-a-thon. As in years past, lawyers will provide free legal advice in public squares in order to raise awareness and funds for pro bono legal services in BC.

The free legal advice-a-thon will also facilitate access to justice for low- and modest-income people, including the homeless, by engaging lawyers in advising pre-scheduled and limited drop-in clients on all legal issues.

Held over four days- one day in each city- the event relies on the volunteer efforts of over 100 lawyers. Participating lawyers are encouraged to obtain pledges from family, friends and co-workers to raise upward of $60,000 in direct support of APB's pro bono programs.

Lawyers can volunteer for this fun event by clicking here. Once registered, lawyers can login to their accounts to customize personal donation pages, send emails to potential sponsors, manage offline pledges, and view the status of their fundraising efforts. APB awards great donated prizes (e.g. iPads, hotel stays, wine tours, Canucks tickets) to the top fundraisers.

Emma is a second-year student at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law with a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Manitoba. She is passionate about increasing access to justice and she shares her passion by encouraging fellow law students to get involved in pro bono service.

Emma is the Clinic Assistant for the APB Student Clinic at Our Place in Victoria. This unique clinic is the result of a new partnership between APB and UVic Law. Volunteer law students and volunteer lawyers work together to provide free summary legal advice to clients. Emma’s role is to facilitate the weekly operation of the clinic. Her enthusiasm, commitment and generous nature are attributes that make her a wonderful volunteer and that will serve her well throughout her legal career.

Now in its 14th year, our annual free legal advice-a-thon will be a virtual event to continue our mission to increase access to justice throughout BC.

PBGP 2021 will run for two work weeks-- September 13 to 24 -- in a sustained effort to raise awareness and funds for our pro bono programs. Lawyers from across BC will register to provide one or two hours of free legal advice over the telephone to low and modest income British Columbians in need. All appointments will be pre-scheduled and will provide ample time for conflict checks. Advice appointments can be booked here.

We offer a variety of program-based and stand-alone volunteer opportunities for alternative legal service providers (i.e. articling students, paralegals, mediators, notaries, community advocates, law students). As examples, a volunteer notary may prepare a Power of Attorney for a client, a volunteer mediator may mediate a family dispute between two parties, or a volunteer law student may research case law for a volunteer lawyer's litigation matter.

Fill out our Alternative Legal Service Provider Volunteer Form

Last night, the law firm of Camp Fiorante Matthews Mogerman held an open house at its beautiful offices on Homer Street in downtown Vancouver. The firm held a silent auction with proceeds being donated to APB and Project Somos Children's Village-- a charity establishing a village for abandoned and orphaned children in Guatemala near the town of Tecpan.

Camp Fiorante Matthews Mogerman has developed a stellar reputation as a law firm that pulls much more than its weight in advancing access to justice through public interest litigation and support for social justice organizations like APB. Sharon Matthews, J.J. Camp, Q.C. and Melina Buckley are particularly well-known for their trial advocacy and community engagement around access to justice issues. Kudos to CFMM for the wondeful work they do!

A few months ago, in Vilardell v. Dunham, the British Columbia Court of Appeal allowed an appeal by the Attorney General of British Columbia from the trial judge's decision to strike down hearing fees charged by the Crown in Supreme Court trials as unconstitutional.

Though the Respondents (all represented by pro bono counsel) failed to convince the Court that hearing fees are unconstitutional because they impede effective access to the courts for litigants of modest means, the decision did yield an enlarged interpretation of the indigency exemption to paying all court fees in family law cases.

The recently endorsed Order states that the phrase "in need" is to be read into the Rule 20-5(1) fee exemption for family law litigants who receive benefits under the Employment and Assistance Act or the Employment and Assistance for Persons with Disabilities Act or who are "otherwise impoverished". The expanded exemption should assist pro bono counsel in pursuing important family law cases on behalf of low- and modest-income clients.

Jamie Maclaren and Ryan Parsons-- counsel for the Respondent (Plaintiff) Montserrat Vilardell-- provided these comments on the appeal outcome:

"First and foremost, our client was delighted to be finally granted relief from paying some $3,600 in accumulated hearing fees. For over four years, she lived with the daunting prospect of paying for fees that would essentially render her penniless as a single, immigrant mother. She now has peace of mind in knowing that her pursuit of greater care and custody of her daughter through the courts did not—in and of itself—jeopardize her ability to provide such care.

In the broader perspective, we were disappointed in the ultimate result on the constitutional issue raised on appeal. We had hoped that the Court of Appeal would give greater consideration and weight to the reasoning in Pleau v. Nova Scotia, where the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia declared hearing fees unconstitutional because they put an escalating price on court time and are purposefully designed to hinder or impede access to the courts. In our view, it is difficult to reconcile the Supreme Court of Canada’s 1988 decision in BCGEU v. British Columbia (Attorney General), confirming that every Canadian citizen has the fundamental right to unimpeded access to the courts, with the notion of Canada’s superior courts operating as a default user-pay system of justice, subject to an individual establishing an entitlement to an exemption from court fees.

We are pleased, however, that the Court of Appeal agreed with the trial judge that hearing fees have the potential to interfere with the court’s core judicial function and that the existing indigency exemption was under-inclusive. The Court’s constitutional remedy has enlarged the scope of the Rule 20-5(1) indigency exemption to include not just those who are “impoverished” but also those who are “in need”. The exemption is thus now available to anyone who could not meet their everyday expenses if required to pay court fees. Since the enlarged exemption applies to all court fees and not only hearing fees, we see this practical outcome as a significant step forward in access to justice for low- and middle-income litigants.

Finally, we were also pleased that the Court of Appeal explicitly recognized that the burden of hearing fees falls disproportionately on women in family litigation, Aboriginal persons, disabled persons and new immigrants, and notified such persons that the courts will not permit unaffordable hearing fees to obstruct their pursuit of justice.”

Vancouver, BC – The Law Foundation of BC, Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch (CBABC) and Access Pro Bono Society of BC (APB) are pleased to announce the Lawyer Referral Service (LRS) is now available through APB.

For over 60 years and with funding from the Law Foundation of BC, CBABC has successfully operated LRS, providing the public an opportunity to have an initial consultation with a lawyer about their concerns. As the legal needs of British Columbians grow and change, so too is the Lawyer Referral Service adapting to meet those needs. Effective today, this service transitions to APB.

“We are so proud of the Lawyer Referral Service’s history of helping people in BC to take that important first step in getting the legal help they need,” said CBABC Executive Director, Kerry L. Simmons, QC. “Improving access to justice for British Columbians continues to be our goal and Access Pro Bono is a natural new home for LRS. We know it will complement and enhance APB’s ability to offer free legal services of high quality to those in need.”

In the past year, the Lawyer Referral Service received an average of 180 calls a day, and made over 25,500 referrals to lawyers across the province.

“We welcome the Lawyer Referral Service and are committed to maintaining the exceptional level of service for which LRS is known,” said Jamie Maclaren, QC, Executive Director of the Access Pro Bono Society of British Columbia. “Our mandate is to promote access to justice through pro bono service and with continued funding from the Law Foundation of BC, we are pleased to announce the elimination of the $25 fee that many LRS lawyers have traditionally charged for an initial consultation.”

The Lawyer Referral Service directly notified its lawyers of the transition along with details on how to continue participating with the service.

British Columbians may access the Lawyer Referral Service by calling (604) 687-3221 or 1-800-663-1919 Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 5:00pm.

More information is available here: http://www.accessprobono.ca/lawyer-referral-service.

Earlier this month, APB appointed three new Directors to its Board. Morgan Camley, Dan Goodleaf and Sarah Nelligan are all active in the pro bono legal community and bring a variety of new perspectives and experiences to their new roles.

Here are their bios:

Morgan Camley

Morgan is a litigation lawyer at McCarthy Tétrault practicing general commercial litigation, Aboriginal law and criminal law. She sits on her firm’s national pro bono committee and she is actively involved in the Salvation Army Belkin House Pro Bono Clinic. In 2009, Morgan won the Salvation Army’s Volunteer Lawyer of the Year Award. Morgan also sits on the Board of Directors for QMUNITY– BC’s leading resource centre for the LGBT community, and she is the Co-Chair of the Mabel League Women’s Fastpitch League in Vancouver.

Dan Goodleaf

Dan has enjoyed a long and varied career in public service including as Canadian Ambassador, Federal Deputy Minister, Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, and Canada’s Chief Federal Negotiator to the Treaty Process in BC. Over the past several years, he has volunteered as an APB Clinic Assistant. He was also recently appointed as a Discipline Hearing Panel Member by the Law Society of BC.

Sarah Nelligan

Sarah practices in the area of Insolvency and Restructuring as an associate of Lawson Lundell LLP. She routinely appears before all levels of court, assisting clients in a variety of insolvency matters and related proceedings. Committed to increasing access to justice, Sarah routinely volunteers at the Justice Access Centre and is a guest lecturer for the Family Services of Greater Vancouver’s Financial Literacy Program on the topic of Credit and Insolvency– a contribution for which she was recognized with a 2011 Lexpert Zenith Award for Corporate and Law Firm Social Responsibility. Sarah also sits on the BarTalk Editorial Board Committee.

Welcome to Morgan, Dan and Sarah!

On Thursday, April 16 at its 10th Annual Pro Bono Appreciation Breakfast in Vancouver, APB awarded the 2014 Dugald Christie Award for Advice Services to the downtown Vancouver law firm of Hartney & Company. In 2014, Valerie Hartney served 70 low-income clients in the Brentwood area of Burnaby, while her son Nathaniel Hartney served 67 low-income clients in the Downtown Eastside.

Valerie volunteers on a weekly basis at APB's new Burnaby Community Services clinic. And as a direct result of her commitment to pro bono service, the clinic has developed into one of APB's busiest clinics overall. It is now established and well-known in the Brentwood area. People have come to rely on it.

Further west in the Downtown Eastside, Nathaniel reinvigorated APB's Carnegie Community Centre clinic by also volunteering on a weekly basis. This restored the Carnegie clinic to its former position as one of APB's flagship clinics. It regularly serves individuals with some of the most critical legal needs in the province.

Together, Valerie and Nathaniel epitomize the true spirit of pro bono. And it is because of their dedication to pro bono—each exemplary as separated but potent as combined—that APB awarded the 2014 Dugald Christie Award to their law firm.

To continue to meet escalating demand for free legal help, Access Pro Bono is hosting its 14th annual and 2nd virtual legal advice-a-thon this September 13 to 24. Just like last year, registered lawyers will give free legal advice by telephone or Zoom over the 10 day event. Pro Bono Going Public 2021’s service and publicity campaign will reach every BC city and town.

The event will run from 10am to 5pm over the 10 work days. Volunteer lawyers will select one or more hour-long telephone shifts. They can then solicit donations in support of their charitable contributions. Clients will be low and modest income British Columbians in need of urgent legal advice. All appointments will be pre-scheduled, with ample time for conflict checks.

Last year’s event saw a record 149 volunteer lawyers provide free legal advice to 388 British Columbians in need. The event raised an incredible $93,564 in support of Access Pro Bono's programs.

“The support you give, in time, talent or treasure, to Access Pro Bono really matters, and has wide benefits. Not only for society, but the benefits hit home at the individual level, where justice operates most meaningfully. Not only for our clients, whose cases are the focus and the raison d’etre of Access Pro Bono’s work, but for our volunteers. From the training you receive, and the satisfaction that comes from doing work, and just doing good… you really are part of the solution.”

–– The Honourable Russell S. Brown, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, June 13 2025

To register as a volunteer lawyer for one or more of our programs, we ask that you read the Insurance Information Sheet embedded in our Volunteer Lawyer Form, confirm your understanding of its terms, and then select your choice of programs. Once you've registered for one or more of our programs, we'll contact you to get you started as a volunteer lawyer in your community.

Fill out our Volunteer Lawyer Form

The British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre (BCPIAC) is seeking an experienced lawyer to fill a one-year term position. BCPIAC is a not-for-profit, Vancouver law firm with the mission to advance the interests of individuals and/or groups that are generally unrepresented or underrepresented in issues of major public concern.

BCPIAC’s work focuses on regulatory, environmental justice, anti-poverty and anti-oppression work before BC’s courts and tribunals. Regulatory work involves intervening before the BC Utilities Commission on electricity, natural gas and ICBC matters on behalf of low and fixed income residential ratepayers. BCPIAC's social justice work focuses on effecting systemic change through human rights and ombudsperson complaints, judicial reviews, litigation, negotiation, and public education.

Applications are due by January 2, 2012 and more information on the position and the hiring process is available here.

The 2013 Vancouver Law Week Open House will be held from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm on April 16, 2013 outside UBC Robson Square (street level and lower level).

Open House events will include:

Citizenship ceremony;
Video forum taping;
Contests, games, interactive display booths;
Open to the public, many high school students are planning a field trip;
Tours of the Vancouver courthouse;
Free Public Legal Seminar on Tenant's Rights & Responsibilities - register here;
Free Public Legal Seminar on Family Law - register here.

Needless to say, these are challenging times for everyone engaged in delivering critical legal services to already vulnerable British Columbians. Like all organizations in the access to justice sector, APB is struggling to serve as many clients as possible while establishing safe working conditions for staff and volunteers. We are committed to the practices of social distancing and isolation that will ultimately save lives. We are working toward all staff and volunteers working from home by the end of this week (ending March 20, 2020). We currently have a skeleton crew helping with this vital transition at our office.

To serve as many British Columbians as possible, we are moving nearly all of our services from in-person delivery to telephone and online delivery. We are currently ramping up our telephone advice services to meet emerging legal needs from the COVID-19 pandemic. To these ends, we are contacting our currently scheduled clinic lawyers to see if they are willing to switch to serving already booked clients by telephone from their home offices. We are also putting out a call for new and re-engaged volunteer lawyers to serve in telephone clinics specifically designed to serve COVID-19-related legal needs.

If you are a lawyer willing to volunteer at a 'COVID-19 Telephone Response Clinic’, please register here: http://www.accessprobono.ca/lawyer-registration

We are shutting down our court-based Civil Chambers Program on a temporary basis while we shift all of our attention and resources to telephone and online service delivery. Our other representation service programs continue as enabled by the willingness and ability of volunteer lawyers, and the availability of court and tribunal resources.

We wish everyone a safe and calm period while we collectively engage in social distancing for the common good. And we encourage everyone to help their neighbours however they can.

--Access Pro Bono

APB's annual Pro Bono Report covers organizational progress over its fiscal year ending March 31, and presents an early and very brief summary of the APB Annual Report released later in October.

The 2012 Pro Bono Report shows healthy progress in the number of lawyers and paralegals engaged in providing pro bono legal services to BC's low-income individuals, and the parallel number of low-income indviduals served. It also shows steady service expansion in APB's Summary Legal Advice Program (14 new clinics, including 4 Skype clinics and 10 telephone clinics serving BC's rural and remote communities) and legal representation projects (the Children's Lawyer Program in Victoria, the Wills Clinic Project and a new "low-bono" project in Vancouver). All in all, 2011/12 was a very productive year for APB.

Interestingly, the first quarter of 2012/13 has shown immense growth in the number of individuals served by APB's Summary Legal Advice Program. APB is on track to provide free legal advice to twice the number of individuals (approximately 12,000) in 2012/13 than in 2011/12, despite maintaining its current staffing level in the face of a recent core funding cut. The funding cut, however, has resulted in the shut-down of the Children's Lawyer Program in Nanaimo and APB's Non-Profit Law Seminars for the foreseeable future.

Each year, APB awards the Allan Parker QC Award for Representation Services to a volunteer lawyer who showed remarkable commitment to representing individuals or non-profit organizations of limited means in the previous year. On Thursday, April 16 at its 10th Annual Pro Bono Appreciation Breakfast, APB gave the 2014 Allan Parker QC Award to Jeremy Shragge of Harper Grey LLP.

Jeremy has been involved with APB's Civil Chambers Program and Roster Program since 2012. Last year, he took on more Civil Chambers Program clients than anyone else. He also took on several Roster Program cases where his creative approach to advocacy served his clients very well.

In one example, Jeremy represented a single mother who fled an abusive relationship and was staying at a women’s shelter when she approached APB for legal help. She faced a $40,000 clawback of her Income Assistance benefits due to a series of clerical errors. Jeremy eschewed the conventional judicial review route, and instead filed a civil claim in estoppel against the government. His argument was successful and his client was able to get back on her feet without the burden of an unpayable debt.

Jeremy repeatedly stepped up to represent APB's clients when no one else would. His strong pro bono ethic is an inspiration to the legal profession in BC, and APB is privileged as an organization to have his support.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 16, 2021-- Access Pro Bono Society of BC, BC’s Provincial Court and the Ministry of Attorney General launch the innovative Virtual Family Mediation Project to reduce the backlog of separation and divorce matters awaiting resolution in family courts.

Separation and divorce are often time-consuming and costly processes for BC families. Resolving family relationship breakdowns in court can also be traumatizing for everyone involved. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified these negative experiences, and has increased delays and other barriers to swift resolution within an already overburdened justice system.

Access Pro Bono has partnered with the Ministry of Attorney General and a BC-based technology start-up, Qase, to launch a pilot project enabling online family mediations for low and modest income families engaged in the Provincial Court’s Early Resolution Process. This project uses new online technology to facilitate early resolution of family law matters—thereby saving money and reducing stress for families, and improving access to justice.

“The Qase platform will dramatically improve the timeliness and reach of our services as we respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by serving critical legal needs with the safety of online connections,” said Jamie Maclaren QC, Executive Director of Access Pro Bono. “Our lawyers, frontline staff and clients will all benefit from the cutting-edge technology. We look forward to using it to improve access to justice during the late stages of the pandemic and far beyond.”

APB promotes access to justice in BC by providing free legal services to people and non-profit organizations of limited means. As one aspect of its full spectrum of free legal services, APB conducts approximately 500 half-hour, face-to-face legal advice sessions each month in 55 cities and towns across the province.

“We know that having to go to court to resolve family law issues, such as child support or parenting time, can have a significant negative impact on families,” said David Eby, Attorney General. “By taking those issues out of the courtroom where possible, this project will lead to better outcomes for families, reducing stress and help them deal with matters more quickly and efficiently. It is another great example of how technology can improve access to justice and deliver a system that better supports the needs of British Columbians, wherever they are in the province.”

In partnership with the Islamophobia Legal Assistance Hotline, Burnaby Neighbourhood House is hosting a community education event for women affected by or concerned about Islamophobia, on Tuesday, October 7, 2025 (2:00 to 3:00pm).

If you're a woman affected by or concerned about Islamophobia, you can register to attend and learn:

What Islamophobia is and how it affects individuals and communities
Examples of Islamophobia
How to report Islamophobia incidents and seek help
Accessing the Islamophobia Legal Assistance Hotline

To register, please contact Mona: monaa@burnabynh.ca .

Vancouver Sun columnist Ian Mulgrew considers the various high-ranking commentators-- including Chief Justice Bauman and Legal Aid Public Commissioner Leonard Doust-- who lamented the inequities and hardships caused by BC's hobbled justice system in 2011, and suggests that the provincial government should name an unelected Attorney-General committed to instituting significant reforms. Mulgrew also identifies more pro bono work by lawyers as part of a solution.

Read the full article here.

On April 25 at its 8th Annual Appreciation Breakfast in Vancouver, Access Pro Bono announced the winners of its two annual awards for exceptional pro bono legal service.

Daniel J. Barker of Barker & Company in Vancouver received the 2012 Dugald Christie Award for Advice Services for his incredible commitment to providing free legal advice to low-income individuals each week at the Penticton and Area Women's Centre. In 2012, Daniel advised no less than 143 clients at his APB clinic, thus helping to increase access to justice for numerous individuals and families in the Central Okanagan.

Claire E. Hunter of Hunter Litigation Chambers in Vancouver (pictured here receiving her award from BC Chief Justice Lance Finch) received the Allan Parker QC Award for Representation Services for her tireless work on several cases in 2012 involving parental rights, democratic participation, the right to housing and the right to essential benefits for a disabled person. Claire also assisted APB to refine and improve its Civil Chambers Program to better serve low- and modest-income Supreme Court and Court of Appeal litigants.

APB thanks Daniel and Claire for their inspiring dedication to access to justice through pro bono legal service.

Access Pro Bono and Vancouver-based Qase have launched the most technologically advanced lawyer referral service in the world.

APB’s Lawyer Referral Service (LRS) connects 20,000 people to 1,700 BC lawyers each year. Now, APB has teamed up with Qase to bring the service fully online, enabling lawyers to help clients without having to meet in person. Based on technologies used widely in health care, Qase’s platform integrates scheduling, messaging, video chat, document sharing and payment, so both clients and lawyers can work from home.

As one aspect of its full spectrum of free legal services, APB conducts approximately 500 half-hour, face-to-face pro bono clinic advice sessions each month in 55 cities and towns throughout BC. APB has accelerated plans to move them into Qase as well.

“The Qase platform will dramatically improve the timeliness and reach of our services as we respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by serving critical legal needs with the safety of online connections,” said Jamie Maclaren QC, Executive Director of Access Pro Bono. “Our lawyers, frontline staff and clients will all benefit from the cutting-edge technology. We look forward to using it to improve access to justice during the pandemic and far beyond.”

“The barriers to getting legal help are already high,” added Dan Zollmann, Qase co-founder and CEO. “We now have the technology to ensure communities continue to get the help they need without compromising their health and safety.”

The Qase platform is first managing online lawyer referrals and consultations in the area of family law. APB will add more areas of law in the coming weeks. For now, any British Columbia resident with a family law issue may request a quick online referral for a free consultation with a family lawyer by clicking here: https://bclegalhelp.ca .

The Law Society of British Columbia recently amended Rule 1 [Definitions] of the Law Society Rules to include the following definition of "pro bono legal services": the practice of law not performed for or in the expectation of a fee, gain or reward.

In its 2012 Mid-Year Report, the Benchers' Access to Legal Services Advisory Committee also made it a priority in 2012 to foster greater participation in pro bono activities where needs are great. The new priority is pursuant to Initiative 2-1(a) of the Law Society's Strategic Plan which states: "Consider ways to improve the affordability of legal services: identify and consider new initiatives for improved access to legal services."

The Committee will specifically consider how it may encourage more pro bono work in conjunction with present and prospective Justice Access Centres operated by the provincial Ministry of Justice.

Kirby recently returned to Vancouver after a stint as a crown prosecutor in Alberta. She is delighted to be back in her home province providing representation to individuals certified under the Mental Health Act as a volunteer with our Mental Health Program.

Prior to law school, Kirby worked for the RainCity Housing and Support Society where she assisted chronically homeless individuals facing mental illness, addictions and other life challenges. Kirby completed her law degree at McGill University and received her undergraduate honours degree in history and French from UBC.

In addition to volunteering with us, Kirby sits on the board of the Strathcona Health Society, which runs a local non-profit community dental clinic, and the Cheetah Conservation Fund Canada, an organisation dedicated to ensuring the survival of the cheetah and their habitat.

Wildfires have once again ravaged communities throughout BC. They've burned down homes and places of business, displaced human and animal populations, and given rise to critical legal issues and questions.

In response to the 2021 wildfires, Access Pro Bono has set up a free telephone advice service ( 1-877-762-6664 ) for impacted British Columbians, and enlisted several volunteer lawyers to provide updated answers to frequently asked questions in these different areas of law:

Access Pro Bono thanks lawyers Kevin Gourlay, Lisa Mackie, Robert Smithson, Vivienne Stewart and Leena Yousefi for their pro bono contributions to its 2021 Wildfire Response.

In a short editorial, the North Shore News (North Vancouver daily) laments the besieged state of BC's justice system. It outlines a revolving-door case in the criminal system, and calls for more funding for more judges, more sheriffs, and legal aid.

Read the full editorial here.

In an April 25 speech to over one hundred pro bono volunteers and supporters at Access Pro Bono's 8th Annual Appreciation Breakfast in Vancouver, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Mark McEwan lamented the increasing intrusion of the executive branch of government-- and its preoccupation with a self-sufficient user-pay justice system-- into the administration of justice through the courts.

McEwan commented on two troubling trends in parliamentary democracies:

"The first is a trend in this and other jurisdictions for power to accrete to the executive branch of government because it controls the expenditure of money, and an attitude, perhaps derived from business models, that control of the money invariably implies control of everything else. This is not true with respect to the obligation to finance the basic mechanics of government which includes the courts, but it seems hard to put this across. As well, the restraint proper to each branch of government in dealing with the others, embodied in conventions, sometimes appear to have been forgotten."

McEwan also critiqued the trend toward diverting people away from the courts and into other dispute resolution forums in the name of cost-efficiency and the pursuit of individual interests over individual rights.

At the end of his speech, McEwan provided a reading list of five books on the rule of law and the state of common law justice systems.

Read Justice McEwan's full speech here.

In his latest Slaw.ca column entitled "Sentries of Injustice: Fees and Costs", APB's Executive Director Jamie Maclaren considers how Canadian governments' typical user-pay approach to court resources diminishes access to justice for lower-income litigants.

Maclaren pays particular attention to hearing fees in light of the recent BC Supreme Court decision in Vilardell v. Dunham, and transcription costs. He urges reform of the user-pay system, and implementation of a progressive means-based method for assessing fees and costs.

Read the column here.

Jaekyung describes her volunteer experience at APB:

"I am currently a 4th year political science student at UBC. I recently started to intern for the Mental Health Program at APB and I feel very grateful to be a part of this wonderful team. I was initially drawn to the Program as it combines my interest in law and mental health. Working with others in the Program has drastically changed my perspective on mental health, the Mental Health Act, and what it truly means to be an advocate for those who need one the most. I hope to continue working with everyone at APB and to gain insight on law as a profession before I make my career decisions for the future."

Writing for CBA PracticeLink (a regular feature of the Canadian Bar Association's National Magazine), Janice Mucalov provides a comprehensive and national outline on how to engage in organized pro bono legal services as any type of lawyer. Mucalov describes the rewards and challenges of pro bono practice and offers tips on how to make pro bono work fulfilling for everyone (lawyer, client, law firm, community) involved.

Read Mucalov's article here.

Following several years of research and interviews with 259 self-represented litigants (SRLs) and 107 service providers in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, Dr. Julie Macfarlane of the University of Windsor Faculty of Law has issued a landmark report entitled, "The National Self-Represented Litigants Project: Identifying and Meeting the Needs of Self-Represented Litigants".

Dr. Macfarlane's Report explores the motivations and common experiences of SRLs, and the various resources and support services that SRLs typically engage in aim of resolving their legal problems. The Report then examines SRLs' interactions with lawyers and judges.

The Report uncovers notable SRL dissatisfaction with summary legal advice service models, and offers some recommendations on how to improve and extend free legal services (whether offered pro bono or through legal aid).

Read the full Report here, and the Executive Summary here.

Access Pro Bono has bolstered its bench strength for 2024 with the addition of the Honourable Robert J. Bauman KC, Barb Ward-Burkitt and Kelly Melnyk as its three newest Directors.

Hailing from Vancouver, Prince George and Kamloops respectively, Bob, Barb and Kelly bring a broad range of knowledge and service experiences to the APB Board. They join APB's other ten Directors in guiding the organization's work to increase access to justice for all British Columbians.

The Honourable Robert J. Bauman KC

The Honourable Robert J. Bauman KC is the former Chief Justice of BC, former Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal for BC, and former Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal of Yukon.

Bob was appointed as a justice of the Supreme Court of BC in 1996; as a justice of the Court of Appeal for BC in 2008; as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of BC in 2009; and as Chief Justice of BC in 2013. He retired in October 2023. Prior to becoming a judge, he was in private practice with Bull, Housser & Tupper in Vancouver. He worked largely in the areas of local government and administrative law. While practicing law, he taught administrative law at UBC Law from 1991 to 1996.

In 2012, and again in 2013, Bob was named by Canadian Lawyer Magazine as one of the “Top 25 Most Influential” in the justice system in Canada. In 2012, he was also presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Commemorative Medal for contributions to Canada. As well, he is the 2012 recipient of the Anthony P. Pantages, QC Medal for outstanding contributions to the field of justice. Bob was the recipient of the 2013 TLABC Bench Award by the Trial Lawyers Association of BC. From 2013 to 2016, he held the position of Vice-Chair of the Canadian Judicial Council. He is the founding and current Chair of Access to Justice BC.

Barb Ward-Burkitt

Barb is of Cree ancestry from the Fort McKay First Nation in northern Alberta, Treaty 8 territory, and has resided in northern BC for over 65 years. As the Executive Director of Canada’s largest Friendship Centre (the Prince George Native Friendship Centre), she provides leadership through a lens of reconciliation and cultural grounding. She is in her 54th year with the Friendship Centre movement–– a commitment that reflects her personal philosophy of empowerment of Indigenous people and advocacy for community growth.

Barb has been instrumental in addressing homelessness in her northern BC community by establishing supportive housing facilities. As one example, she helped to establish Tse’Koo Huba Yoh, an Indigenous women’s housing program and Friendship Lodge with 30 coed units, in Prince George where housing needs are particularly acute.

Barb believes very strongly in life-long learning and education. She graduated in 2001 from Simon Fraser University with a Master of Education degree. She is very proud of her Cree ancestry, and of being a role model and providing her cultural teachings to her two children (now deceased) and nineteen grandchildren, five of whom she and her husband Jim have been raising for over twenty years.

Barb received the Order of British Columbia in October 2010.

Kelly Melnyk

Kelly is a lawyer in Kamloops who was called to the BC Bar in 2017. She received her Bachelors degree from the University of Alberta, and her law degree from Thompson Rivers University (TRU).

After articling and practicing in Lumby, Kelly moved back to Kamloops and practiced in the areas of family law, advance planning, and not-for-profit law. As someone who is passionate about issues impacting vulnerable clients, specifically those in the aging population, she has focused much of her career on examining issues of capacity, advance planning in the legal context, and legal decision-making.

Kelly sat as a board member with the Centre for Seniors Information in Kamloops for three terms, and continues to sit as a board member with the Kamloops Bar Association. She is co-chair of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) Advisory Committee on Ethical, Legal and Social Issues. On top of teaching Elder Law and Wills and Estates, Kelly is one of the MacIntyre Cup moot team coaches at TRU Law.

On Sunday, August 5, APB staff will be among approximately 85 judges, lawyers and law students marching under the BC Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conference (SOGIC) banner at Vancouver's 34th annual Pride Parade.

We will be wearing rainbow court tabs and other colourful gear as we celebrate the diversity of BC's legal profession. We encourage APB supporters to cheer the SOGIC float down Denman and Davie streets from noon to about 1:30pm.

SOGIC was established as a new Conference of the Canadian Bar Association in 1997. Its purposes are to:

address the needs and concerns of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and two-spirited members within the Association;
provide a forum for the exchange of information, ideas and action on legal issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity;
encourage lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and two-spirited lawyers to actively participate in the work of the Association;
develop and provide continuing legal education and other professional development programs on legal issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity; and
develop member services relevant to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and two-spirited members of the Association.

SOGIC is a founding member of the International Lesbian and Gay Law Association and has established contacts with lesbian and gay law groups in the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel, among others.

On Saturday, June 20, the BC Branch of the Canadian Bar Association announced Claire Hunter of Hunter Litigation Chambers as the recipient of its 2015 Harry Rankin QC Pro Bono Award. The Rankin Award is given annually to recognize outstanding contributions by a CBABC member in the area of pro bono work.

Claire has been a champion of pro bono legal services for many years, and has served numerous clients since starting her legal career in 2004 in New York. In recognition of her later pro bono efforts in BC, APB presented Claire with the 2013 Allan Parker QC Award for Representation Services.

Claire has also been active and passionate about the promotion of pro bono practice at international, national and local levels. Internationally, she was a Canadian delegate to the 2011 Pro Bono Conference in Chile, and was behind the push for Canadian firms to finally sign the Pro Bono Declaration for the Americas. Nationally, she served on the CBA’s National Pro Bono Committee and National Access to Justice and Legal Aid Committees, where she devoted considerable time to the CBA’s pro bono initiatives.

In BC, Claire serves as a Director, Vice President and ongoing volunteer lawyer for APB. And she was recently appointed by the Law Society of BC to its Access to Legal Services Advisory Committee.

To each of these roles, Claire brings dedication and conviction. She is a wonderful advocate for pro bono culture, and as shown by her Rankin Award acceptance speech, continues to lead by example through her own representation and encouragement of other lawyers and service providers.

Only six months after enduring unprecedented heat waves and wildfires, British Columbians have been forced to contend with major floods and landslides in the southern part of the province. This latest weather emergency has taken a huge toll on animal life, and has caused many people to lose their homes and livelihoods. The resulting trauma, displacement and disruption give rise to critical legal issues and questions.

In response to the need for timely legal help and information, Access Pro Bono continues to offer a free telephone advice service ( 1-877-762-6664 ) for impacted British Columbians, and has updated its weather emergency legal fact sheets to provide updated answers to frequently asked questions in several areas of law:

Pro Bono Going Public 2025 – Access Pro Bono's annual outdoor legal advice-a-thon event – ended on October 3 with 352 British Columbians served across the province, $137,571 raised in support of its pro bono programs, and a repeat APB Cup Champion in top fundraising law firm Norton Rose Fulbright LLP.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all the sponsors, volunteers and donors who made Pro Bono Going Public 2025 such a big success. Their generosity helps to sustain our front line service programs, including the Residential Tenancy Program, Virtual Family Mediation Program, and Summary Advice Program, ensuring that thousands of British Columbians have the professional help they need to overcome their legal problems.

We invite you to take a look at this year’s PBGP Impact Report to see the difference this community support has made.

In De Kova v. De Kova, 2011 BCSC 1271 -- a fairly typical BC Supreme Court divorce case involving two self-represented parties -- Justice Loryl Russell comments on the lack of affordable legal representation or legal aid options for middle-class litigants, and the resulting difficulties in adjudicating legal disputes between self-represented litigants. At paragraphs 14 and 15 of her judgment, Justice Russell states:

"[14] This case points out the difficulty in which parties who are “middle class” but do not have substantial earnings find themselves when they must rely on the courts to resolve their problems. They do not qualify for the almost non-existent legal aid available and yet they cannot afford to use lawyers. This means they come before the court with little idea of what they need to do, what documents they ought to produce and what evidence they should place before the court. With all the good will in the world, the court cannot lead their cases for them, cross-examine for them, argue for them and thus ensure their cases have been properly put forward.

[15] It is shameful that in our wealthy province we no longer have resources available which would give real help to parties in this situation. In my view, a case like this demonstrates a failure to improve access to justice."

As of May 1, 2013, New York lawyers are required to report every second year on the number of pro bono service hours provided to poor and underserved clients, and the amount of voluntary financial contributions made to organizations serving primarily poor and underserved clients.

The new reporting requirement takes effect concurrently with an amendment to the applicable Rules of Professional Conduct that strongly encourages New York lawyers to aspire to provide at least 50 hours of pro bono service each year.

For more information on these new requirements in New York, visit http://www.nycourts.gov/attorneys/probono/reportingreqs-intro.shtml .

In support of Access Pro Bono, ZSA Legal Recruitment is pleased to host the 2nd Annual Great Wines Charity Auction

A concerned group of lawyers and legal organizations in Vancouver are providing support to Muslims and those perceived to be Muslims in BC who have been or could be the subject of discrimination and attacks.

APB hosts a telephone hotline at 604-343-3828 where people can call on a confidential basis to speak to a pro bono (free) lawyer about possible discrimination claims or hate crimes. APB will connect British Columbians who have suffered from various forms of discrimination because of their actual or perceived Muslim faith and/or racial background with lawyers who are committed to assisting them with the difficult and sensitive task of holding the perpetrators to account.

Call the hotline at 604-343-3828. For further information about the hotline and the organizations who support it, please visit the hotline website at www.islamophobiahotline.org.

Andrew Schafer (he/him)

Andrew is a lawyer who practices labour & employment and pension law for a large national firm where he has spent his entire career. In his practice, he advises on all facets of workplace law and pension and benefits law. His clients include small to large organizations in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sector. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Andrew went to law school at Queen's University in Kingston Ontario. He now lives in Vancouver with his wife and two children.

Christine Z (she/her)

Lawyer Referral Coordinator

lawyerreferral@accessprobono.ca

Christine has a BComm in Finance from Concordia University, and worked with the Canadian Bar Association BC Branch for over ten years before joining the APB team. She is dedicated to helping British Columbians find the right legal service provider to meet their legal needs.

Erin Pritchard (she/her)

Program Manager & Staff Lawyer

epritchard@accessprobono.ca

Erin earned her law degree from the University of Victoria, and was called to the BC bar in 2013. She has worked and volunteered at legal non-profit organizations in Vancouver and Victoria for over a decade, and has represented clients before various courts and administrative tribunals. In addition to APB, Erin has previously worked at Together Against Poverty Society, BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre, and Disability Alliance BC. She also currently serves on the board of directors of PovNet, an online anti-poverty advocacy community.

Erin Monahan (she/her)

Director of Projects & Operations

emonahan@accessprobono.ca

Erin has been working in BC's legal sector since 2011. She spent eight years as the Education Director at the Trial Lawyers Association of BC, and has managed meetings, events and special projects for the greater part of her professional career. She has certificates in project management and change management from UBC Sauder School of Business. In 2021, she earned her Project Management Professional (PMP) designation. Erin is currently project manager of the Everyone Legal Clinic and the Online Lawyer Referral Service.

Gina Addario-Berry (she/her)

Director of Legal Services & Staff Lawyer

gaddario-berry@accessprobono.ca

Gina is a Vancouver-based lawyer with a strong background in access to justice, family law, and systemic advocacy. Before joining Access Pro Bono, she worked extensively with children and youth in family law matters, and led initiatives focused on legal reform and education. Outside of work, Gina enjoys running, meditation, and learning new languages.

Grace Mathisen (she/her)

Intake Coordinator

gmathisen@accessprobono.ca

Grace holds a BFA in Film Production from Simon Fraser University. In her final year of studies, she co-founded the Skoden Indigenous Film Festival. Driven by justice, Grace switched career paths to law and completed the Legal Administrative Assistant Program at Vancouver Community College in 2022. Before joining Access Pro Bono, Grace worked at Watson Goepel LLP in their corporate services department. She is a land defender.

Jamie Maclaren KC (he/him)

Executive Director & Staff Lawyer

jmaclaren@accessprobono.ca

Jamie is APB’s Founding Executive Director. He's a practising civil litigator and a former Executive Director of the UBC Law Students’ Legal Advice Program and Pro Bono Law of BC. He volunteers as a law instructor for people overcoming homelessness and addiction, and regularly provides pro bono legal services in his East Vancouver community. He's also a Life Bencher of the Law Society of BC. In 2019, Jamie conducted an external review of legal aid service delivery in BC for the province's Attorney General.

Jimmy Yan (he/him)

Program Manager

jyan@accessprobono.ca

Jimmy joined Access Justice in 2003 and served as its System Architect, Project Manager, and Acting Executive Director prior to its merger with Pro Bono Law of BC. He's a columnist of the City Post of Singtao News and a regular media commentator on issues of public legal education and information. Jimmy has a B.Sc. degree in Computer Engineering and a M.Ed. in Law, Justice and Ethics. He's also a Research Assistant of The Centre for Education, Law and Society in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University, and a CELS educational advisor to the Chinese community.

Kaarina Bishop (she/her)

Program Manager & Staff Lawyer

kbishop@accessprobono.ca

Inspired by her passion for access to justice, Kaarina earned her JD from UBC's Allard School of Law in 2021. She was called to the BC Bar in June 2022. She also obtained a BA in philosophy from UBC and is a graduate of BCIT’s biotechnology program. Prior to joining APB, she served as a student clinician at Rise Women’s Legal Centre, and interned at Battered Women’s Support Services.

Kay Scorer (they/them)

Kay is a sole practitioner specializing in immigration and refugee law. They practice extensively in the areas of refugee and immigration admissibility, at both the Immigration and Refugee Board and Federal Court. Kay received their law degree from the University of Windsor, where they were selected valedictorian of their graduating class. They are a Director of Rainbow Refugee, and an executive member of CBABC-SOGIC.

Kelly Melnyk (she/her)

Kelly is a lawyer in Kamloops who was called to the BC Bar in 2017. She received her Bachelors degree from the University of Alberta, and her law degree from Thompson Rivers University (TRU).

Nadia Farinelli (she/her)

Vice-President

Nadia is Administrative Crown Counsel for Environmental Prosecutions with the BC Prosecution Service. She holds a JD from the University of Victoria and two LLMs from New York University and the National University of Singapore. Prior to being called to the bar in 2008, she clerked for the BC Supreme Court and worked as an intern in Nairobi, Kenya for the Canadian Bar Association and Canadian International Development Agency. She subsequently worked for a large national law firm in its labour, employment and civil litigation group; as a Fellow for the International Centre for Transitional Justice in New York; as a Federal agent prosecutor; and as in-house litigation counsel for Metro Vancouver. Nadia began volunteering with APB in 2013 in the Summary Advice Program and is passionate about access to justice, human rights and justice system reform.

Patricia Singh (she/her)

Volunteer Coordinator & Staff Lawyer

psingh@accessprobono.ca

Patricia is a practising lawyer who holds a JD from the University of Victoria, and a BA in Criminology along with certificates in Legal Studies, French and Spanish from Simon Fraser University. Before joining APB, she completed her articles with a boutique municipal law firm, and she was called to the BC bar in 2022. Patricia believes equitable access to justice is an important issue for all British Columbians, and she has volunteered with several organizations to further that objective.

Ryan Laity (he/him)

Ryan is a partner at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, and specializes in debt financing, restructuring and insolvency. He obtained a BA (Economics) from Simon Fraser University in 2010, and a JD from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2013. In the past, Ryan has volunteered at the Community & Legal Aid Service Program (CLASP) and the UBC ID Clinic (assisting Downtown Eastside residents obtain government-issued identification). He is a past-Chair of the CBA Banking Subsection, and has served on various not-for-profit boards, including most recently the Vancouver Bar Association and BC Lupus Society. Ryan has volunteered at APB's annual “Pro Bono Going Public” event for several years, and otherwise enjoys providing pro bono legal services on an ad hoc basis.

Sarah Orr (she/her)

Program Manager & Staff Lawyer

sorr@accessprobono.ca

Sarah earned her law degree from the University of Victoria, and was called to the BC bar in 2012. Before joining APB, she worked as a tribunal member at the Civil Resolution Tribunal, and as a mediator and adjudicator at the Employment Standards Branch. She also briefly worked in private practice as a civil litigator. She is a former board member of the WISH Drop-In Centre Society.

Serey Sinn (she/her)

Serey is the Chief Executive Officer of Coach My Case and the Chief Operations Officer of Crossroads Law. Her path to the legal industry was not a traditional one. She spent nearly 20 years in the nonprofit sector in marketing, fundraising and leadership roles. With a BA in Communications and Business Administration from Simon Fraser University and a MA in Philanthropy and Development from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, she has combined her education and experience to lead the growth of the award-winning family law firm, Crossroads Law.

In 2021, Serey helped develop and launch Coach My Case which was founded to improve access to justice by offering alternative legal services. Coach My Case is focused on providing legal coaching and paralegal services to help people who choose to represent themselves as they navigate the justice system. Serey has dedicated her career to helping those in need and is a big supporter of the incredible and important work of the nonprofit sector.

The Honourable Chief Judge Melissa Gillespie (she/her)

Chief Judge Gillespie received her law degree from the University of Toronto, was called to the BC Bar in 1991, and was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 2009. She was sworn in as a Provincial Court judge in 2012, and in addition to sitting assignments, was active in delivering education programs to Judiciary members, as well as to the legal community. She also served as a member of the executive of the BC Provincial Court Judges Association. Chief Judge Gillespie was appointed an Associate Chief Judge for a two year term in 2016, and re-appointed for a three year term in 2018. A member of the Board of Directors of the Justice Education Society, she has participated in a Justice Education Society project to strengthen the criminal justice system in Guyana.

The Honourable Robert J. Bauman KC (he/him)

The Honourable Robert J. Bauman is the former Chief Justice of BC, former Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal for BC, and former Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal of Yukon.

Trevor Bant (he/him)

President

Trevor is a civil litigator with the Ministry of Attorney General in Victoria. He previously practised at a leading litigation boutique in Vancouver, after clerking at the Supreme Court of Canada and for the Chief Justice of BC. Trevor has provided hundreds of hours of pro bono legal advice and representation to low-income individuals. These days, he volunteers mostly for APB’s Summary Advice Program.

Vivian Song (she/her)

Director of Finance

vsong@accessprobono.ca

Vivian obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from SFU with a Major in Accounting. She was the Finance Administrator for Access Justice, and an instrumental contributor in its merger with Pro Bono Law of BC. She loves cinema and travel, and she's pursuing her designation as a Certified General Accountant.

Ying C (she/her)

Lawyer Referral Coordinator

lawyerreferral@accessprobono.ca

Ying was the Lawyer Referral Service Intake Operator and Dial-A-Law Coordinator with the Canadian Bar Association's BC Branch for thirteen years prior to the LRS transitioning to APB. She has a background in Arts and English. Her main responsibilities include receiving public enquiries for legal help, referring people to the appropriate APB volunteer lawyer or service, and maintaining volunteer lawyer registrations.

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Join Us December 2, 2014 for GivingTuesday

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