CDLPA
Spring 2012 Plenary Session
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Legal Aid Ontario Presentation
Executive Summary
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Kingston , Ontario
Bob Ward, President & CEO
David McKillop, Vice President, Policy, Research and External Relations

This presentation will be available on Legal Aid
Ontario’s website:
WWW.LEGALAID.ON.CA
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Business Planning Context: Environmental Scan
• Economic uncertainty
• Financial pressures facing the province
• 2012 Provincial Budget and Federal Budget
• Low interest rates
• Auditor General’s Report
• New legislation
• Ministry of the Attorney General
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Public services in Ontario are being evaluated with unprecedented scrutiny. In its 2012 budget, the
Government of Ontario committed to:
“revisiting and scrutinizing existing assumptions and traditional public service delivery models.”
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15
10
5
0
30
25
20
19,1
Legal Aid Ontario's Operating Deficit
27,6
Legal Aid Ontario’s deficit has dropped from a high of $27.6 million in 2009/10 to a projected
$1.1 million in 2011/12.
8,6
1,1
FY 11/12 FY08/09 FY09/10 FY10/11
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Administration costs were 18.5% of total expenditures in 2007/08; they are more than 15% in 2011/12.
% of Total Expenditures
25,0%
19,4%
20,0%
18,5%
18,3%
15,8%
15,3%
15,0%
10,0%
5,0%
0,0%
2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 Forecast
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70 000
60 000
50 000
40 000
30 000
20 000
10 000
2009-2010
2010-2011
2011-2012
0
Criminal Family Immigration &
Refugee
Other Civil)
Total Certificates Issued in 2011-2012: 105,547 (includes charges heard separately)
Total Certificates Issued in 2010-2011: 100,387
Total Certificates Issued in 2009-2010: 109,310
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The Auditor General of Ontario’s Report:
Value for Money Audit of Legal Aid Ontario
• Value for money audit report, released December 2011, was generally positive about Legal Aid Ontario:
“ We felt its multi-year long-term strategy was heading in the right direction”.
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Legal Aid Ontario’s Modernization Strategy:
Initiatives Are Viewed Through Four Strategic Quadrants
Value for Clients
(examples:
Aboriginal Justice
Strategy; Family
Law Information
Program)
Value for
Taxpayers
(examples: deficit reduction; simplified financial eligibility)
Support for Legal
Aid Ontario
Service Providers
(examples: block fees, improved processing of lawyer accounts
(98% within 60 days)
Support for Legal
Aid Ontario’s
Institutions
(Strengthening
Capabilities)
(examples:
Lawyer Workforce
Strategy; risk management)
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80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Indictable Certificates
Year to Date
69%
57%
19%
34%
Withdrawal
Target
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Summary Certificates
Year to Date
63%
55%
30%
38%
Guilty
YTD Actual
Guilty
YTD Actual
Withdrawal
Target
The percentage of withdrawals for Block Fee certificates is higher than anticipated for both indictable and summary offences. The cost of a withdrawal is $90 greater than the cost of a guilty plea. Therefore, the fact that there are more withdrawals than anticipated means that the block fee certificate cost is more costly than originally estimated.
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25%
21%
22%
The frequency of additional blocks billed is less than expected to date.
20%
15%
13%
10%
5%
0%
Bail
10% 10%
JPT
8%
10%
2%
0%
CM
1%
YTD Actual
0% 0%
Bail Review
Target
Mental Health Gladue
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• Duty counsel services are available in every courthouse in Ontario, including 28 remote and fly-in locations.
• Total funding for Legal Aid Ontario duty counsel lawyers’ services across Ontario in 2010-11 was $43.7 million.
• Majority of lawyers providing duty counsel services across Ontario are private bar lawyers on an hourly or per diem basis.
• There are 1,336 private bar lawyers who provide duty counsel services with an average of 17 years of experience.
• There are approximately 156 Legal Aid Ontario staff duty counsel lawyers, with an average of 11 years of experience
.
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Originally projected that duty counsel assists would increase as a result of modernization.
However, the model of service being provided has changed. The data does not capture the additional activity of Legal Aid Ontario’s court workers.
700 000
599 928
600 000
568 810
541 676
500 000
468 481
440 591
414 461
400 000
300 000
Criminal
Civil
Total
Линейная (Total)
200 000
131 447 128 219 127 215
100 000
-
YTD Dec 2009 YTD Dec 2010 YTD Dec 2011
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Summary Legal Advice being provided and final resolution services have increased to reflect a change in focus of duty counsel activity. While total duty counsel activity is down by 13%, Summary Legal Advice is up by 18% and Final Resolution Services have increased by 14%.
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Case Type
CFSA
Family Domestic
Total
Certificates
Issued
7,098
14,219
21,317
Total Paid
$12,890,141
$28,085,705
$40,975,846
Average
Completed
Case Cost
$3,024
$2,703
Number of
Completed
Cases
4,262
10,390
14,652
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Family Law Information
Program Online: Two
Versions
• Legal Aid Ontario's Family Law
Information Program (FLIP) available in two versions:
– Certificate version allows users to print a certificate that indicates they have fully completed each page of the program.
– The non-certificate version allows users to navigate the program freely but does not offer a certificate of completion.
Family Law Information
Program:
Program Usage
• During the week of March 9-15,
2012, the FLIP page on Legal
Aid Ontario’s website was accessed 545 times, with 456 of visitors on the page for the first time.
• Between January and mid-
March, 2,381 visitors used the
FLIP program at some point.
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“Exceptional Circumstances”
– Results obtained
– Complexity of the matter
– Contributions of the applicant
– Amount of time realistically set aside in anticipation of lengthy trial which time was not otherwise filled by the lawyer
– Any other relevant factor
Legal Aid Services Act, 1998, Schedule 1 & 2 O.REG.
107/99
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Meetings with Associations (CLA, FLA, RLA)
April
Web solicited input
– materials posted on
Legal Aid Ontario website
April-May
DAD connections with local panel members
–
April-May
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• The ACLCO is leading a strategic visioning exercise
• Ideas for the Future Development of Clinic Law Delivery Services In
Ontario – Legal Aid Ontario discussion paper
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• Legal Aid Ontario’s toll-free client service centre connects more than 1,300 callers a day to a variety of services in over 200 hundred languages. Services include:
– legal information
– referrals, legal aid applications
– criminal and family summary legal advice from a lawyer
• Average wait times - less than three minutes
• Approximately 40 percent of all Legal Aid Ontario applications are processed through the client service centre.
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