CDLPA
Fall 2012 Plenary Session
----------------------Legal Aid Ontario Presentation
Executive Summary
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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LAO FINANCES
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LAO’s finances
• Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) receives
the majority of its funding from
the province of Ontario
• Funding is also derived from:
› the Federal Government
LAO Revenues 2011-12
(millions)
Province of Ontario
$ 281.9
Federal Government of Canada:
Funding for criminal and youth
criminal justice act cases including
approximately $7 million for refugee
matters
$ 53.8
Law Foundation of Ontario
$ 19.1
client contributions
$ 15.43
judgments, costs, settlements, client
recoveries and other incomes
sources
$ 1.4
Total Revenues
$ 371.6
› Law Foundation of Ontario
› through judgments, costs and
settlements
› from clients who contribute towards
the cost of their legal representation
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LAO’s finances
LAO’s expenditures for 2011/12 fiscal year by program area:
2011/12 Expenditures: $372 million
5%
1%
6%
Certificates - Big Cases
10%
0%
Certificate Costs - Other
Staff Law Offices
13%
44%
Clinic Program
Duty Counsel Program
Service Innovation Projects
19%
2%
Service Provider Support
Administration
Program Support
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LAO’s finances
• Between 2007/08 to 2009/10, revenues from the Law
Foundation of Ontario (LFO) dropped from a high of $56 million
to a low of $4.8 million
›
By reserving LFO funding for one-time capital expenditures and projects,
LAO is reducing exposure to market fluctuations
2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10
LFO
revenues
(millions)
$51.5
$56.4
$26.2
$4.8
2010/11
2011/12
$13.4
$19.1
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LAO’s finances
• LAO’s operating deficit has dropped from a high of $27.6 million
in 2009/10 to $1.3 million in 2011/12
• Cost savings in administration and changes in service delivery
through LAO’s Modernizations Strategy have contributed to this
reduction
Millions
LFO revenues
NET SURPLUS/(DEFICIT)
2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12
$51.5
$8.2
$56.4 $26.2
$4.8
$29.8 ($19.2) ($27.6)
$13.4
($8.6)
$19.1
($1.3)
2012/13
Forecast
$19.9
($1.3)
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Justice Sector Trends
Police-reported crime rates 1962 to 2011
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LAO’S MODERNIZATION
STRATEGY
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LAO’s enterprise-wide priorities for improvement
Value for
Taxpayer
Support for
Service
Providers
Value for
Clients
Institutional
Enhancements
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Drivers of Change
• Clients expect easier interaction with our services
›
›
›
›
Multilingual
Transparent
Convenient
Accessibility
• Taxpayers expect greater accountability
›
›
›
›
Value for tax dollars
Transparency
Measured and reported performance
Effective and efficient services
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LAO’s modernization strategy
• Key components of LAO’s modernization:
› Greater use of technology
› more direct services to clients
› greater value to Ontario taxpayers
• LAO’s modernization strategy is helping to limit the impact of
decreased revenues while protecting and expanding access to
services for clients
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Modernization: Client Service Centre
• Client Service Centre (CSC) established
in 2008
• All services available in more than 200
languages
• Average wait time less than three
minutes (180 seconds)
• Priority queue for victims of domestic
violence
• LAO is forecasting to receive more than
300,000 client calls in 2011/12
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Modernization: courthouse offices
• LAO has established front line offices in 56 courthouses across
Ontario
• Courthouse offices provide easy access to legal aid services
including information, referrals, certificate applications and
updates, and legal advice from a lawyer
• 90 per cent of all criminal matters are heard in courts that have
an LAO office
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Modernization: courthouse offices
• Approximately 40 per cent of all LAO
certificate applications are processed
through the courthouse offices
• 19 per cent of clients attended the LAO
in the Courthouse site to get a status
check
› Onsite Status check capabilities reduce
delay and help the courts to move matters
forward
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Modernization: family services
• Expanded family mediation services to provide more options to
low-income Ontarians
• Introduced family summary legal advice over the phone
• Launched the Family Law Information Program (FLIP)
› online family information resource available to all Ontario residents
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Modernization: web-based services
• Increased web resources
› In the past year, traffic on the LAO website increased by 15 per cent to over
775,000 visitors
• Launched LawFacts
› new site has been viewed more than 17,000 times since being launched in
December 2011
• Launched the Family Law Information
Program (FLIP)
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Modernization: clinic law
• Introduced professional interpretation and translation services
in over 200 languages for community legal clinics
• Established a $2.25 million Poverty Law Innovation Fund, LAO
will help clinics modernize the way they do business and find
administrative savings
• Issued three major discussion papers on clinic law delivery
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Modernization: clinic law
The case for change
• Recent reviews of the legal aid system have begun to raise
critical and difficult questions about the structure and operation
of the clinic law delivery system.
› 2008 Trebilcock Report asked: “whether the clinics in fact add up to a
coherent structure for the delivery of poverty law services in Ontario.”
› 2011 report of the Auditor General of Ontario recommended: the “overall
effectiveness of the local clinic structure” should be assessed with a view to
“[considering] whether any changes are possible that would help serve
more clients using available funding.”
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Modernization: Aboriginal services
• Aboriginal Justice Strategy (AJS) plan
› To achieve measurable improvements in services provided to Aboriginal
People
• As of Mar. 1, 2011, only lawyers who meet the Gladue
panel standard can acknowledge criminal certificates for
Aboriginal clients
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Modernization: Aboriginal services
• To support the AJS, over 200 LAO and clinic staff have received
Aboriginal Cultural Competency Training throughout the
province
• Also implemented:
› “Why it is important to tell your Lawyer you are Aboriginal” brochures
distributed to stakeholders and client service points
› Increased capacity and composition of our Aboriginal Issues Advisory
Committee
› Approval for Gladue extension on all criminal certificates where a client
self identifies as Aboriginal
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Modernization: administration
Fostering Partnerships
• Information-sharing partnership between LAO and the Ministry
of Community and Social Services (MCSS) has helped over
27,000 legal aid applicants on social assistance since April 2010
• New arrangement has resulted in annual savings of $2 million
• Earned LAO a Merit Showcase Ontario award and an MCSS
Bravo award
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Modernization: administration
Simplified Financial Eligibility
• LAO is piloting a simplified financial eligibility test
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Modernization: administration
Reduced certificate application costs
• Simplifying the applications together with increased telephone
and web-based services has reduced the cost to process an
application by 20 per cent
Cost per certificate application taken: FY 2009-10 vs. FY 2011/12
FY 2009-10
$181.8
$177.1
$160.4
$157.7
FY 2011-12
$175.2
$169.4
$168.6
$134.5
$122.6
GTA Region
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$113.7
Central & East Region
Southwest Region
Northern Region
Total - Province
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Modernization: refugee law services
• LAO’s consultation paper, Meeting the
challenges of delivering refugee
legal aid, proposes ideas for a new
model to provide refugee legal aid
services in today’s environment.
• LAO is conducting consultations
with a broad range of organizations,
stakeholders, community agencies and individuals in the
refugee determination system.
› More than 11 in-person and live web-cast sessions across Ontario
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Modernization: integrated family law services
• Clients to have their needs met through a variety of services not
previously available.
• Clients may receive assistance through:
› LAO’s family duty counsel program
› LAO’s Family Law Service Centres
› in-person or over-the-phone summary legal advice
› LAO’s certificate program
› mediation services
› Family Law Information Program (FLIP)
CDLPA Fall
Spring
Plenary
Plenary
2012
2012
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Modernization: Family Law Service Centres (FLSCs)
• FLSCs offer eligible clients a range of legal resources and support
for family matters
› help with documents
› referrals to advice counsel
› full representation in family law cases by a staff lawyer
› referral to a private lawyer who does legal aid work, if eligible
› mediation and settlement conferences
› referrals to other social service agencies
• FLSCs also accept certificate applications for serious domestic
violence, child protection, or complex family law cases
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Modernization: Family Law Service Centres (FLSCs)
• The centres are staffed by a
lawyer manager, staff lawyers,
and legal aid workers who are
supervised by lawyers.
• FLSCs are located in Toronto,
North York, Newmarket,
Brampton, Chatham, and
Sarnia.
• New FLSC opening in Welland
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Modernization: mental health strategy
• LAO is developing a multi-faceted strategy to improve legal aid
services for clients with mental health issues.
• Strategy will build on current initiatives and support these
vulnerable individuals in a more efficient, effective, and holistic
manner.
• The board will work in consultation with stakeholders to
develop a strategy that improves and adds to LAO’s current
client services.
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Wireless in the courthouse
• In October 2012, LAO launched an initiative to assess the benefits
of fast, reliable wireless technology in the courthouse.
• LAO will be conducting a year-long pilot in
Brampton and Oshawa courthouses.
• LAO staff in these courthouses
will be provided with a secure
wireless network, mini-laptops
and tablets.
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Tariff
• Nov. 26, 2012: new initiatives based on stakeholder feedback on
matters related to the tariff
• The initiatives include:
› piloting a tariff pre-authorization in summary conviction trials and Child
and Family Services Act (CFSA) status reviews
› implementing a case management program and budgets for costly,
complex family and criminal law matters (non-Big Case Management)
› reviewing how the tariff has evolved in the legal system and how this
impacts legal aid clients and service providers
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Consultations: requests for discretion
• “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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Discretion Guidelines
• Discretion is a compensation tool that allows LAO to approve,
under exceptional circumstances, lawyers’ written requests for
additional compensation above the hourly tariff rate.
• Lawyers who represent vulnerable
clients, manage complex cases, or
achieve extraordinary outcomes can
apply.
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Consultations: requests for discretion
• May 2012: LAO consulted with more than 300 criminal, family
and refugee lawyers across Ontario on proposed discretion
guidelines
• August 2012: revised guidelines released
• Approved guidelines take effect Nov. 26, 2012
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Demographic profile of existing LAO clients
• Summary of 619,157 client records:
› 62 per cent of certificate clients are men
› 53 per cent of certificate clients are in single person family
› Certificate clients are very poor
› Certificate clients are typically young
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Lawyers annual billings 2011- 2012
Billing range
Number of lawyers
Percentage of all
Lawyer who billed
LAO
< $50,000
2573
64.1%
$50,000 < $100,000
789
19.6%
$100,000 < $150,000
396
9.9%
$150,000 < $200,000
153
3.8%
$200,000 < $250,000
75
1.9%
$250,000 < $300,000
26
0.6%
< $300,000
4
0.1%
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LAO panel lawyers
• As of July 2012, there were 4,468 lawyers throughout Ontario
registered on one or more LAO panels
Panel by area of law
Number of lawyers on panel
Criminal
2839
Family
2243
CFSA
1333
Refugee /immigration
712
Consent and Capacity
301
Extremely Serious matters
798
Complex Case
97
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Tariff rates
Revised tariff rates
Effective
Feb 1, 2010 Apr 1, 2010 Apr 1, 2011 Apr 1, 2012 Apr 1, 2013 Apr 1, 2014 Apr 1, 2015
Year 1
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Lawyer rate
Tier 1
$81.44
$85.51
$89.79
$94.28
$98.99
$103.94
$109.13
Lawyer rate
Tier 2
$91.62
$96.20
$101.01
$106.07
$111.37
$116.94
$122.78
Lawyer rate
Tier 3
$101.81
$106.90
$112.24
$117.85
$123.75
$129.94
$136.43
Complex
Criminal
Case rate
$120.02
$124.82
$129.81
$135.00
$141.75
$148.84
$161.05
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LAO’s 60 day commitment to lawyers
• Over 90 per cent of lawyers’ accounts are now consistently
processed within 60 days
› As of Aug. 24, 2012, LAO’s inventory included 3,707 accounts with 298
accounts beyond the 60 day limit
› 618 of the accounts are late billed
› In February 2012, LAO modified the lawyers’ billing portal to improve the
account-processing time
› Approximately 80 per cent of criminal certificates are billed as block fee
accounts, which are usually matched and paid within 23 days
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Duty Counsel dispositive services
•
13 per cent reduction in non-dispositive services provided by
DC since 2009
•
Number of adjournments previously provided by DC have
decreased by 11,287 or 7 per cent on a year-to-date basis.
Duty Counsel Non-Dispositive Services Trend line
Fiscal Year Comparisons – September YTD
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Legal aid certificates
• In 2011/12, LAO issued 105,547 certificates, an increase of 5.1
per cent over the previous year
• Percentage of decisions made the same day for applications
received increased by 1.4 per cent in this fiscal year’s Q1
compared to last year’s
› 89.5 per cent to 90.9 per cent.
• In Q1 2012/13 LAO issued 13 per cent fewer than in Q1
2011/12
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Legal aid certificates
Year-to-date November 20, 2012 certificate issued vs. estimated demand table.
REGULAR CERTIFICATES
Legal Aid Certificates
Region
GTA
South West
Central and Eastern
North
PROVINCE
CDLPA Fall Plenary 2012
Issued
18,831
16,794
13,483
5,983
55,091
Variance
Est. Demand
#
%
20,545
1,714
8%
19,004
2,210
12%
14,487
1,004
7%
6,196
213
3%
60,232
5,141
9%
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Legal aid certificates
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Legal aid certificates
Certificates issued: comparison to prior years:
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
% Change
from last year
Criminal
65,784
64,335
68,453
63,501
58,670
65,633
11.87%*
Family
26,540
25,599
30,107
27,488
24,614
21,406
-13.03%**
Immigration & Refugee
11,060
11,401
12,706
12,904
12,453
13,637
9.51%
Other Civil
5,807
5,964
5,903
5,417
4,650
4,871
4.75%
Total Certificates Issued
109,191
107,299
117,169
109,310
100,387
105,547
5.14%
* The increase in criminal certificates includes new block fee certificates which under the old rules would have been treated
as an amendment to an existing certificate, not a new certificate.
** Decrease in family certificates issued is the result of LAO’s continuum of service initiative which provides clients with a
access to a variety of services to better address their legal matter.
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QUESTIONS?
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