Law Times

Law TiMes • March 19, 2012 NEWS PAGE 3 Lawyers skeptical of LAO's 'phenomenal' changes But legal aid says block-fee system is fair to province's defence counsel BY MEREDITH MORRISON For Law Times A lmost two years aſt er Legal Aid Ontario im- plemented its block-fee system, criminal de- fence lawyers argue deterrents to taking on cases remain, including for younger practitioners. "It's a terrible place for a crimi- nal lawyer to make a living," says Toronto lawyer Aaron Harnett of the legal aid system. "Many years ago, I made a conscious eff ort to build my practice in the direction of a cash practice rather than a le- gal aid practice." Since 2010, LAO has been paying lawyers on a block-fee ba- sis for certain off ences for with- drawals and guilty pleas. For seri- ous crimes and when a case goes to trial, the lawyer receives an hourly tariff . Harnett believes in the eff ec- tiveness of block fees and charges his cash clients in that manner. He says that block fees, when used properly, have the ability to focus a lawyer in a way that a steady re- tainer cannot. Th ey force counsel to do only the necessary work on a case and not do anything extra- neous to run up the bill. However, he feels that the block-fee system used by LAO underpays lawyers for their services. Still, LAO says the block fees are fair. Spokesman Kristian Juste- sen notes the calculations involved working with the Criminal Law- yers' Association and reviewing more than 236,000 cases. Justesen says that as the block fees are signifi cantly higher than the Tier 1 tariff for less experienced counsel, the new system can at- tract younger lawyers to work with legal aid. Th e block fee is closer to a Tier 3 hourly tariff since most of the lawyers working on the cases reviewed during the calculation process were at that higher rate. But Th omas Bryson, regional vice president of the CLA, says the exact opposite is true. Younger lawyers are reluctant to work on legal aid cases because they don't feel they can make a living in crim- inal law that way, he notes. Criminal lawyer Matthew Friedberg also thinks the block fees are too low. "I don't think it's adequate," he says. "I don't think it's refl ective of the work that they do and as I see it, there are inherent problems, real inherent problems, with the block- fee system." Friedberg has seen his and his colleagues' pay slashed by up to 50 per cent by LAO because it de- cided that their work didn't meet the requirements for extra discre- tionary remuneration. Yet the big- gest problem Friedberg sees is the potential for dump-truck practices involving lawyers taking on large numbers of clients and having them plead guilty in order to rack up block-fee billings. While Bryson notes even sug- gesting that lawyers would con- duct themselves that way is in- sulting, it has happened before. Harnett says he saw it with his own www.lawtimesnews.com CLL Web promo - CLL Dir..indd 1 12/8/11 10:58 AM With Online Print and in 250,000 page views a month, canadianlawlist.com captures your market The all-new canadianlawlist.com features: — A fresh new look, designed for improved user experience — Effective new ways to reach the legal market — Gold and silver advertising packages For more information contact: Colleen Austin at 416-649-9327 or toll free at 1-800-387-5351 colleen.austin@thomsonreuters.com eyes during the last incarnation of the block-fee system in the 1990s. But this time around, LAO has safeguards in place to pre- vent dump-truck practices. For example, it has daily and yearly billing caps; it requires lawyers to report the outcomes of their cases; serious matters continue to fall under the hourly tariff ; and it has new audit, compli- ance, and panel-management practices to ensure lawyers comply with its policies and procedures. In the meantime, LAO has also implemented other chang- es to increase effi ciency. For example, it has closed down application offi ces in favour of courthouse locations as well as nine regional hubs and six family law centres across the province. Bryson, however, is con- at that location, but what about the other four courthouses? Justesen says that's where the online and phone applica- tion and information systems come into play. Calling legal aid is toll-free from any phone and clients can also apply for a cer- tifi cate over the Internet. Despite early problems and a critical third-party review in 2010, wait times for LAO's call centre are reportedly un- der three minutes. Justesen notes LAO has implemented all of the recommendations that came from the review by G.E. Moncrieff & Associates in order to handle the large call volume. Th ose measures include While block fees can focus a lawyer's work on a case, legal aid rates are too low, says Aaron Harnett. cerned about access to legal aid in rural areas. He works in Simcoe County, an area with fi ve court- houses but only one of which has a legal aid offi ce. It has been useful moving meetings to before or aſt er shiſt time; reducing the amount of non-call work; keep- ing detailed logs; removing messages telling people when to call; and investing in technology to handle greater call volume. Even so, Friedberg says it's not an easy system. "Five years ago, it was very easy to call up legal aid and get somebody on the phone," he says. "Now, you are put in a labyrinth maze of voicemails or queues waiting in line and it is very dif- fi cult to get somebody on the phone and I've had complaints from clients as well." But Justesen says that by streamlining administration, ac- cess to legal aid has improved across the board and there's more staff dealing with clients. In the meantime, LAO has been able to save $20 million a year. Friedberg, however, isn't con- vinced. "Th e system that legal aid has been metamorphosing itself into is not more effi cient for anybody or anything but legal aid's bottom line." Despite the concerns, Justesen calls the changes to the system noth- ing short of "phenomenal." LT Reach one of the legal and business markets in Canada! largest more than

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