Law Times

Law Times • apriL 18, 2016 Page 3 www.lawtimesnews.com Change in rules on limited-scope retainers highlighted Unbundled legal services improve access to justice BY MARG. BRUINEMAN For Law Times T rial lawyer Mick Hassell has discovered a good business model in his solo practice by provid- ing undbundled legal services to self-represented litigants as well as other lawyers. "It's become, really, the focus of my practice," says Hassell, a Toronto-based lawyer who is developing a network of like- minded lawyers through the web site limitedscoperetainers.ca. While Hassell is seeing oppor- tunities in offering legal services à la carte, it is also part of an impor- tant access to justice initiative. Unbundling legal services by offering limited-scope retain- ers to provide legal assistance on just part of the file has never been prohibited, but changes to the Rules of Professional Con- duct by the Law Society of Upper Canada five years ago, and again last year, provided guidelines on the approach for lawyers and paralegals. Recently, The Action Group on Access to Justice, in working with Social Justice Tribunals of Ontario and the law society, has been promoting this approach as an innovative way to meet diverse needs. It is also offering perspectives on how to incorpo- rate it as part of a lawyer's prac- tice through continuing profes- sional development, which al- lows lawyers to claim three hours of professionalism content. "There's a real business op- portunity here," says Grant Wedge, the law society's execu- tive director of policy, equity, and public affairs. Malcolm Mercer, chairman of the law society's professional regulation committee, says, "The intent of the drafters of the rules was not to change the essential obligations of lawyers but rather to take out some of the uncer- tainty" so lawyers can feel more comfortable providing unbun- dled services. The rules refer to "thorough" service that could leave lawyers to think they might be in breach if they provided partial service. The rules now describe how to go about providing a limited-scope retainer, including the need for a clear discussion between the lawyer and client and touches on the consideration of the financial ability of the client. But the point of the approach is to make legal services more readily available for the general public. Wedge says that in order to do that, the entire profession needs to be aware that it's available. Last year, the program was presented to about 1,000 members of the profession, with more presenta- tions in the offing later this year. "Culture change takes some time and it needs reassurance. But it can be done," says Wedge. Toronto lawyer Renatta Aus- tin embraced the approach al- most as soon as she started prac- tising law three years ago. After spending her days working at a law firm, she'd head over to the law society's Great Library to of- fer "low bono" or lower-cost un- bundled legal services to unrep- resented litigants. "Litigation can be very lengthy and very expensive and can in- volve many, many steps," says Austin. "A large part of the population can't afford legal services for liti- gation purposes." Instead of taking a matter all the way from start to finish, she offers à la carte services in the solo administrative law practice she's since launched. That involves breaking down the litigation process into com- ponents or steps. Lawyers can ease some of the burden and help streamline the cases of those who are unrepre- sented through legal coaching, drafting documents, court ap- pearances, legal research, media- tion, discovery, and negotiating with the other side for many civil matters. "It's just navigating it and un- derstanding where they need to go, what needs to be filed, and what needs to be done," Austin says. LawPRO warns there are pit- falls in offering unbundled ser- vices. Dan Pinnington, LawPRO's vice president of claims preven- tion and stakeholder relations, says that if the retainer indicates the lawyer's work is limited to a specific appearance, that's where the work needs to end. If the cli- ent makes additional requests, it's time to draft a new retainer. LawPro hasn't experienced a huge uptick in claims related to unbundled services, but Pin- nington says the potential is there. He points out that the ma- jor concerns involve problems surrounding communications and instructions between the lawyer and the client and inad- equate investigation or discovery. "The idea being in an unbun- dled scenario where you agree to only do part of the legal work . . . our concern is: Is there more con- fusion?" he says. Hassell doesn't believe the lia- bility risks in his practice are any higher than those in a traditional practice; they're simply different. "It's a really fun and refreshing way to practice," says Hassell. LT NEWS ProBono_LT_Apr18_16.indd 1 2016-04-12 3:03 PM The Food & Beverage Industry in Canada Food & Beverage Laws are Changing, are You? 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