Law Times

Law Times • April 15, 2013 Page 7 COMMENT Lawyer touts benefits of dual law firm, general counsel roles BY MICHAEL STERN For Law Times W hen the general counsel of Canada's largest producer of ethanol was about to retire, the company put out the word that it needed the services of a lawyer with certain skills for three days a week. Among other things, that skill set involved corporate matters, experience with Quebec law, and proficiency in French. As a native of Montreal, a member of both the Ontario and Quebec bars, and a senior associate with Shibley Righton LLP in Toronto, I thought it looked like an interesting assignment. As things turned out, it has been. GreenField Ethanol Inc. is one of North America's leading suppliers of green fuels. For 20 years, GreenField has been producing industrial and beverage alcohol and fuel ethanol. Like others in the industry, GreenField is now working to develop cellulosic ethanol that uses waste generated by the agricultural, forestry, and municipal sectors. Biofuels and new cellulosic technology, in particular, are soon expected to be the fastest-growing part of North America's energy mix. Ethanol is very much a green energy issue and efforts to develop cellulosic ethanol are an exciting next step for the industry. Making fuel from waste rather than food products is a good-news story in anyone's book. I took the assignment at GreenField and adopted a schedule that had me working two days a week at Shibley Righton and three days at GreenField. The two offices are near each other in downtown Toronto, but I rarely split a day between them. The arrangement provides that I am on call for both offices all of the time, which means I have gone from having one demanding full-time job to having considerably more on my plate. But the experience has definitely been worth it and has made me a much better lawyer. Not many lawyers in private practice have the opportunity to simultaneously work in-house for a client and continue to develop their private practice. In taking advantage of this opportunity, I am obtaining legal and business experience not generally available to lawyers in private practice and gaining an inside understanding of what clients want. At GreenField, I give advice on all kinds of company decisions involving senior management, which means I am plugged in to the organization's decision-making process. The work can include reviewing contracts, giving general business advice, employment and sales issues, and involvement with various business development projects. At Shibley Righton, I am a member of the business, real estate, and condo law groups and am also involved in health law and professional regulation. But the focus of my practice is on corporate commercial law. With a general corporate commercial practice, one of my goals as a lawyer is to become a trusted adviser to my clients. By working in-house, I have developed a strong understanding of a few things in particular. For example, issues the external lawyer is working on are not always what the client is focusing on. Thus, I am taking this knowledge and applying it to interactions with my own firm's clients as a lawyer in private practice. With busy schedules, voicemail, and e-mail, clients and lawyers are not always on the same page. It is important to stop and spend an extra moment ensuring they are. Working in-house versus private practice is also different in terms of balancing files. In any given week at Shibley Righton, I am working on several different matters and am constantly jumping from file to file and client to client. Of course, each client has a different personality. Sometimes, because of tight time commitments, it is difficult to get acquainted with a client's identity. At GreenField, I work within the corporate mindset that I have gotten to know very well. Getting so well acquainted with GreenField's corporate mindset reminds me that, for a lawyer in private practice, each client has its own specific identity. GreenField has reminded me how important it is to learn as much as I can about a client and advise accordingly. Many lawyers who work as in-house counsel have prior experience with a law firm, but gaining general counsel experience while you are in private practice is the kind of opportunity that doesn't come along all the time. I consider myself lucky to have it and it has really opened my eyes by giving me a good perspective on what the client looks for. LT LAO defends changes to refugee services BY DAVID McKILLOP For Law Times W hat is Legal Aid Ontario doing for refugees? While LAO is accountable for the entire legal aid system in Ontario, the organization's delivery of services to refugee claimants has been under close scrutiny since the implementation of the federal government's Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act and the Balanced Refugee Reform Act on Dec. 15, 2012. So it's timely to clarify the position of LAO with respect to the delivery of its legal services in general and its assistance to refugees specifically. u SPEAKER'S CORNER Michael Stern is a senior associate with the Toronto office of Shibley Righton LLP. He has a bachelor's degree in medical ethics from the University of Toronto, a civil law degree from the University of Ottawa, and a common law degree from the University of Montreal. He also holds a Canadian securities course certificate. This is an important part of our business. In 2011-12, LAO provided services to 90 per cent of all refugee claimants in Ontario. Of the 10,860 principal claims referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board's refugee protection division in Ontario, LAO issued 9,747 initial certificates for families claiming refugee status. These cases are among the more than 1.2 million assists LAO provides to low-income people throughout the province. When it comes to the big picture, LAO has an obligation under the Legal Aid Services Act to "establish policies and priorities for the provision of legal aid services based on its financial resources." In practice, this means LAO makes the key decisions on how to operate within its means. One of these decisions is LAO's ongoing commitment to accommodate increasing client demand without sacrificing services. LAO has met this commitment through an innovative corporate-wide modernization strategy it has been developing and implementing for several years. Through this strategy, LAO has increased services provided to clients by 20 per cent while reducing cost per service by 16 per cent; established a client service centre that responds to more than 1,300 client calls per day and expands the availability of legal advice over the phone; funded six new family law service centres to meet the growing demand for legal assistance for family and child matters; enhanced duty counsel services, resulting in a 13-per-cent increase in resolution services provided through that vehicle; opened 56 courthouse offices, www.lawtimesnews.com enabling more than 80 per cent of clients, many of whom apply before their first court appearance, to receive a sameday decision on their legal aid application; and implemented a simplified financial eligibility test, including an innovative partnership with the Ministry of Community and Social Services to expedite confirmation of clients' benefits status. As a result, the organization is now well on its way to providing all of its clients, when appropriate, with more avenues of support tailored to their specific needs and new and less costly alternatives for receiving services. At the same time, we're changing refugee services to better meet clients' needs and respond to federal legislation. The new federal refugee legislation has changed the refugee determination system. It cuts the time for preparing the initial paperwork of refugee claimants to 15 days from 28 days; streams refugees by country of origin for the first time; sets short timelines for hearing claims to 30-60 days, depending on the country of origin; and creates a new federal agency, the refugee appeal division, to hear appeals. After months of consultations with the Refugee Lawyers' Association, lawyers, paralegals, consultants, community organizations, and other concerned individuals across Ontario, LAO is currently finalizing a new refugee services delivery model that ensures access to justice to this marginalized population. The effects have rippled throughout our organization. LAO's call centre, for instance, has provided immediate help to callers in more than 200 languages for some time. We have expanded its services to meet the needs of eligible refugee clients as well as individuals who might not be able to afford a private lawyer but also don't fit the criteria for a legal aid certificate. Between October and December 2012, our call centre answered 371 calls related to refugee and immigration matters. That was 25 per cent more than the number of such calls that arrived in the previous three months. More than 200 of these calls came from people who had arrived from 61 different countries and received referrals to other professionals within LAO for further assistance. LAO has added 54 pages of updates on our refugee service delivery efforts to our web site. Refugee claimants can access an overview of expectations and requirements; help with completing a basis of claim form; an explanation of the timelines; and a designated countries of origin list. In December 2012, LAO added a detailed new refugee law section to LawFacts, our legal information web site for the general public. These new pages have drawn, to date, 4,642 views with 433 of them from outside Canada. We have enhanced partnerships with community legal clinics that are a key link for many new Ontarians. We have begun to explore the use of licensed paralegals to augment the role of the private bar in providing information and support. The same body that oversees lawyers, the Law Society of Upper Canada, regulates paralegals and hiring them, where appropriate, is fiscally responsible. LAO has provided expanded services by encouraging the private bar, clients, and agencies to access and use its online support services. In addition, we have updated the application process to our certificate program to include a country list and streams. This new service provides our front-line staff with the information they need in most cases to provide eligible clients who have the necessary supporting documentation with an immediate certificate for preparation of a basis of claim form. In turn, this process helps lawyers accommodate the new shortened timelines for refugee claims and expedite decision-making on applications for legal aid certificates. Further, LAO has launched a refugee appeal division pilot at a cost of $500,000. The pilot allows eligible clients whose claims at the refugee protection division have been unsuccessful to apply for a legal aid certificate and initiate an appeal. Eligible clients can now receive services through LAO's inhouse refugee law office and the certificate bar. At the same time, refugee claimants in Ottawa can visit LAO's Ottawa district office staffed with professionals knowledgeable in immigration and refugee matters. Those in the Greater Toronto Area can receive support from our GTA district office that provides summary legal advice and brief services at the city's Rexdale community centre. Will all of this be enough? All we can say for certain is that modernization is an ongoing process. LAO will continue to strive for continuous improvement in the diverse supports we provide to low-income Ontarians each year. LT David McKillop is vice president of policy, research, and external relations at LAO.

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