Law Times

www.lawtimesnews.com Law library changes Rural lawyers concerned about funding cut for online legal research By anastasiya JoGal Law Times ural sole practitioners say their work has be- come more difficult with the LibraryCo Toolkit that used to provide re- mote desktop case law search ser- vices no longer available since the beginning of the year. "When you are a person like me, I happen to be a single father raising five young kids at home by myself, so after business hours I need to be at home to look after my kids," says sole practitioner Charles Lugosi. Lugosi lives in Brantford, Ont., where the local law library is open between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., a time when lawyers are generally in court. That makes doing research difficult for law- yers like him after the Law Foun- dation of Ontario discontinued funding for the online toolkit at the beginning of the year. The change, however, came down to low usage, according to County & District Law Presi- dents' Association chairwoman Cheryl Siran. "Unfortunately, research isn't done by lawyers every single day," she says. While the toolkit has been costing the law foundation hun- dreds of thousands of dollars per year, it didn't make sense to con- tinue with it given the low usage, according to Siran. "The number of people using it did not justify the cost of it," she says. And although the remote option is no longer available, lawyers can still use the case law research software at their local law library with CanLII avail- able online as well, according to a Law Society of Upper Canada spokeswoman. Lawyers can also make telephone or e-mail inqui- ries to their local law library for case law research requests, the spokeswoman noted. But Lugosi, a candidate in the law society bencher elections, says that's not good enough. "If you can't afford it or your clients can't afford it as a disbursement, you are basically stuck with offi- cial court web site decisions and you are stuck with CanLII," says Lugosi. "That situation has been the status quo in the larger sense [in] places . . . like Hamilton, London, Windsor, Toronto, Kingston. . . . But if you are in a smaller community, you've ba- sically been deprived of prob- ably the most useful tool any litigator could have." The changes create a dis- parity because lawyers in major cities often have cost- effective ways to do research and greater access to library resources, according to Lugo- si. "Brant Law Association has implemented a firm rule, not just a policy but a firm rule, that in one month a lawyer may not have the assistance of a paid law librarian beyond three hours a month," he says. And, he adds, it's an access to justice issue as well. "When you are talking about access to justice for the client, I think you want to make sure your law- yer has access to legal resources, too. I mean, we do pay a lot of money for our fees." With the online toolkit no longer available, many lawyers end up passing on the costs of the legal research services they purchase. "What most lawyers end up doing is passing the cost on to the client because they are entitled to do so as a disburse- ment fee," says Lugosi. "It's a greater burden on the client, and also if you are run- ning a sole firm or a small firm, you are really trying to keep your overhead down." Despite the cut to the online toolkit, funding has increased by two per cent for libraries overall and statistics continue to show healthy use of the service, according to Siran. "These libraries remain of fun- damental importance to the prac- tice of law in totality, not just legal research," she says. Other lawyers agree about the importance of law libraries. "I know that they are very, very, important for legal research, es- pecially for small firms and sole practitioners in areas outside of the main metropolitan cen- tres, and the law libraries also have a second, very important function and that is a meeting place for a local bar association and for the county and district law associations," says Morris Chochla, a litigator and former president of the Ontario Bar As- sociation who's also running in the bencher elections. A 2014 CDLPA report, meanwhile, referred to the pres- sure on law libraries to increase public access. "Some law librar- ies already allow wide open or nearly wide-open access," ac- cording to the report. "Many maintain strict restrictions on who can access the facilities." "They are looking at the whole of the operation," says Siran, referring to the stake- holders in law libraries that include the law society, CDL- PA, and the Toronto Lawyers Association. While it makes sense to maximize the use of library space, law society spokeswom- an Susan Tonkin said that's not the reason for discontinuing the desktop toolkit. "Statistics showed a significant lack of use of this tool and it was felt that the financial resources used to fund this program could be better used elsewhere. Our goal is to develop a more ap- plicable and robust system of support for all users of legal in- formation resources, including lawyers, paralegals, and mem- bers of the public." But according to Lugosi, the changes do affect how lawyers work. "We have to change our style of meeting clients," he says, noting he can no longer meet cli- ents whenever it's convenient for them. "I have to set aside time to go to the courthouse and do re- search on the two older desktop models that they have." Although there's no immedi- ate solution, Siran has a few sug- gestions on how to tackle the is- sue. "What they need to do in their own county and districts and with their own library staff is try to put together their localized is- sues, their localized concerns, and their localized solutions because we are a very diverse province and what you need in my area may not be needed in a different area." Lugosi's solution, however, is to bring back the remote desk- top toolkit. "It's not practical for this day and age. It's like saying you can have a mobile phone but you can only use it from your house," he says. Chochla agrees about the need to provide the latest re- search tools. "They have to be modernized and we know all the research is now done through the Internet and electronically and through services." According to Siran, the solu- tion may be to provide access in certain regions. "I think one of the solutions they will look at, that is if funding works out, may be that in some of the most rural areas there is some form of desk- top access," she says. LT 2015 Bencher Election – Voting Closes April 30 Voting is now open in the Law Society of Upper Canada's bencher election. Forty lawyers will be elected as benchers to sit in Convocation. Information about the election, including access to the Voting Guide for information about the candidates, is available on the Law Society's website at www.lsuc.on.ca/bencher-election-2015 If you have not already received your voting instructions, you must contact Computershare, the company providing the online voting site, at 1-888-344-2805 (or 514-982-2391 if outside Canada or the United States) to receive this information to vote. Voting closes at 5:00 p.m. EDT on April 30, 2015. 2015 BENCHER ELECTION 2015 ÉLECTION DES MEMBRES DU CONSEIL www.lsuc.on.ca/election-conseillers-2015 www.lsuc.on.ca/bencher-election-2015 Élection du Conseil 2015 – fin du vote le 30 avril Le vote est maintenant ouvert à l'élection du Conseil du Barreau du Haut-Canada. Quarante avocats et avocates seront élus conseillers et conseillères. Vous trouverez des renseignements sur l'élection, y compris sur l'accès au guide électoral pour les descriptions des candidats, sur le site Web du Barreau à www.lsuc.on.ca/election-conseillers-2015. Si vous n'avez pas encore reçu vos consignes de vote, vous devez contacter Computershare, la société indépendante gérant le site de vote, au 1 888 344-2805 (ou 514 982-2391 en dehors du Canada ou des États-Unis) pour les recevoir. Le vote prend fin à 17 h HAE le 30 avril 2015. Untitled-3 1 2015-04-20 5:51 PM Page 4 aPril 27, 2015 • Law Times NEWS 'They are looking at the whole of the operation,' says Cheryl Siran. R encourages readers to send us letters, but will edit them for space, taste, and libel consideration. Please provide your name, address and contact number and send all letters to: L Law Times, 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON • M1T 3V4 E-mail: glenn.kauth@thomsonreuters.com

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