Report recommends legal aid reforms

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A review of Legal Aid Manitoba completed in March 2019 was made public late Monday, including more than a dozen recommendations to improve service at the arm’s-length government entity.

The review, authored by Legal Aid Manitoba management council chairman Allan Fineblit, deals with structure, operations and decision-making, Justice Minister Cliff Cullen announced.

“Our government is committed to modernizing Manitoba’s justice system, and we recognize legal aid is integral to ensuring access to justice for all,” Cullen said in a news release. “This review reinforced the excellent work already being done, while also identifying some important opportunities to make improvements while continuing to deliver quality service to Manitobans who need it.”

Legal Aid Manitoba was created by legislation in the early 1970s, with the mandate to provide legal services to those unable to pay for themselves. It started out by hiring staff lawyers in community law centres, supplemented by the case-by-case appointment of private lawyers willing to take on the work.

The last time the agency underwent review was 15 years ago; Fineblit was asked by Manitoba Justice in September 2018 to conduct the latest study.

The report’s 15 conclusions and recommendations include changes to how caseloads, staffing and finances are handled “while improving legal services to Manitobans and supporting the sustainability of the organization,” Cullen said.

Fineblit, former chief executive officer of the Law Society of Manitoba, now executive director of Legal Aid Manitoba, recommended keeping “and supporting” the mixed-delivery system of staff and private lawyers, amending the Legal Aid Act to give management council the authority to set the tariff of fees paid to private bar lawyers (rather than the government), and looking at a tariff that rewards seniority with a higher hourly rate.

Fineblit’s review said most law firms have higher billing targets for higher-paid associates, and so should Legal Aid, with productivity targets for staff scaled to seniority.

It recommended expanding eligibility guidelines to help people who are too “rich” to qualify for legal aid but too “poor” for the legal help they need — especially in family court matters.

“More legal aid service dollars are going to criminal and youth law, and less and less of its resources go to family law. In part, this is because criminal clients are generally poorer clients,” the review said.

“It’s also because the criminal courts will intervene and appoint counsel at a much higher cost if legal aid doesn’t step up. Whatever the reason, there is a huge disparity and a failure to provide service to those who need it in family law matters.”

The review also recommends the Legal Aid management council rethink who sits on its advisory committee and to ensure at least half are people without a significant self-interest at play, and at least two are clients or former clients.

It calls for annual public accountability meetings where public input is sought about the work and strategic priorities of Legal Aid Manitoba. Fineblit said annual focus groups should be conducted with clients to get their input.

The report also said management needs to look at hiring a “wider diversity of backgrounds and skill sets” when vacancies occur: “An organization run and governed and advised almost entirely by lawyers is at risk of focusing too heavily on the perspective of lawyers and not nearly enough on the public interest and the needs of the clients.”

The biggest shakeup to Legal Aid staff Fineblit recommended is making them all employees of Legal Aid Manitoba rather than government of Manitoba.

“(It) now has a rigid salary structure that does not permit much, if any, flexibility. Good performance is not financially rewarded, and high-volume producers are paid the same as low-volume producers,” the review said.

“To be clear, this does not give Legal Aid a free hand to spend as it sees fit on salaries. The constraint is the global funding provided. LAM is freed up to manage those resources (something they have a good track record of doing) and using the most cost-effective delivery model they have available.”

Legal Aid should also look at conducting a form of tender, offering blocks of cases to lawyers willing to do them at a reduced fee, the report said.

Cullen has asked the management council, which provides strategic direction and oversight to Legal Aid Manitoba, to review the report’s findings.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca