
September 25, 2009
Changes to LSS family law coverage Recently, there have been several changes to family law legal aid coverage. Here is a brief explanation of what has changed (and will change) for our family law clients. When clients are approved for legal aid representation services, a notice (called a referral) is sent to the lawyer to start the case. The referral tells the lawyer which services he or she is authorized to provide for the client. Since January 2009, there have been several changes to both the types of referrals issued and the services lawyers may perform for family clients. Beginning in January 2009, stricter standards were applied to issuing family emergency services referrals to ensure spending did not outstrip the budget. Dispute resolution services referrals were eliminated on March 31, 2009. These referrals authorized the lawyer to settle a case on the client's behalf through negotiation or mediation without going to court, and they were issued only in cases where the client's and/or his/her children's safety was not at risk (See Notice to Counsel #62 for the information provided to lawyers about billing for these referrals.) In July, coverage for clients facing the possibility of jail in family maintenance enforcement proceedings was eliminated. Exceptional coverage is still available for clients who have significant mental or physical disabilities that make them incapable of representing themselves. (See the July 2009 Legal Aid Fax for the information provided to lawyers.) Extended family services referrals were suspended effective July 20, 2009. These referrals provided lawyers with additional time to prepare for and go to court to resolve family issues that could not be settled in the number of hours permitted by regular referrals. These cases usually involve more complex issues that cannot be resolved with a temporary court order. LSS is looking at ways to restructure our billing rules (the family tariff) to reintroduce these referrals so that some cases will receive additional funding to resolve family problems. (See Notice to Counsel #69.) Effective October 1, 2009, consensual dispute resolution and collateral child protection (CFCSA) referrals will end. Both were temporary projects to give lawyers more preparation and attendance time for child protection cases. Consensual dispute resolution referrals allowed lawyers to bill extra time for meetings such as collaborative law four-way meetings (outside of court) for child protection matters. Collateral CFCSA referrals allowed lawyers time to help clients with collateral issues such as debt, housing, welfare, bankruptcy, or foreclosure. (See Notice to Counsel #68.) All of these changes apply to extra services that were added over the past couple of years. Basic family law coverage has not changed. Please see the Serious family problems page on the LSS website for more information about the circumstances under which a family law referral is made. What's new in criminal law publications from LSS LSS has been developing a number of criminal law publications over this past year. We've revised and reissued several of our existing publications and, in the wake of recent coverage cuts, we've developed some new materials to help people facing charges that might lead to jail, but are no longer covered by legal aid. With the aid of translations provided by the Intergovernmental Relations Secretariat, we're also going to issue some of our self-help booklets in online-only French versions over the next few months. To help you provide information to your clients facing criminal charges, here's a list of what's recently released, already out there, and still to come: New publications See "Hot off the Press from LSS" for descriptions of these new publications. If You Can't Get a Lawyer for Your Criminal Trial (booklet) How Does a Court Order Affect Me? (information card) Brydges Line wallet card What You Need to Know About Fraud Charges and Social Assistance (English fact sheet — online only) What to Do If You're Charged with a Breach of a Court Order (English [print and online] and French [online only]; new booklet in the series) Revised and reprinted this year How to Appeal Your Conviction (booklet) How to Appeal Your Sentence (booklet) If You Can't Pay Your Court Fine on Time (brochure) Representing Yourself in a Criminal Trial (booklet) What to Do If You're Charged with Assault (booklet) Revised this year — online only No Contact Orders Explained (English fact sheet) Coming soon If You Are Charged with a Crime (English brochure [print and online] and French [online only]) Booklets coming soon in French (online only): What to Do If You Are Charged with… (Quoi faire si vous êtes accusé de…) Assault (Voies de fait) Mischief (Méfait) Possession of Property under $5,000 Obtained by Crime (Possession de biens criminellement obtenus d'une valeur de moins de $5,000) Possession of an Illegal Drug (Possession d'une drogue illicite) Theft under $5,000 (Un vol de moins de $5,000) Resources for clients with employment law issues For your clients with employment law questions, here are a few invaluable resources you can refer them to or use yourself to find more information. First and foremost, go to Clicklaw (www.clicklaw.bc.ca) and select "Employment" under "Your daily life" to find a list of useful links to employment law resources. Among other things, you'll find links here to: Dial-A-Law scripts on employment and termination the Legal Students' Legal Advice Program Manual chapter on employment law a People's Law School booklet called Working in BC information about sexual harassment in the workplace information about workers' compensation from WorkSafeBC See also the Labour Program/Branch Publications page of the BC Ministry of Labour and Citizen's Services for links to useful information, including fact sheets about employment. Note that many employer/employee problems require the employee to fill out a self-help kit on the Employment Standards website as a first step. New and improved LSS publication distribution services Our new publication distribution service through Crown Publications is live and ready to use! You can now place orders for your free LSS publications online and receive them within five business days. You can also order by e-mail, mail, fax, or phone, although it may take longer to process these requests. Ordering online is easy. To place orders for single copies of publications, go to the LSS website and search for the publication by subject, language, or title. When you find the publication you want, click on the title to go to a page that contains links to the PDF version(s) (under "Read this publication in…") and to order online (under "Order this publication from Crown Publications in..."). If you plan to place regular orders with us or order multiple copies, we suggest you set up a free customer account in advance. To apply for an account, go to the "Order your free LSS publications" page on the LSS website (see "How to apply for your customer account" under "How do I order publications?"). Having a customer account will provide you with faster service and will allow you to go directly to the Crown Publications website, search or browse to find LSS publications, then place your order. To find out more about our new distribution service, see the other sections of the "Order your free LSS publications" page on the LSS website. Hot off the press from LSS We've recently completed seven new publications: If You Can't Get a Lawyer for Your Criminal Trial: This new booklet is for people who have been charged with serious and complex criminal offences and cannot get legal aid but cannot afford a lawyer. This booklet explains why, how, and when they can ask the judge to appoint a free lawyer (a Rowbotham application), and includes a checklist of points to cover in court and copies of the necessary court forms. How Does a Court Order Affect Me? (information card): This useful information card describes what a court order is and the conditions that must be followed when there is a court order in place. It also sets out the possible consequences if someone breaches a court order. Brydges Line wallet card: This handy card provides Brydges Line contact information for individuals who are in police custody, arrested, or detained and want to speak to a lawyer free of charge. A new online fact sheet, What You Need to Know about Fraud Charges and Social Assistance, alerts clients to the serious consequences of being convicted of welfare fraud (a ban from receiving welfare for one or two years, or possibly even for life). Intended to be handed out as needed to LSS clients, this publication is also available on the website. An online-only version of Benefits and Services for Seniors in simplified Chinese: This popular booklet for seniors is now available in English (online only) and six other languages (simplified and traditional Chinese, Farsi, French, Punjabi, Spanish, and Tagalog). No Contact Orders Explained: Formerly a brochure and now redesigned as an online-only fact sheet that explains what no-contact orders are and what they mean for people who have these orders made against them. It outlines each type of no-contact order and how long it is in effect, what might happen in court, and where to get legal help or information. Following up on the English version printed in July of this year, we've now released a French online-only version of What to Do If You Are Charged with a Breach of a Court Order (Quoi faire si vous êtes accusé de bris d'une ordonnance): This booklet describes what happens if someone is charged with a breach of a court order. Intended for people who plan to represent themselves in court because they want to plead not guilty to the charge, aren't covered by legal aid, and can't afford a lawyer, this guide describes what the offence is, what the prosecutor must prove in court, what the possible defences are, and what the possible sentences could be if someone is found guilty. See also "What's new in criminal law publications" from LSS for more information about all the other new and revised criminal law materials we've been developing this year. New! LSS is now on Twitter! Twitter is a free, online, micro-blogging service. Posts, or “tweets,” are a quick and easy way to provide updates on what we’re doing and help us to stay connected with our community partners. Anyone can follow our tweets, even if you don’t have a Twitter account. Check us out at twitter.com/legalaidbc.

September 25, 2009

Changes to LSS family law coverage

Recently, there have been several changes to family law legal aid coverage. Here is a brief explanation of what has changed (and will change) for our family law clients.

When clients are approved for legal aid representation services, a notice (called a referral) is sent to the lawyer to start the case. The referral tells the lawyer which services he or she is authorized to provide for the client. Since January 2009, there have been several changes to both the types of referrals issued and the services lawyers may perform for family clients.

Beginning in January 2009, stricter standards were applied to issuing family emergency services referrals to ensure spending did not outstrip the budget.

Dispute resolution services referrals were eliminated on March 31, 2009. These referrals authorized the lawyer to settle a case on the client's behalf through negotiation or mediation without going to court, and they were issued only in cases where the client's and/or his/her children's safety was not at risk (See Notice to Counsel #62 for the information provided to lawyers about billing for these referrals.)

In July, coverage for clients facing the possibility of jail in family maintenance enforcement proceedings was eliminated. Exceptional coverage is still available for clients who have significant mental or physical disabilities that make them incapable of representing themselves. (See the July 2009 Legal Aid Fax for the information provided to lawyers.)

Extended family services referrals were suspended effective July 20, 2009. These referrals provided lawyers with additional time to prepare for and go to court to resolve family issues that could not be settled in the number of hours permitted by regular referrals. These cases usually involve more complex issues that cannot be resolved with a temporary court order. LSS is looking at ways to restructure our billing rules (the family tariff) to reintroduce these referrals so that some cases will receive additional funding to resolve family problems. (See Notice to Counsel #69.)

Effective October 1, 2009, consensual dispute resolution and collateral child protection (CFCSA) referrals will end. Both were temporary projects to give lawyers more preparation and attendance time for child protection cases. Consensual dispute resolution referrals allowed lawyers to bill extra time for meetings such as collaborative law four-way meetings (outside of court) for child protection matters. Collateral CFCSA referrals allowed lawyers time to help clients with collateral issues such as debt, housing, welfare, bankruptcy, or foreclosure. (See Notice to Counsel #68.)

All of these changes apply to extra services that were added over the past couple of years. Basic family law coverage has not changed. Please see the Serious family problems page on the LSS website for more information about the circumstances under which a family law referral is made.

What's new in criminal law publications from LSS

LSS has been developing a number of criminal law publications over this past year.

We've revised and reissued several of our existing publications and, in the wake of recent coverage cuts, we've developed some new materials to help people facing charges that might lead to jail, but are no longer covered by legal aid.

With the aid of translations provided by the Intergovernmental Relations Secretariat, we're also going to issue some of our self-help booklets in online-only French versions over the next few months.

To help you provide information to your clients facing criminal charges, here's a list of what's recently released, already out there, and still to come:

New publications

See "Hot off the Press from LSS" for descriptions of these new publications.

If You Can't Get a Lawyer for Your Criminal Trial (booklet)

How Does a Court Order Affect Me? (information card)

Brydges Line wallet card

What You Need to Know About Fraud Charges and Social Assistance (English fact sheet — online only)

What to Do If You're Charged with a Breach of a Court Order (English [print and online] and French [online only]; new booklet in the series)

Revised and reprinted this year

How to Appeal Your Conviction (booklet)

How to Appeal Your Sentence (booklet)

If You Can't Pay Your Court Fine on Time (brochure)

Representing Yourself in a Criminal Trial (booklet)

What to Do If You're Charged with Assault (booklet)

Revised this year — online only

No Contact Orders Explained (English fact sheet)

Coming soon

If You Are Charged with a Crime (English brochure [print and online] and French [online only])

Booklets coming soon in French (online only):

What to Do If You Are Charged with… (Quoi faire si vous êtes accusé de…)

Assault (Voies de fait)
Mischief (Méfait)
Possession of Property under $5,000 Obtained by Crime (Possession de biens criminellement obtenus d'une valeur de moins de $5,000)
Possession of an Illegal Drug (Possession d'une drogue illicite)
Theft under $5,000 (Un vol de moins de $5,000)

Resources for clients with employment law issues

For your clients with employment law questions, here are a few invaluable resources you can refer them to or use yourself to find more information. First and foremost, go to Clicklaw (www.clicklaw.bc.ca) and select "Employment" under "Your daily life" to find a list of useful links to employment law resources. Among other things, you'll find links here to:

Dial-A-Law scripts on employment and termination
the Legal Students' Legal Advice Program Manual chapter on employment law
a People's Law School booklet called Working in BC
information about sexual harassment in the workplace
information about workers' compensation from WorkSafeBC

See also the Labour Program/Branch Publications page of the BC Ministry of Labour and Citizen's Services for links to useful information, including fact sheets about employment.

Note that many employer/employee problems require the employee to fill out a self-help kit on the Employment Standards website as a first step.

New and improved LSS publication distribution services

Our new publication distribution service through Crown Publications is live and ready to use! You can now place orders for your free LSS publications online and receive them within five business days. You can also order by e-mail, mail, fax, or phone, although it may take longer to process these requests.

Ordering online is easy. To place orders for single copies of publications, go to the LSS website and search for the publication by subject, language, or title. When you find the publication you want, click on the title to go to a page that contains links to the PDF version(s) (under "Read this publication in…") and to order online (under "Order this publication from Crown Publications in...").

If you plan to place regular orders with us or order multiple copies, we suggest you set up a free customer account in advance. To apply for an account, go to the "Order your free LSS publications" page on the LSS website (see "How to apply for your customer account" under "How do I order publications?"). Having a customer account will provide you with faster service and will allow you to go directly to the Crown Publications website, search or browse to find LSS publications, then place your order.

To find out more about our new distribution service, see the other sections of the "Order your free LSS publications" page on the LSS website.

Hot off the press from LSS

We've recently completed seven new publications:

If You Can't Get a Lawyer for Your Criminal Trial: This new booklet is for people who have been charged with serious and complex criminal offences and cannot get legal aid but cannot afford a lawyer. This booklet explains why, how, and when they can ask the judge to appoint a free lawyer (a Rowbotham application), and includes a checklist of points to cover in court and copies of the necessary court forms.

How Does a Court Order Affect Me? (information card): This useful information card describes what a court order is and the conditions that must be followed when there is a court order in place. It also sets out the possible consequences if someone breaches a court order.

Brydges Line wallet card: This handy card provides Brydges Line contact information for individuals who are in police custody, arrested, or detained and want to speak to a lawyer free of charge.

A new online fact sheet, What You Need to Know about Fraud Charges and Social Assistance, alerts clients to the serious consequences of being convicted of welfare fraud (a ban from receiving welfare for one or two years, or possibly even for life). Intended to be handed out as needed to LSS clients, this publication is also available on the website.

An online-only version of Benefits and Services for Seniors in simplified Chinese: This popular booklet for seniors is now available in English (online only) and six other languages (simplified and traditional Chinese, Farsi, French, Punjabi, Spanish, and Tagalog).

No Contact Orders Explained: Formerly a brochure and now redesigned as an online-only fact sheet that explains what no-contact orders are and what they mean for people who have these orders made against them. It outlines each type of no-contact order and how long it is in effect, what might happen in court, and where to get legal help or information.

Following up on the English version printed in July of this year, we've now released a French online-only version of What to Do If You Are Charged with a Breach of a Court Order (Quoi faire si vous êtes accusé de bris d'une ordonnance): This booklet describes what happens if someone is charged with a breach of a court order. Intended for people who plan to represent themselves in court because they want to plead not guilty to the charge, aren't covered by legal aid, and can't afford a lawyer, this guide describes what the offence is, what the prosecutor must prove in court, what the possible defences are, and what the possible sentences could be if someone is found guilty.

See also "What's new in criminal law publications" from LSS for more information about all the other new and revised criminal law materials we've been developing this year.

New! LSS is now on Twitter!

Twitter is a free, online, micro-blogging service. Posts, or “tweets,” are a quick and easy way to provide updates on what we’re doing and help us to stay connected with our community partners. Anyone can follow our tweets, even if you don’t have a Twitter account. Check us out at twitter.com/legalaidbc.