NCJ Number
86061
Date Published
1980
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This conference paper describes the legal aid delivery systems in Quebec, Canada, with attention to cost differences between salaried lawyers and those in private practice.
Abstract
Since 1972, legal aid in Quebec has been administered by a corporation consisting of 12 members appointed by the Government. The corporation engages lawyers on a full-time basis to serve in local offices. There are 145 legal aid offices in Quebec. Clients who wish to benefit from legal aid services must be interviewed at the legal aid office, where their economic status and right to assistance are established. Once granted legal aid, the client must choose between a salaried lawyer working for legal aid or a lawyer in private practice. If private attorneys accept the case, they are paid under an agreement made between the Department of Justice and the bar. Clients have chosen private practitioners approximately 30 percent of the time in the past year. The difference in cost between the two systems demonstrates clearly a significant economic viability in favor of salaried lawyers. In criminal cases, the average cost per file was $91.34 for salaried lawyers and $177.69 for those in private practice, based on recent statistics. A similar differential is found in unemployment insurance and pension cases. Despite the cost differential, it is concluded that the beneficiary of legal aid draws benefits from the existence of these two competing delivery systems of legal services, and that the present plan should continue. Nine footnotes are provided.