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Network News Pro Bono NETWORK NEWS The Quarterly Newsletter of Pro Bono Law Alberta SPRING 2008 Pro Bono: Spanning the Nation Promoting the anada’s first National Pro Bono Week, hosted by Pro Bono CLaw BC, will be held in Vancouver from September 15 to 19, culture of pro bono 2008. Events will range from free legal advice clinics to promoting pro bono legal service partnerships between lawyers, law firms and PBLA receives warm welcome at ALC not-for-profit organizations. The highlight of the week will be the 2nd National Pro Bono Conference hosted by Pro Bono Law BC, Pro Bono Law Ontario and PBLA on September 18 and 19 at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue. The conference will offer a diversity of quality programming on the delivery of pro bono legal services from experts across the country with innovative ideas on providing access to justice for low income Canadians not eligible for legal aid. Special events include the conference’s opening plenary session address by The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin, P.C., Chief Justice of Canada and the 2nd Canadian Pro Bono Awards Ceremony at the gala dinner. Delegates including law firm leaders, legal practitioners, members of the judiciary, the voluntary sector and academia from Canada, the United States and abroad, will share ideas and best practices in pro bono legal service delivery and explore challenging issues that still lie ahead in the pro bono sphere. n Doug Hudson, QC, Board of Directors of Lethbridge Legal Guidance; Susan Billington, QC, Executive Director PBLA; Myra Skerrett, Executive Assistant, PBLA BLA works to promote and encourage the strong culture of pro Pbono legal service within the legal profession in Alberta. PBLA was very pleased to be an exhibitor at the Alberta Law Conference (ALC) in Calgary on March 17 to 19, 2008. This high profile legal conference hosted each year by the Canadian Bar Association, Alberta Branch (CBA) is an opportunity for Alberta lawyers to network and learn more about the law and their profession. As a newly formed charitable organization, PBLA was gratified by the very warm welcome and interest shown by CBA members for the mission of PBLA at its first attendance at the ALC. We hope to PRO BONO: SPANNING THE NATION make this an annual event! Pro Bono Law Alberta, Pro Bono Law of British Columbia and Pro Bono Law Ontario The CBA Canadian Legal Conference and Expo was held are proud to host the 2nd National Pro Bono Conference at the last summer in Calgary. PBLA and our affiliated provincial Wosk Centre for Dialogue in Vancouver, BC on September 18 and 19, 2008. organizations, Pro Bono Law Ontario and Pro Bono Law BC, Registration is now open. attended the conference as exhibitors. We also plan to attend the Early bird pricing is available until August 5, 2008. national CBA conference in Quebec City on August 17 to 19, 2008, as part of the mission of our three organizations to foster a robust Visit the conference website for more information and to register: culture of pro bono legal service in the legal profession. n www.probonoconference.ca Creating and promoting pro bono opportunities for Alberta lawyers WWW.PBLA.CA HOP staff may guide or represent such clients if legal aid is not CLG’s Homeless Outreach available and also help them to access counseling, substance abuse treatment and other similar resources to prevent further such Program provides hope problems. This provides homeless individuals with a chance to re- to Calgary’s homeless establish themselves as productive citizens. HOP also helps clients re-establish themselves by assisting with the replacement of their lost or stolen identification which is necessary for them to access social benefits. HOP also assists clients with old debts and warrants. CLG welcomes the support of the legal community as we address these issues. For more information on CLG’s volunteer program contact Kim Fedoroff at (403) 716-6476 [email protected] a. n CBA/LSA Distinguished Service Award for pro bono legal service ach year the Law Society and the CBA present the Distinguished EService Awards (DSA) at the Alberta Law Conference. This year the DSA for Pro Bono Legal Service was presented to Shirzad Ahmed. Mr Ahmed has devoted thousands of pro bono hours since graduating from the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Law in 2000 to many immigration, refugee and humanitarian cases. Mr Courtney Rippin, Homeless Outreach Advocate and Ahmed was born in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and fled to Italy Gabriel Y.L. Chen, Homeless Outreach Program Lawyer when family members were persecuted and killed. Upon coming to Canada as a political exile in 1984 and earning his law degree, algary Legal Guidance (CLG), with the funding support of he set about using his newly acquired legal knowledge to promote Cthe Alberta Law Foundation, has been operating the Homeless human rights. His fluency in six languages has been of tremendous Outreach Program (HOP) to serve individuals suffering from, or benefit to his clients, ethnic communities and organizations such at risk of, homelessness. A full-time lawyer and a social worker/ as the United Nations, Amnesty International and other not-for- advocate now provide legal clinics at homeless shelters and service profit groups. Mr Ahmed’s immense pro bono legal service reflects a agencies throughout downtown Calgary. willingness to create lasting, positive change. For more information HOP’s initial year has provided CLG with valuable insight on the DSA award recipients visit www.cba-alberta.org or into the lives of Calgary’s homeless population. Many homeless www.lawsociety.ab.ca. n Calgarians are actually working full- or part-time and have suffered from wrongful dismissal or unpaid wages. This makes it even more difficult for them to afford rent in Calgary’s increasingly tight market. Many individuals have also recently moved to Calgary from elsewhere in Alberta or Canada, and have no friends or family to support them. In such situations, HOP staff is helping clients to secure any unpaid wages and apply for low-income housing. Despite the province’s booming economy, statistics continue to show that more and more Albertans and newcomers to Alberta are living at or below the poverty line. In Calgary, the rate of homelessness has increased by 35 percent every two years since 1994, with a 650 percent increase over the last ten years. Not surprisingly, such individuals are finding it increasingly difficult to secure legal representation. However, without a means to address criminal behaviour, domestic disputes, unfair tenancy/labour practices or debt issues, many of them will remain trapped in a cycle of poverty. Many individuals become homeless as they struggle with mental health issues such as schizophrenia. The stress and culture of living on the street also encourages many homeless people to turn to drugs or alcohol. This in turn often leads to charges of theft, fraud or trespass. Such individuals may also neglect or abuse their spouse or children, leading to separation/divorce, guardianship/foster care or custody/access issues. Creating and promoting pro bono opportunities for Alberta lawyers WWW.PBLA.CA Members seeking the status of “active for pro bono services Insurance coverage for only” must: 1) be eligible for reinstatement to the Law Society; 2) apply to the Law Society of Alberta for the membership pro bono legal service category “active for pro bono services only”; 3) pay the applicable fee (inactive member fee); and 4) swear a statutory declaration that they will only provide pro A lawyer must be an active and insured bono legal service through a pro bono provider as outlined in Rule 148(2.1) of the Rules of the Law Society of Alberta. member of the Law Society to provide Once in this membership category, the member must pro bono legal services provide some legal service to the authorized pro bono service provider. Legal services provided to a neighbour or a friend are not included in the insurance coverage for members in the “active for pro bono Active lawyers services” category, unless those services are delivered through a pro Active/insured lawyers (members of the private bar) are insured to bono provider. provide legal services to clients whether or not they charge a fee for Members should be aware that the time in the “active for pro those services. When providing pro bono legal services through a bono service only” category will not necessarily be counted towards pro bono clinic, other pro bono program or doing the legal work their eligibility for reinstatement to full active, insured status. for free in the course of private practice for a friend or neighbour, Insurance coverage through ALIA for corporate/government active/insured lawyers are covered by their errors and omissions and for pro bono services only membership categories is available insurance through the Alberta Lawyers Insurance Association only for pro bono services delivered through a pro bono provider as (ALIA) insurance for the pro bono legal services delivered. listed in Rule 148(2.1) of the Law Society of Alberta Rules. Corporate/Government lawyers Pro bono providers – LSA Rule 148(2.1) Corporate/government lawyers are active members of the Law Calgary Legal Guidance Society and exempt from the insurance provisions of the Rules of Central Alberta Community Legal Clinic the Law Society pursuant to Rule 135 and Rule 148. Corporate/ Children’s Legal and Educational Resource Centre government lawyers swear a statutory declaration that they will not Edmonton Community Legal Centre provide legal services outside the scope of their employment. The Lethbridge Legal Guidance barrier for this category of active member to providing pro bono Volunteer Lawyers Service legal services was they were not insured to do so.
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