The legal apparatus continues to crack everywhere and this time, it is the turn of lawyers in private practice to threaten to no longer accept legal aid mandates if their rates are not increased.
Posted at 5:43 p.m.
These rates have not been changed for more than 25 years and stand at $413 or $600 for an entire file, depending on the type of indictment decided by Crown prosecutors.
“Right now, it’s embarrassing the tariff structure which is in place and which has never been reformed since 1996”, explained Mr.e Elizabeth Ménard, president of the Association of Defense Lawyers of Montreal, Laval and Longueuil, in an interview with The Canadian Press, Monday.
Faced with the immobility of the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, these lawyers plan to hold a general strike day in which they hope to see all the lawyers join. A little later, they will refuse all legal aid files in cases of sexual assault and conjugal violence and, finally, in the absence of a release, a complete boycott of all legal aid files will be instituted.
Ridiculous prices
“We are aware that legal aid files are never paid as well as if it were a private file,” she admits, but that is not a reason to offer rates of $415 and $600. $ for an entire file that requires preparation and multiple procedures.
“Even the simplest case will require several steps in the legal process,” she argues.
But even these rates are not guaranteed, she adds. For example, holding a bail survey involves an additional fee of $150. However, “if ever there are conditions of release that are negotiated by the lawyer, the work is the same – the lawyer will have met his client, the client’s family, will have read the file, will have prepared to provide arguments in court – and one minute before the hearing he submits all these arguments to the Crown prosecutor who decides to release him, there will be no pricing, not a penny, because we did not proceed before a judge. »
“There are many examples like that which we find absurd and which mean that there must be a reform of the legal aid tariff. We must be paid for the work we do, ”argues the lawyer.
Exodus of lawyers in private practice
Calling on a lawyer in private practice for a legal aid mandate is based on the principle that all clients have the right to the lawyer of their choice. However, these lawyers are under no obligation to accept them.
“Many, because of the derisory fees, decide not to do legal aid mandates or to do so only very occasionally. And there are also several lawyers who end up abandoning these mandates because of the remuneration, ”says Me Ménard.
In 2019, Quebec had granted a 5% increase that the lawyers had refused, judging it derisory, but the ministry had paid it anyway by committing to create an independent working group to review the tariff structure.
This group submitted a preliminary report in July 2021 which touched on more administrative issues. “We were very satisfied with this report because it essentially repeated all the recommendations we had made in our brief, the collective of four associations of defense lawyers,” says Me Ménard.
“We had made several recommendations which were taken up almost in their entirety, several of which were very easy for the government to correct and, to date, we have still not seen any improvements,” she denounces.
Radio silence in Quebec
Now, the final report was submitted on April 30, after a month’s delay, but Minister Jolin-Barrette has still not given a sign of life to defense lawyers.
“That’s where our pressure tactics come from because we still don’t have the task force’s report. We have repeatedly asked for the report and for the government to comply with it. The minister did not even deign to answer us,” laments Elizabeth Ménard.
“We are still leaving a grace period until the end of the week for the government to send us the report, to read it and to see if it will commit itself in any way, if not next week or before mid-June, we should begin to initiate these means of pressure across Quebec.
“Our goal is not to go there, but we are ready to do so and we realize that it is the only option at the moment because we do not even have a response from the government”, adds Mr. Ménard with a hint of exasperation in his voice.
“We were good players, but three years later, we still have nothing and that’s why we are less patient and demand direct and clear answers. »
This pressure comes on top of that from legal aid lawyers, who launched a half-day strike last week to demand that parity be maintained with their Crown colleagues. The latter are themselves before the courts because they are dissatisfied with the latest increases granted by Quebec.