| Continued from page
1
For more information on family justice counsellors,
visit the
Ministry of Attorney General's Family Justice
website.
Family duty
counsel (family lawyers)
If you have a family law issue, you may qualify for help from
family duty counsel even if you do not qualify for legal aid. Family
duty counsel are lawyers paid by LSS to assist people with family law
problems or child protection issues (where the Ministry for Children and
Families becomes involved with your family). If you do not have your own
lawyer, duty counsel can give you advice and speak on your behalf in
court on simple matters. Duty counsel may be able to help you even if
you are not eligible financially.
Family duty counsel cannot replace the
advantages of having your own lawyer. Duty counsel will not take on your
whole case and will not represent you at a trial.
Family duty counsel is a drop-in service.
No appointments are made and people are helped on a first come, first
served basis. The lawyers must first help people who have matters in
court that day, but can assist others once they are not needed in court.
Family duty counsel offices are located
in the provincial courts listed below. For more information on family
duty counsel services and hours, select the court location nearest you.
If your community
is not on the list, call your
local court registry to see if they have started family duty counsel
services. To find your local court registry, look in the blue pages of
your phone book under "Government of British Columbia — Court Services."
Family duty counsel services began as
pilot projects in fall 2002 and are now available in 44 locations across
BC. In evaluations done in fall 2003, clients, judges, and lawyers found
the services valuable and were very supportive of them. Originally
scheduled to operate until March 2004, family duty counsel services will
continue until March 31, 2005.
Before you see
family duty counsel
It will help if you read and complete an
Acknowledgement of Duty Counsel Services form and a Family duty counsel
client information form before you go to the family duty counsel office.
The acknowledgement form tells you what the duty counsel lawyer can do
for you, and gives the lawyer permission to share your information with
LSS for evaluation or audit purposes. The client information form will
provide the lawyer with as many relevant facts about your case as
possible. If you give the completed forms to the lawyer when you first
meet, the lawyer can spend more time providing you with legal advice.
Supreme Court Advice Lawyer Project
If you are a low-income parent
experiencing separation or divorce, you may be eligible for up to three
hours of free legal advice from the Supreme Court Advice Lawyer Project.
You may be able to get help from the
project even if you do not qualify for legal aid. Project lawyers can
provide advice about custody, access, guardianship, and child support;
property (limited); tentative settlement agreements; and court
procedures.
This project operates only in Supreme
Court in Kelowna, Victoria, Kamloops, and Prince George.
Call the Supreme Court registry or
your
local legal aid office
to find out when the advice lawyer is available. For the addresses and
phone numbers of BC Supreme Court registries, go to the
Courts of British Columbia
website.
LawLINE
LawLINE is a toll-free telephone service
that provides general legal information and, in some cases, advice about
legal issues. This is a service for people who cannot afford a lawyer
but do not qualify for legal aid. LawLINE is staffed with lawyers and
paralegals, and can arrange immediate access to telephone interpreters
as needed.
To contact LawLINE, please call —
After dialling the phone number, press
"7" on your phone to connect to LawLINE.
Hours:
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Wednesday
LawLINE is unable to respond to
e-mail requests for legal
information or advice at this time.
LSS legal information
services
The Legal Services Society has
information services to help you with your legal problem — even if your
problem isn’t covered by legal aid rules. Staff at the legal aid office
where you applied might be able to help you get the legal information
you need.
You can also find legal information
through the following:
LSS
publications
For LSS publications on a wide variety of legal topics, search
LSS publications by title,
LSS publications by subject,
or
New LSS publications.
Print copies of many of these publications are available in legal aid
offices, public libraries, and government agent offices.
Family Law
in British Columbia website
The
LSS Family Law website
includes legal information and self-help materials to help people
resolve family law problems.
LawLINE
Staff on LawLINE can answer your legal questions and direct you to
other information or services that can help you solve your legal
problem. In some cases, LawLINE staff can provide legal advice.
After dialing the phone number, press
"7" on your phone to connect to LawLINE.
Hours:
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday
9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Wednesday
LawLINE is unable to
respond to e-mail requests for legal help.
LawLINK
LawLINK is an online information service that provides links to plain
language tools and resources that can help you resolve your legal
problems.
The LawLINK program has two parts:
-
The LawLINK website
at
http://www.lawlink.bc.ca
LawLINK provides carefully selected links to websites providing
public legal
information in various areas of law, including Aboriginal, family,
criminal,
welfare, and housing. New links will be added over time. The LawLINK
website is available through any computer with Internet access.
-
Free public access computers
LSS has set up LawLINK computer kiosks in a variety of locations,
including
all LSS regional centres.
telephone access to
LawLINE, as
well as free printed legal information.
At some locations, there is a Legal Information Outreach Worker to
help
you use LawLINK.
Other legal
information services
The following are other services in BC
that provide legal information or advice:
Dial-A-Law
Offered by the Canadian Bar Association in BC, this service provides
legal information on over 130 topics through a collection of telephone
recordings and the
Dial-A-Law website.
Call Dial-A-Law at one of the following numbers:
The
Electronic Law Library (ELL)
The
ELL provides a
wide range of legal information — including federal, provincial, and
municipal law — and a wide range of legal links.
Federal Department of Justice
The federal Department of Justice sponsors
ACJNet, which has links to many
Canadian sites with legal information and information about legal aid
in other provinces.
Law
Student’s Legal Advice Programme
Students at the UBC Faculty of Law provide free legal advice at 20
clinics in the Lower Mainland. Call (604)
822-5791 to find the clinic nearest you.
Lawyer Referral Service
This service of the Canadian
Bar Association in BC can help you find a lawyer if you think you need
legal help but don't know where to look. You can get a half-hour
consultation with a lawyer for $10. You can then decide if you want to
hire that lawyer. Call the Lawyer Referral Service at one of the
following numbers:
|
Address/Phone list
Applying by phone
|
LSS Call Centre: |
(604) 408-2172 (Lower Mainland)
1-866-577-2525 (toll free, outside
the Lower Mainland) |
|
|
Hours:
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Wednesday |
|
TTY number: |
(604) 601-6236 (Lower Mainland)
1-877-991-2299 (toll free, outside
the Lower Mainland) |
|
Brydges Line: |
(604) 631-0566 (Lower Mainland)
1-888-978-0050 (toll free, outside
the Lower Mainland) |
|
|
