Time Running Out to Complete Important CBA/NJI Survey

A few weeks ago, the Canadian Bar Association distributed an invitation to members of its family law section to participate in a survey being conducted by the National Judicial Institute. Time is running out; the survey will close on Friday 14 December 2012.

The NJI is the primary national organization providing continuing judicial education and the survey is timed for use at the Institute's family law seminar in February 2013. The survey is of particular importance for family law lawyers as it concerns the most difficult of all problems, the enforcement of orders and agreements for access. According to the introduction to the survey,

"This survey is intended to canvas family law lawyers’ opinions on the enforcement of orders and agreements dealing with custody and access. Bearing in mind that the bench has little if any influence over legislative reforms, do the available mechanisms work well or poorly? Could they be made to work better or should they be scrapped and other mechanisms implemented in their place? In particular, how effective are current remedies pursued through the courts?"

If you are a lawyer practicing family law to any significant extent, please complete the survey. It is relatively short and likely won't take more than 15 minutes to complete.

The survey, which is intended for lawyers only, can be found here: survey closed.

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Attorney General Appoints Nine New Provincial Court Judges

Attorney General and Minister of Justice Shirley Bond has today appointed nine new judges to the Provincial Court bench. According to the Ministry's press release, Surrey will be getting two judges and Kamloops, North Vancouver, the Northeast district, Port Coquitlam and Vancouver will each get one judge. Two judges will be assigned to work out of the Office of the Chief Judge.

The new judges, almost of whom have backgrounds in criminal law, will bring the judicial complement of the court up to 131.80 full-time equivalent judges, only 12 fewer judges than the court's complement in 2005. 

The Chief Judge, in a statement (PDF) released later today, observes that a number of vacancies are foreseeable over the course of 2013 because of judges retiring or moving to part-time status and notes that the increase in the number of Provincial Court judges resulting from the new appointments will be short lived as a result:

"I am encouraged by today's announcement regarding the appointment of nine new Provincial Court Judges. As Chief Judge, my focus is on identifying and meeting the ongoing needs of the Court, including increasing accessibility to the Court. 

"The early replacement of several Judges scheduled to retire or join the senior program in 2013 will provide some capacity to assist in reducing the case backlog."

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New Provincial Court Report: Fewer judges now than in 2010

The Provincial Court of British Columbia has quietly published an updated document (PDF) detailing both new judicial appointments and judges lost to the court between 30 September 2010 and 31 October 2012.

Boiling it all down, the numbers show that the court has a judicial complement of 123.80 full-time equivalent judges now, three judges less than the complement of 126.30 the court had this time in 2010, and twenty judges below the 143.65 judges the court had in 2005.

In 2010, the court published a powerful a report detailing the effects of the short judicial complement on the administration of justice, Justice Delayed: A Report of the Provincial Court of British Columbia Concerning Judicial Resources (PDF), which ought to be mandatory reading for anyone with an interest in Provincial Court matters. The conclusion reached by the court is short and to the point:

"The Provincial Court of British Columbia is the only provincial court in Canada with fewer judges today than in 2005. In fact there are 17 fewer judges, and unless further appointments are made, this will result  in a loss of over 900 trial days in 2010 and over 1600 trial days in 2011.  

"To be effective in supporting the rule of law, and to fulfill its legal obligations to the public, the Court must process cases within a reasonable time. For most cases the Court is legally obligated to provide timely access and, as with other courts across Canada, seeks to manage its caseload according to accepted standards which reflect the relative public interest and priority of the different case types. 

"Given the reduction in the judicial complement the Court is unable to 'keep pace' with the new cases being presented to it. The current inventory of uncompleted cases is growing markedly, as is the delay for all case types other than youth court prosecutions. Increasingly the Court is failing to meet its legal obligation to provide timely access to justice."

The court has now released an update to the 2010 report (PDF), current to 30 September 2012.

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Family Law Act: New Resource for Justice System Workers and Advocates

I've put together an overview (PDF) of the new Family Law Act for people who work in the justice system and legal advocates. Please feel free to download and to distribute, reproduce and reuse as you'd like, as long as it's not for a commercial purpose.

This overview will be updated from time to time to clarify issues and correct typos. The current version is dated 7 November 2012 (previous version - 3 November 2012); please download the updated document (PDF).

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The Self-Represented Litigant's Bill of Rights ...and Responsibilities

Today I've launched a new page in this blog, The Self-Represented Litigant's Bill of Rights ...and Responsibilities, to which you'll find a link in the list at the upper right-hand portion of this page with a much briefer title, "The Litigant's Bill of Rights."

The purpose of the page is to describe the expectations self-represented persons ought to have of the people they meet on the way through a court proceeding: the court staff who assist in court processes, the lawyers who may act for the other parties, and the judges and masters who hear case conferences, applications and trials. The page also describes self-represented persons' obligations to learn about court processes and procedures and the law that applies to the proceeding they are involved in, and to treat court staff and judges with courtesy and respect.

This page is a bit of a work in progress. It represents only my views and opinions, and I fully expect that others will take a different perspective on things; in all likelihood I have put emphasis in the wrong place and overlooked things that should be discussed. I welcome your comments, questions and criticism.

This page is a contribution to the larger discussion I think we need to have about the functioning of the justice system in a tough economic climate where lawyers are becoming increasingly unaffordable and both the courts and legal aid programs have become distressingly understaffed and underfunded. As such, the page may be reused, republished and redistributed without restriction.

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