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LRCY Policy
Effective August 2009, amendments were made to the LRCY Policy Manual.
Guidelines for Role of Counsel
Following a comprehensive consultation process, guidelines for lawyers in representing children/youth on LRCY appointments have been developed and incorporated into policy. This process began over a year ago with a discussion paper, consultation sessions and circulation of a summary report with recommendations. LRCY roster lawyers, in addition to others including the Law Society of Alberta, provincial court judges, Dale Hensley and Nick Bala (published writers/experts on this topic) assisted in the development of these guidelines. The guidelines are intended to assist LRCY roster lawyers in their practice, as well promote the important work that they do.
Youth Feedback
LRCY is initiating a client feedback process to hear about what young people expect from a lawyer and what they have to say about their legal representation experiences. The information gained from this process will assist LRCY and roster lawyers in understanding the expressed needs of young people which can then be considered by lawyers in their practice and by LRCY in development of policies and procedures.
LRCY is just concluding the pretest and will begin surveying all young people, ages 12 years and over regarding the legal representation that they received. LRCY will not contact those young people who, we are aware, have cognitive difficulties that may prevent them from understanding and answering the questions. LRCY intake workers will be calling young people once the lawyer submits a final billing for the appointment or 6 months after the appointment is made, whichever comes first.
LRCY Lawyer Training
This past year LRCY offered eight sessions on topics that were requested by the roster lawyers. LRCY also assisted in the organization of brown bag lunches to give roster lawyers an opportunity to discuss relevant case law.
Ensuring Quality Legal Representation
To ensure children and youth receive quality legal representation through a LRCY appointment, clearer expectations and service standards have been put in place for appointed lawyers. LRCY is monitoring for compliance to these service standards.
The LRCY Monitoring Work Plan includes the requirement that a review will be completed every 18 months:
- The initial review is considered an interim review and is solely based on the lawyer’s case reporting/invoicing information
- The full review will follow 18 months later and will be more comprehensive and include, for example client satisfaction feedback
- An interim review will follow 18 months later (based solely on the lawyer’s case reporting/invoicing information), followed by a full review 18 months later, and so on
The monitoring plan is on schedule and by March 2011 interim reviews will be completed on all roster lawyers and by the winter of 2012 all lawyers will have had a full review.
To date, we have completed 23 reviews which includes preparing a compliance report and meeting with the lawyer to go through the report and get their feedback. We have met with lawyers in Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie and Red Deer. Feedback from the lawyers who have gone through the process has been extremely positive.
Mentoring
The Mentor Program provides roster lawyers with access to expertise in procedural and substantive law, as well as guidance related to file management, as it is required. Mentors are selected by LRCY based on established criteria. To get the names of mentors, please contact the LRCY manager. For more information click here.
Pre-Service Training
LRCY held two Pre-Service Training sessions in 2007 - October 15th in Red Deer and November 30th in Lethbridge. Feedback was positive and comments included:
"Good tools and contacts to use in future LRCY work."
"Practical advice from experienced practitioners."
"The information was generally quite valuable and was helpful in understanding the process and tips on working with children."
If you are interested in attending Pre-Service Training, please contact Terri Davies at (780) 415-8936 or via email at terri.davies@gov.ab.ca. Training has yet to be scheduled for 2009.
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