Pro Bono Law Ontario (PBLO) is partnering with the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) and the Supreme Court of Canada on a pilot project to provide free legal services to low-income, self-represented Ontarians who seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Initiated at the court’s request, the project — officially launched yesterday (April 5) — “will help eligible litigants determine the merits of their leave applications and offer assistance to those found to have prospects for success,” PBLO said in a news release.
The volunteer lawyers are former law clerks at the Supreme Court. The project is administered by PBLO — a charity founded in 2001 with a mandate to improve access to justice — through its Law Help Ontario service.
“By supplementing existing self-help kits with pro bono legal assistance, the project seeks to eliminate barriers to access to justice and ease the process for unrepresented litigants who want to appeal to the Supreme Court,” PBLO said, adding that the CBA will use the project model “to liaise with pro bono groups across Canada to ensure nation-wide coverage.”
“The assistance of voluntary lawyers who are knowledgeable in Supreme Court procedures will make a world of difference to individual citizens who lack the know-how and resources to carry their claims forward without it,” former Supreme Court Judge Ian Binnie noted in the news release.