This post is intended as a piece of free publicity for the Law Students' Legal Advice Program. This program is run through the University of British Columbia's law school. Law students provide free advice to low income individuals on a variety of matters. They can represent the individuals in provincial court as well as in front of a variety of administrative tribunals.
To be clear, Tevlin Gleadle Curtis takes all inquiries (provided they successfully pass our conflict checking process) and the first call is free. It is worth calling us with any employment law issues, our lawyers will always estimate for you how likely it is that your fees will be well-spent if you hire us. For court cases (as distinct from tribunal cases) LSLAP cannot advocate beyond the small claims jurisdiction of $25,000 so a good many claims are unfortunately outside of the realm of what LSLAP can assist with.
In one case, LSLAP won $65,000 for injury to dignity at the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal - nearly matching the all-time record of $75,000.
LSLAP clients get legal advice in cases that often would not justify legal fees at market rates.
The students get experience and exposure. While a lot of people worry about the students' presumed lack of experience, some of them are quite experienced. Students can run several trials/hearings by the end of their studies, making them more experienced in court than some lawyers. Moreover, in a low-value claim the defendant quite often expects a represented party to give up as a result of their inability to afford, or to justify continued legal fees. In our view any lack of experience can be more than offset by this power dynamic, which most lawyers cannot match.
In short, it is a win-win.
The lawyers at Tevlin Gleadle Curtis support the LSLAP program both in the form of financial donations, summary advice to students on individual cases and in the capacity as supervising counsel during the conduct of small claims trials.
We hope others will share the content of this post in any way they can. LSLAP is a valuable program and one that deserves widespread public support.
To be clear, Tevlin Gleadle Curtis takes all inquiries (provided they successfully pass our conflict checking process) and the first call is free. It is worth calling us with any employment law issues, our lawyers will always estimate for you how likely it is that your fees will be well-spent if you hire us. For court cases (as distinct from tribunal cases) LSLAP cannot advocate beyond the small claims jurisdiction of $25,000 so a good many claims are unfortunately outside of the realm of what LSLAP can assist with.
In one case, LSLAP won $65,000 for injury to dignity at the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal - nearly matching the all-time record of $75,000.
LSLAP clients get legal advice in cases that often would not justify legal fees at market rates.
The students get experience and exposure. While a lot of people worry about the students' presumed lack of experience, some of them are quite experienced. Students can run several trials/hearings by the end of their studies, making them more experienced in court than some lawyers. Moreover, in a low-value claim the defendant quite often expects a represented party to give up as a result of their inability to afford, or to justify continued legal fees. In our view any lack of experience can be more than offset by this power dynamic, which most lawyers cannot match.
In short, it is a win-win.
The lawyers at Tevlin Gleadle Curtis support the LSLAP program both in the form of financial donations, summary advice to students on individual cases and in the capacity as supervising counsel during the conduct of small claims trials.
We hope others will share the content of this post in any way they can. LSLAP is a valuable program and one that deserves widespread public support.
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