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In conversation with Pro Bono Ontario Toronto writer Evan Thompson spoke with Lynn Burns, Executive Director of Pro Bono Ontario, the 2022 recipient of the Honsberger Award to be presented March 6, 2023 in Toronto. (Sarah Armstrong, PBO’s Vice-Chair, will accept the award on behalf of PBO). |
TLA: What attracts lawyers to Pro Bono Ontario (PBO)?
Pro Bono Ontario: The desire to help people is why most lawyers went to law school in the first place. Low-income people face increasing challenges and the past few years have been very difficult for them – they need help and PBO lawyers answer their call.
We have lawyers who have been involved since we started in 2001. Many started practicing when we opened our doors and will tell you they grew up with PBO.
PBO lawyers are driven by a desire to help people in community, and what better way than to use their legal skills. They also feel they have a professional obligation to ensure that the public has access to justice. Some lawyers find PBO offers them respite from their daily practices in terms of variety and varying degrees of complexity.
I’d like to say at the outset how grateful and proud we at PBO are to receive the Honsberger Award. It’s a great acknowledgement of the time and effort put forward by our team, which includes our volunteer lawyers without whom we could not have achieved the growth we’ve experienced since 2001.
TLA: How does PBO benefit the community?
Pro Bono Ontario: PBO focuses on helping Ontarians who have nowhere else to turn to resolve their unmet legal needs. They include people with low to moderate income who face civil legal issues. We provide legal services relating to civil litigation, housing, wills and estates, small business start-ups, charities, employment, debt and consumer protection.
We’re not concerned about how large or small our clients’ problems may be because we know that our lawyers can help them regardless.
Each year, we serve thousands of people who are, frankly, scared of the legal system and see it as a source of profound stress. In the face of the pandemic, inflation and the looming economic downturn, clients are relieved and grateful for the peace of mind we offer. Many write to thank us for the first decent sleep they have had in months.
We work with families as well as individuals which is important. Ontario’s legal services delivery system is fragmented, which means that people are too often forced to cobble together solutions for what can be life-altering issues. PBO lawyers help save them time in getting their civil issues resolved.
TLA: Do volunteer lawyers need a particular skillset or are they vetted before being accepted?
Pro Bono Ontario: We believe that every lawyer has a role to play within PBO. The main requirement is that they are licensed to practice law, are in good standing with the Law Society of Ontario and understand and respect the principles of law.
We attract a range of government, corporate and litigation lawyers from small to large firms, and solo practitioners.
When lawyers volunteer with PBO early in their careers, they tend to stay with PBO. Whether they are just beginning their legal careers or are established lawyers, we like to encourage them to stay involved for the rest of their careers. Articling students tend to start in small claims court by fulfilling duty counsel services to get comfortable on their feet.
TLA: How has the PBO Legal Advice Hotline contributed to the organization's success?
Pro Bono Ontario: We launched our Free Legal Advice Hotline in 2017 and it has changed the way Ontarians access legal services. Its value has been widely acknowledged, especially since the pandemic. We pivoted overnight from a call-centre set-up, where lawyers came to our office and used our equipment to answer calls, to a fully remote service that enabled volunteers to take calls throughout the lockdowns. The public never experienced a disruption to service. Both lawyers and the public continue so show their willingness to make the leap to remote service provision.
The Hotline answers 30,000 calls each year – double pre-pandemic numbers. And 89% of the people who reach us say the Hotline represents the first time they were able to speak to a lawyer about their problems. But we are able to serve only half the hotline callers each day and we need more lawyers.
I want to emphasize that if we doubled the number of volunteer lawyers, we could easily serve 60,000 clients in 2023.
Of the 55,000 lawyers in Ontario, only 5 per cent currently volunteer but we need 15% or even 20% participation rates to meet the growing need.
I invite each member of the Toronto Lawyers’ Association to volunteer for one, four-hour shift.
TLA: What else do lawyers need to know about PBO?
Pro Bono Ontario: Lawyers are problem solvers by nature. When they see how easy it is to make a difference when they volunteer their time, they tell us that volunteering on the hotline or at a court-based centre is the most rewarding day of their year. And it’s a manageable commitment.
Lawyers tell us they appreciate the chance to offer practical legal advice and then return to their practices after their shift – without carrying a number of files.
TLA: What sort of time commitment is involved?
Pro Bono Ontario: One hotline shift is four hours, and we offer volunteers two shifts each day.
Some lawyers may take 12 calls in one, four-hour shift. That equates to 12 people who receive counsel in one shift. Volunteering once per quarter can translate into 120 people getting help.
TLA: How does PBO help prepare lawyers to work with clients?
Pro Bono Ontario: We have videos and other training materials to help demystify the process and provide valuable orientation for volunteers before their first shift. During their shifts, they also have access to lawyer-generated knowledge resources and real-time staff support to help them answer any substantive, procedural or technical questions that come up.
TLA: How do law firms support your efforts to attract volunteer lawyers?
Pro Bono Ontario: Some firms were initially concerned that lawyers would do too much pro bono work to the detriment of their own files. They soon came to encourage and support lawyers to embrace pro bono work due to its ability to broaden their outlook and fuel their professional and personal growth.
For example, firms we work with generally count pro bono time towards billable targets (roughly 30-50 hours per year) This sends a strong message from management to the firm that they encourage lawyers to take on this important work.
Now, half our lawyers come from large firms and others work in-house or are from small, entrepreneurial or government organizations.
TLA: What other positive developments do you see in PBO's future?
Pro Bono Ontario: We have lawyers who individually serve hundreds of clients through the Free Legal Advice Hotline each year. Before the Hotline, we had more lawyers than we knew what to do with. Now, we are looking to double the number of PBO volunteer lawyers to serve an estimated 60,000 clients in 2023.
In the meantime, we are delighted with some recent developments that leverage the Hotline’s track record: We recently secured federal funding for a workplace sexual harassment hotline and a separate hotline for Ukrainians arriving in Canada as the result of the Russian invasion.