Professor Nicholas (Nick) Bala, Law’77, has taken on a lead role in developing a Project on Limited Scope Family Law Services, and obtaining $250,000 in Law Foundation of Ontario (LFO) funding over three years.

The Project aims both to increase the capacity of the Family Bar to provide ‘unbundled’ legal services and to stimulate demand for such services by increasing awareness of the value and availability of such services,” explains Bala, who is one of Canada’s leading experts on issues related to children and families in the justice system.

In recent years, a growing number of family litigants – often for financial reasons – have been appearing in court unrepresented. This has created huge challenges in the justice system while jeopardizing the rights, safety, and interests of all those who lack representation or proper legal advice. “‘Unbundling’ is a growing response to the changing demand for legal services in a range of contexts, not just family law, and one of the innovations needed for the provision of legal services,” says Bala.

With that goal in mind, the LFO-funded Project will facilitate access to and use of “unbundled” services – that is, representation or advice for one or more stages of the legal process.  The project will provide education and precedents for lawyers, and facilitate access to them by creation of a website searchable by location and type of services of these lawyers. The Project also will develop and support implementation of different models of affordable, limited-scope legal assistance for Ontario residents, including privately paid duty counsel at family courts.  A pilot program will start in June in Simcoe County to provide a trial run for project implementation, with expansion across the province in the Fall.

A research component of the Project will study the perceptions of judges, lawyers, other justice system professionals, and clients of the pros and cons of the new services being offered and how their delivery can be improved. Nick Bala will be collaborating on the research with Rachel Birnbaum, a professor of Social Work at King’s University College, Western University, as Principal Investigator.

“Law school curricula are also changing to ensure that students are aware of the need for these types of innovations,” says Bala. “I plan to involve Queen’s Law students in research that’s related to this project, and already address issues related to self-represented litigants and unbundling in my Family Law courses.”

By Ken Cuthbertson