Monday, Jun 15, 2009
Globe and Mail
More lawyers join boycott of legal aid
In early June, the Criminal Lawyers Association announced a boycott by senior defence counsel of homicide and guns-and-gangs cases funded by legal aid. The boycott quickly spread; by June 8th, over 140 senior lawyers were participating in the boycott. Since then, the boycott is beginning to spread across the province. It is estimated that some 300 criminal defence lawyers are now boycotting homicide and guns-and-gangs cases.
The CLA is attempting to draw attention to the imbalance between the $98 per hour defence lawyers earn from the government for legal aid cases, compared to the vastly superior resources afforded to police and Crown prosecutors.
The Globe and Mail reported today that The Advocates' Society, an influential trial lawyers' association, and a former director of Ontario's legal aid program have announced their support for the boycott.
SGM's Frank Addario, the president of the CLA, told the Globe and Mail that "It's good to see the wider bar stepping up... The impact of a chronically underfunded social program felt by women and children with family law problems, refugees fleeing persecution, tenants challenging landlords, the homeless, the elderly and the disabled. If you don't want to push aside poor people, you need to fund the program."
