Legal Help Guide Popular with Legal Helpers

Spreading the word about Clicklaw

We’ve noticed that Legal Help for British Columbians: A Guide to Help Non-legal Professionals Make Legal Referrals for Clients is a very popular title on Clicklaw! It is often the first title that appears when browsing by topic, which indicates that many visitors are clicking on that title to find out more about it. Here are two comments about the Guide we’ve received from Clicklaw visitors:

“I am a volunteer at 411 Seniors Centre. I frequently get questions about the client’s legal situation and find the legal guide helpful in providing answers that are concise and in plain language. I have photocopied the pages on representation agreements for some clients because the outline is clear and covers the subject well. The guide also covers a wide range of topics that can be of use to seniors.”

                               Dave Hibbard, 411 Seniors  Centre Volunteer

“This guide has come to my aid in helping [non-lawyer] clients several times over the past couple of weeks. Three of the questions I received were identical to examples in Part 1: Common Legal Problems:

– The Ministry has taken my kids 
– A debt collector is harassing me
– My car broke down and the dealer won’t fix it

The author provides clear and concise information on the steps you need to take and where to get help for each problem. The clients have been very satisfied and grateful for the information I passed on to them.

Part 2: Resource Guide is a nine page alphabetical list of sources of legal information, providing quick access to website addresses and phone numbers. To date, there has been only one number I needed that wasn’t on the list – the Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner (related to the debt collector question). I keep a photocopy of this list on the bulletin board for easy access.”

            Denise Caldwell, Kamloops Branch Manager, Courthouse Libraries BC

Guidebooks on the New Court Rules

New on Clicklaw

More resources to navigate the new court rules for Supreme Court cases are now availble on Clicklaw. The Justice Education Society has updated and expanded its excellent Supreme Court Self-Help Guidebook series.

The series includes over 20 guidebooks written in plain language for those who are representing themselves in BC Supreme Court. The guidebooks fully incorporate the court rules that took effect on July 1, 2010, and include court forms with annotations explaining key parts of each form.

We admire these guidebooks so much that we’ve featured them in a new common question, “I’m trying to prepare a case under the new Supreme Court rules“. The guidebook series has been expanded to now include guidebooks on the transition to the new court rules and drafting orders in Supreme Court.

The Justice Education Society has also launched the website SupremeCourtBC.ca, which brings together a number of the Society’s videos, web resources and publications dealing with the Supreme Court. Along with the new guidebooks, the site is the new home to the videos Court Tips for Parents and Family Law and You: Representing Yourself in BC Supreme Court, the multimedia presentations Taking Your Case to Supreme Court, and more.