TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 14, 2009) - The Honourable R. Roy McMurtry, former Chief Justice of Ontario, is leading an innovative new access to justice project that will look to the public for help in identifying viable solutions to overcome barriers to justice.

McMurtry is Chair of the Steering Committee of the Ontario Civil Legal Needs Project, a comprehensive study of unmet legal needs in Ontario. The project is the result of a partnership between the Law Society of Upper Canada, Legal Aid Ontario, and Pro Bono Law Ontario. Additional support for the initiative is provided by the Law Foundation of Ontario.

The goal is to improve access to justice by identifying innovative and cost-effective ways for legal service providers to better serve the public's civil legal needs - those not included in criminal law.

"Today, more people are appearing in courtrooms throughout the province without the support of a lawyer or licensed paralegal", says McMurtry. "The costs of legal services are rising, and it is taking longer to resolve legal problems. We, as a legal community, want to address these issues."

Law Society Treasurer W. A. Derry Millar explains that the Law Society shares with its partners an obligation to improve access to justice. "As we looked at barriers to justice, it became clear that we needed to speak directly with Ontarians. A better understanding of civil legal needs and all related factors will lead us to more effective solutions," he says.

The project comes in the wake of numerous civil justice initiatives introduced by the Ontario government. "The Ontario Civil Legal Needs Project is a proactive response to the Honourable Coulter Osborne's recommendation for a needs assessment in the Civil Justice Reform Project and it complements the Attorney General's efforts to make civil justice more accessible and affordable," says Lynn Burns, Executive Director of Pro Bono Law Ontario.

"Legal organizations, individual lawyers and paralegals are committed to improving access to justice", says Legal Aid Ontario Chair John McCamus. "The Ontario Civil Legal Needs project will help us achieve that goal by identifying ways for the legal and social service communities to work more effectively with existing resources."

The project has three main components:

1. An extensive telephone survey of the public

2. A series of comprehensive focus groups with front-line legal and social service providers

3. An environmental scan of existing services that promote access to justice.

The final report and recommendations will analyze the findings and establish a roadmap to help stakeholders in the legal services delivery system establish priorities, allot existing resources effectively and identify opportunities for enhanced collaboration and improvement.

More information on the project, including a fact sheet, is available on the Law Society website at www.lsuc.on.ca.

For more information, please contact

Law Society of Upper Canada
Lisa Hall
(416) 947-7625
Email: lhall@lsuc.on.ca

or

Law Society of Upper Canada
Denise McCourtie
(416) 947-3362
Email: dmccourt@lsuc.on.ca
Website: www.lsuc.on.ca