Table 13-2
Approved legal aid applications, staff and private lawyers by type of matter — Criminal matters¹

For criminal applications, there can be multiple charges per application and these can be handled separately (i.e., by different lawyers).

The number of criminal applications assigned to staff lawyers in 2011/2012 is not available. Prince Edward Island Legal Aid records the number of cases completed by staff and private sector counsel. Staff lawyers closed 948 federal adult criminal and 191 youth applications in 2011/2012. Federal criminal and youth applications assigned to private counsel do not include applications handled by private sector counsel on a per diem basis while substituting or backfilling for a staff lawyer. The decline in criminal applications between 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 is partially attributable to a definitional error in one Prince Edward Island Legal Aid office in 2010/2011, which resulted in over-reporting of criminal applications.

Effective April 20, 2009, intake services for family legal aid were expanded when eligibility screening for services formerly captured under the Domestic Legal Aid program was transferred to New Brunswick Legal Aid Services Commission from the Department of Justice and Consumer Affairs.

Ontario has 77 legal aid clinics that are independent, non-profit organizations funded by the legal aid plan. Staff lawyers and community legal workers at these clinics provide legal aid services primarily in “other” civil matters, particularly in the area of poverty law which includes, social assistance/income maintenance, landlord and tenant, workers’ compensation, criminal injuries compensation, and refugee and immigration matters. In 2011/2012, these clinics accounted for 98% of total approved civil legal aid applications assigned to staff lawyers and 100% of “other” approved civil legal aid applications assigned to staff lawyers. Figures for 2011/2012 full-service criminal applications approved and assigned to private lawyers include Legal Aid Ontario's "Big Case Management" program, which are criminal legal aid cases (mostly homicide) whose projected costs exceed $20,000.

In 2009/2010, Manitoba began to include the number of applications that were used to generate secondary or tertiary certificates in the total number of legal aid applications reported. This led to an increase in the count for total and approved legal aid applications and accounts for the increase in approved applications assigned to staff and private lawyers.

In 2008/2009, all youth matters became eligible for legal aid under an agreement between the Saskatchewan Legal Aid Commission and the Ministry of Justice’s Court Services Branch. This led to an increase in the count for total and approved legal aid applications. Figures for Saskatchewan were re-stated for the reference periods 2008/2009 to 2010/2011, inclusive, based on the number of letters of denial issued to clients by the Saskatchewan Legal Aid Commission. The number of applications excludes applications received during 2011/2012 but deemed “discontinued” for administrative purposes as at March 31, 2012, because the client ceased contact with the Saskatchewan Legal Aid Commission before obtaining legal aid services from a lawyer.

The increase, between 2010/2011 and 2011/2012, in the number of applications approved and assigned to staff lawyers is primarily due to a change in Legal Aid Alberta's service delivery model to provide early resolution to lower-level criminal offences. These offences would have been assigned to private lawyers prior to 2011/2012.

No distinction is made between summary and full service applications in Yukon. All applications are counted as full service applications. Data for Yukon include duty counsel counts.

Presumed eligibility counts are not included in the data for the Northwest Territories or Nunavut. Territorial offences are included with criminal matters.

In 2009/2010, the capacity for statistical reporting in Nunavut was limited due to issues with information tracking systems. As a result, the number of approved applications may be underreported and is not comparable to previous years.