Centralized Supervision Enables Networked and Effective Legal Advocacy

The access to justice gap in B.C. is well documented and persists as a front-of-mind challenge for many working in the justice landscape. People in need of legal assistance and support face many barriers.

Legal advocates play a critical gap-filling function, helping people to overcome those barriers, especially in communities where there is a dearth of legal services and lawyers. Family law advocates and community law advocates funded by the Law Foundation of BC are trained in providing direct legal assistance as well as practical and specialized support to clients navigating complex legal issues. They are trained to help people during some of the hardest moments of their lives.

Legal advocates are paired with supervising lawyers to work together. Through a variety of arrangements, supervising lawyers provide assistance and oversight for legal advocates. Many private bar lawyers in communities across B.C. have supervised legal advocates for many years and have deep relationships with their program. Another approach that has developed over the last few years is the centralized supervision model. In this model, supervising lawyers are employed full- and part-time at a community-based organization and provide supervision to legal advocacy programs around the province.

Engaging a model of centralized legal supervision

Maggie House, private bar lawyer at Portside Law and supervising lawyer at Rise Women’s Legal Centre.

Maggie House is a private bar lawyer at Portside Law family law firm in New Westminster, and she’s a supervising lawyer at Rise Women’s Legal Centre (Rise). Her position at Rise, along with other staff at the centre, is funded by the Law Foundation of BC. House led a pilot project in 2022 to centralize supervision of family law advocates. After the pandemic, affordability and other issues were causing serious strain across the network of access to justice services in B.C. “At the time, the rural and remote locations were facing significant challenges retaining family law advocates,” says House. “Critically, these family law advocates were placed in areas that have significant gaps in legal services. They are in locations that are very rural and very remote. These locations typically do not have many family law lawyers, and some have no lawyers at all.” The Law Foundation decided to invest more in support infrastructure for legal advocates.

What House heard early on from legal advocates was that there is a clear benefit to consistent, centralized support from dedicated supervising lawyers whose primary job is to assist legal advocates. As their supervising lawyer, “I am completely accessible to the family law advocates. I work with them to make sure they excel and support the people in their community,” she says.

Danielle Moore, Family Law Advocate at Fort St. John Women’s Resource Society.

The legal advocates under House’s supervision attest to how accessible she is. “Even if she has to step away for court, she makes sure I know who to reach out to. She sets up someone else to cover for her,” says Danielle Moore, the Family Law Advocate at Fort St. John Women’s Resource Society. “I’ve never had a day I don’t have direct support or someone to reach out to. And that means when I have a client in crisis, I can support them and work in that crisis space.”

House also took the time to assess the knowledge and skill levels of the legal advocates she took on. House homed in on areas for improvement and growth, and she developed systems around standardized supervision and onboarding. She also developed and provided practical training and education.

“In my check-ins with Maggie, a lot of the time we pull up documents and go through them together,” describes Moore. “She walks me through the documents and talks through the ‘how’ and the ‘why.’ I’m not only helping my clients but also building up my own education and learning.”

It has now been a few years, and the centralized supervision model has started to mature. House notes that there are two key factors that make the Family Advocate Support Team set up at Rise a success. “First, everything is standardized and centralized. Our team all have the same systems and information, and that contributes to high quality service for clients. Second, we make opportunities for advocates to connect and build community. We host bi-weekly training and get the family law advocates together in peer mentorship groups, fostering a sense of camaraderie— they can commiserate, and they can celebrate together when they have victories. It’s so important for their job satisfaction. Truly believing you are part of something bigger is what drives people to do the best job possible.”

Legal advocates as a critical part of the legal ecosystem

House wants lawyers practicing family law to know how helpful it can be to have a family law advocate working alongside them on a file. A partnership can emerge “because legal advocates and lawyers embody different roles,” explains House. “Family law advocates are fantastic at helping lawyers stretch limited resources for their lower- and moderate-means clients.” She goes on to explain that because advocates have specialized knowledge, they can also help clients with follow-up questions and actions.  

Lawyers would also benefit from understanding that legal advocates are part of a larger ecosystem of legal services and support. In some communities, legal advocates are the only resources available to people. In Fort St. John, for example, Moore is the only person able to provide ongoing and broad-scope legal services free of charge. The next closest legal advocate is in Fort Nelson or Prince George, both many hours away by car.

In addition to the geographic barrier, the financial barrier persists. “Some clients can’t afford lawyers, even on an unbundled or limited retainer service,” House describes. “They’d be completely disenfranchised. They would be left out to dry.”

And legal advocates do exceptional work. They are “beyond stellar at their jobs”, says House.