Marcus Sixta
The vast majority of self-represented litigants cannot afford full representation in legal services – and yet most of them are continuing to search for assistance that is affordable to them. In this episode, Julie speaks with Marcus Sixta, of CrossRoads Law, about his pioneering legal coaching practice, Coach My Case. Marcus is a leading innovator in the development of legal services that are tailored to client needs and pocket books, such as offering different tiers of assistance and working collaboratively to assess and meet needs. He believes in utilizing the skills of paralegals and lawyers, as well as a range of services, from procedural navigation, to issue identification, to hearings coaching.
Leona Harvie
Leona Harvie, who provides the reflection in this episode, is a former self-represented litigant who now works as a divorce coach, providing support and legal information to family law clients. She can be found at letstalkdivorcecanada.com and on Instagram as @letstalkdivorcecanada.
NSRLP has been developing a National Directory of Professionals Assisting Self-Represented Litigants since 2016; it contains the names and details of professionals across the country who offer legal coaching.
In Other News
Charlotte Sullivan
This week our In Other News Correspondent is Research Assistant Charlotte Sullivan. This week Charlotte discusses: the Attorney General of British Columbia announcing new rules of procedure for the British Columbia Court of Appeal; a piece on parental relocation cases in family law; and the controversial Bill 96, recently passed by the National Assembly of Québec.
“New Court of Appeal rules improve access to justice” (BC Gov News)
“The most difficult cases: Parental relocation” (The Lawyer’s Daily)
“What’s in Quebec’s new law to protect the French language” (CBC)
Jumping Off the Ivory Tower is produced and hosted by Julie Macfarlane and Dayna Cornwall; production and editing by Brauntë Petric; Other News produced and hosted by Charlotte Sullivan; promotion by Moya McAlister and the NSRLP team.
Paralegals/Law Clerks are the unsung heroes of the legal profession and it seems they actually could help with drafting in Ontario if they operate under the insured umbrella of a lawyer, no?
The trouble many of us have with the concept of “tiered” levels of affordable services is the same issues faced and argued with two-tiered medical services, because again, this feeds the issue of full legal services are only for the wealthy.
That said, what is discussed here is progression that we have been begging for, for years.
Some SRLs actually do not want a lawyer representing them, particularly those who have had horrendous experiences with fully retained counsel, but they desperately need legal support services.
The discussion of formulating OLIP liken to OHIP (speaking as an Ontarian) Ontario Legal Insurance Plan similar to Ontario Health Insurance Plan, with paralegals/law clerks functioning similar to nurse practitioners, and with a “clinic” system set-up where you have a lawyer (vice doctor), paralegal / law clerk / exec. assistant (vice nurse practitioner), a legal coach (vice counsellor) etc.
The drafting, editing, and organizing services would 100% help the cognitively disabled SRL and thus the court.
Oh yes…and kindly scrap LawPRO. My feeling is that it is in a complete conflict of interest position and predominantly serves the concerns of a lawyer vice the clients they serve…despite how they will sell their need to exist to the public. My understanding is that LawPRO was originally created by the Law Society then later moved to “arms length”…which in my mind is a smoke-screen to claim they are non-biased when they actually are? #MyThoughtsOnly
If LawPRO can exist, surely OLIP could exists.
I’ve offered legal coaching services for years and the demand was so great, I began training other lawyers and paralegals to offer legal coaching services. Coaching is different from traditional legal services – so lawyers need to learn proper tools to empower clients. It’s exciting to see limited legal services finally becoming available to offer help to the middle class. Just make sure your legal coach has legal experience AND some sort of certification as a coach.
Hi JoAnne,
Two questions. Can you identify anyone in B.C. offering legal coaching / unbundled services? And secondly, can you identify any of those who offer services outside of family law?
Hi Chris: I’ve just gone onto the website and noticed your comment. I’ve personally trained and certified maybe 30 or 40 lawyers and paralegals in the province of BC. Many non-lawyers I’ve certified now offer services legal coaching through the BC Innovation Sandbox of the Law Society. I’ve trained legal coaches in many areas of law – family, criminal, estate and wills, civil law, insurance law and others.
Hi Chris, I know that Crossroads Law (crossroadslaw .ca) offers unbundled services and you can see a list here:
www. clicklaw.bc.ca /helpmap/ service /1197
And as per the invited speaker here (Marcus Sixta) and his team – coachmycase .ca offer family law coaching. As for services outside family law you can explore this resource: legalcoachesassociation.org /for-the-public/