Agreement on tariffs for lawyers in private practice who accept legal aid mandates

The Jeune Barreau de Montréal (JBM) welcomes the agreement reached between the Barreau du Québec and the Minister of Justice on August 25, 2022 concerning the rates for lawyers in private practice who accept legal aid mandates.

The JBM welcomes the rapid implementation of the urgent recommendations made by the Independent Task Force on Legal Aid Tariff Reform in its Final Report, including a 50% increase in certain tariffs, which will take effect retroactively from June 6.

We welcome the establishment of a new Legal Aid Tariff Negotiating Committee to begin negotiations on the remaining recommendations of the Independent Task Force, and encourage its continuation. The JBM will continue to follow negotiations on the urgent recommendations very closely.

Legal aid is of vital importance to the Quebec justice system. According to the progress report of the Independent Task Force on Reform of the Legal Aid Tariff Structure, published in July 2021, legal aid in figures is :

• Nearly 75% of files opened at the Court of Québec, Criminal Division, are covered by legal aid.
• 55% (108,333 files) of accepted applications were for civil litigation, compared with 45% (89,514 files) for criminal and penal litigation.
• 53% (105,011 files) of accepted legal aid cases were handled by lawyers in private practice, i.e. 2165 lawyers.

For several years now, the JBM has been actively lobbying for an in-depth reform of Quebec's legal aid system. Already in 2016, the JBM published the Rapport du JBM sur le système d'aide juridique québécois (JBM Report on the Quebec legal aid system), which outlined the needs related to the operation of the legal aid system, and more specifically those of lawyers.e.s in private practice accepting legal aid mandates. In April 2021, the JBM revised and submitted this Report to the Independent Working Group, and in August 2021, the JBM submitted its comments to the Independent Working Group's Interim Report.gard of the Independent Task Force's Interim Report on Legal Aid Tariff Structure Reform, the Final Report of which was published in May 2022.

About JBM

Founded in 1898, the JBM brings together lawyers practising in Montreal for ten years or less - over 5,000 members, or one-third of the lawyers called to the Montreal Bar. This makes it one of the largest associations of young lawyers in the world, in terms of numbers for a single city. Its mission is twofold. On the one hand, it defends and promotes the interests of its members. On the other, it provides pro bono legal information services to the general public, and offers a number of services to help Quebecers gain access to justice. In August 2021, the association was awarded the Lieutenant-Governor's Medal for Exceptional Merit, "in recognition of the remarkable dynamism shown by [its] members in the ongoing pursuit of collective well-being". To find out more about our public service commitments, visit the Public Services section of our website: http://ajbm.qc.ca.

Press contacts

Taïeb Benkiran | Communications and Public Relations Manager

514 954-6936 | 538 428-5954 | tbenkiran@ajbm.qc.ca | www.ajbm.qc.ca