Legal-aid office to close by March

Six people will be out of work by March as the Legal Services Society closes the Kamloops office to help balance its ailing budget.

Mark Benton, executive director for the society, said the Kamloops closure is one of several announced Tuesday. Offices in Kelowna, Victoria, Surrey and Prince George will also close.

The offices will be replaced by local agents and expanded access to a telephone-based legal-aid application service.

Benton said the cuts are necessary to balance the society’s deficit in the face of increased demand for legal-aid money and increasing administration costs.

The society wants to simplify the administration around the delivery of legal aid so that lawyers can continue to provide legal services for people in B.C.

Benton said it’s too early to know exactly how the proposed cuts will shake out in every community. He can’t say what services local agents will provide and what will be lost.

It’s clear that one contract agent will not be able to provide the same high levels of service as a team of dedicated professionals, Benton said.

But the society will do its best to provide service that meets the needs of those who require legal-aid funding.

Benton said the office closures are just one method to balance the budget. Longer term measures will see the simplification of tariffs paid to lawyers.

“We want to make legal-aid simpler, cheaper and better,” he said.

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