Newsletter-Jan 11, 2006

Dear Friends,

The decision by the Court of Appeal to allow our cross-appeal on December 22, 2005 was a landmark decision, not only for lawyers and clients throughout BC, but for our society! The cynical will say that the court’s abolition of PST is a windfall to the big corporations and wealthy lawyers who do little to help the ordinary person. Our answer to that cynical approach is a very practical one: we can demonstrate that literally hundreds of well-off lawyers who normally cater to the needs of the ‘wealthy’ visit our clinics on a regular basis to help people less fortunate than they. Our society is helping change a very unflattering image of the legal profession – of lawyers who are solely interested in their own gain and have little interest in access to justice. We now have 414 lawyers who regularly attend our 60 clinics throughout BC. The Vancouver and Victoria big firm lawyers are no slouches! They help clients by means of our televideo clinics throughout the province and also at specialized and other clinics in downtown Vancouver. The number of such lawyers who are volunteering is steadily increasing.

With Best Regards,

Dugald Christie