Alberta defence lawyers walk out of Edmonton, Calgary courts as part of latest job action
Groups representing Alberta criminal defence lawyers to take further job action over legal aid system
Kelsey Sitar, vice president of the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association in Calgary, said the relatively low pay for her and her colleagues has been a problem more than a decade in the making, but was made worse in the past three years. “What this current system does is it doesn’t even encourage — it forces lawyers to try and run a volume practice so that they can turn enough files through their office to try and pay the bills.“Of course, that’s a huge disservice to Albertans who deserve a lawyer who has the time to properly prepare and conduct their case appropriately.”
“Who is going to be here for Albertans who end up before the courts 10 years from now? We don’t know who that is right now, unless the government does what they need to do, what they committed to do.”Sitar said Alberta legal aid lawyers are paid about half of what their colleagues in other provinces are paid, noting the entire system is underfunded.
“They’ve funded the police on several different occasions in the last two years. They’ve funded the prosecution on several occasions in the last few years. And legal aid has remained the same and the work has doubled.”
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