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10 A P R I L 2 0 1 9 w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m R E G I O N A L W R A P fees is that it's going to cost more for people in Saskatchewan to [have] access to justice," says Janow. On PLEA's website, plea.org, users can find information on various areas of law, including small claims, traffic cases, debt law, family law and criminal offences. They can even answer a series of questions on the website, and a program can use the answers to more quickly and accurately fill out complicated court forms. Though usage has levelled off for some kinds of law after decades of exponential increases over the decades, a more recently added family law section has particularly taken off. "For a long time, we've been see- ing more and more people representing themselves," says Janow. "And the family law site just continues to rise." Carly Romanow is executive director and one of three staff lawyers at Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan. In 2017, the organiza- tion, which runs a dozen free legal clin- ics around the province, provided legal information to 1,100 people. Ninety-eight people were provided free partial or full representation by some of Pro Bono Law's 350 volunteer or staff lawyers. Romanow has called the court fee hikes "disappointing," though many of Pro Bono Law's clients may also be eli- gible for fee waivers. However, the waiv- ers, she adds, don't cover all court fees. "I haven't seen a client be able to success- fully use a waiver certificate to waive all the photocopying fees," she says. With a divorce application comprising 75 pages, getting copies at $1 per page can quickly add up. Pro Bono Law doesn't discuss pub- licly the means level required for clients to obtain a fee waiver. Lacking the resources to verify income claims, PBL also doesn't require clients to provide proof of earnings. Romanow says PBL's mission is to fill in the gap between those eligible for legal aid and people — many of whom have jobs or income — who choose to represent themselves because they still can't afford to hire a lawyer. The new fees, she says, are "just another barrier for self represented individuals to be able to fully prepare and understand the cases against them." Romanow says she's curious about what the province will do with the extra revenue generated by the new fees. She has one suggestion: "A review of court forms would be very helpful. Even for a very sophisticated non-lawyer, court forms are confusing. 'Judicial centre' — what does that mean?" Many self-represented individuals, she says, are initially rejected by their local court registrar's office when applying for various kinds of court remedies or hear- ings because they have incorrectly filled out forms. Simplifying the language and requirements in such forms "would help unclog some of the issues" at Saskatch- ewan's court registries, she says. — Anthony Davis COURT FEES SKYROCKET Continued from page 9 Master the law. Canada's leading law school offers a graduate degree in four unique streams: Business Law Canadian Law in a Global Context Innovation, Law and Technology Law of Leadership Apply today. Visit gpllm.law.utoronto.ca Questions? gpllm@utoronto.ca ntitled-6 1 2018-05-25 11:45 AM

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