Canadian Lawyer

Regional wrap-up Prairies West Taking pro bono law into northern Saskatchewan T here are not enough lawyers in northern Saskatchewan to provide sufficient pro bono legal services, so earlier this year Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan turned to the Internet. With the help of the Law Society of Saskatchewan it has latched on to sophisticated computer software that provides Federation of Law Societies of Canada 2014 Family Law Program Federation of Law Societies of Canada National Family Law Program Fairmont Whistler British Columbia July 14-17 2014 Mark Your Calendar! Please visit www.sc.ca http://www.sc.ca/en/national-family-law-program/ for information updates Special rates have been negotiated at the Fairmont Whistler from 199.00 single or double. Bedroom room block rate includes July 12 to 18, 2014. The conference rate is also available three days prior and three days after the group dates at the contracted group rates based on availability. Reservations link: https://resweb.passkey.com/go/nc2014 or call the Fairmont Whistler Inhouse Reservations Department at 1-800-606-8244 to make reservations. Callers should identify themselves as being with the National Family Law Conference or group code "0714FLSC" in order to receive the group rates. 10 October 2013 ederationofLaw_CL_Oct_13.indd 1 www.CANADIAN enhanced video conferencing facilities. Nicole Sarauer, a staff lawyer at PBLS' Regina office, says it provides a service "almost equal to a face-to-face meeting." Sarauer points out that besides visual contact, the program allows the sharing of documents and computer screens. All of which, she believes, makes it ideal for volunteer lawyers in Saskatoon to meet with and advise those people in sparsely populated northern Saskatchewan who cannot afford a lawyer. Two Saskatoon-based law firms, McKercher LLP and Cuelenaere Kendall Katzman & Watson, are currently involved. McKercher partner David Stack, who coordinates the firm's pro bono work, says the northern initiative is a reflection of the general lack of lawyers in remote and rural areas, not only in Saskatchewan but across the country. Stack points out while there David Stack is are some lawhelping co-ordinate. yers in northern Saskatchewan "there are so few they are simply unable to provide adequate pro bono coverage." So about once a month, clinics are organized in either Meadow Lake or La Ronge by the Salvation Army. At the clinics clients can talk to an appropriate legal expert while that lawyer is sitting several hundred kilometres away, at his or her desk in Saskatoon. The clinics have been so successful that PBLS is hoping to duplicate the program not only in the north but also more widely in all of rural Saskatchewan. Sarauer says the organization is actively looking for other partners in the legal community willing and able to help. — Geoff Ellwand writerlaw@gmail.com L a w ye r m a g . c o m 13-09-17 2:05 PM

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