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regional wrap-up secretary of the Canadian Bar Association's charities and not-for-profit section; Lisa Stiver, United Way finance and administration committee; Silvia de Sousa, treasurer of the intellectual prop- erty section of the CBA; Antoine Hacault, vice chairman of the CBA's communica- tions committee and VP of the board of governors of Collège Universitaire de Saint-Boniface; Albina Moran, secretary of the real property section of the CBA; John Stefaniuk, board of directors of the Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights; and Allison Fenske, the board of Freeze Frame, a not-for-profit providing educational opportunities for children and youth. "We believe very firmly that it's important for lawyers in the firm to be involved in the community. It falls under the heading of enlightened self- interest," says Donald Douglas, TDS CEO and managing partner. He compares his time on boards as a THE WEST Legal aid RFPs coming in 2010 L aw firms wanting to bid on Legal Services Society work on an agent basis in Kelowna, Kamloops, Prince George, Surrey, and Victoria should start to look for requests for proposals issued in the beginning of 2010, says Mark Benton, LSS executive director. The five regional centres of the LSS in B.C. are being closed effective April 1, 2010 and will result in almost a complete shift to agent-based legal aid services in 27 communities. The closures will leave only the head office in Vancouver while the Terrace Regional Centre will remain open as part of a program to improve services to First Nations clients. A total of 58 staff positions will be eliminated and LawLINE (the society's telephone legal advice service) will be discontinued on March 26, 2010. A telephone referral program is being expanded, though. The closures and cuts are being predicated by reduced budgets in 2010. "One of the things we have had to look at is trying to make sure we are spend- ing as much on providing services as possible and as little as is reasonable on administration," says Benton. Benton says shrinking govern- ment revenues, lack of sponsorship for LawLINE, and declining interest rates have combined to cause the continued cutbacks in LSS services. While 90 per cent of its revenues come from the gov- ernment, the remainder is derived from legal organizations and interest on trust accounts. One trust account's funding a few years ago yielded $3.7 million for the budget but because of low interest rates will contribute only $125,000 to the $71-million 2010 budget. "The problem that we are experi- encing is not particular to B.C." says 10 J A NU A R Y 2010 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com Benton, adding that most legal aid pro- grams in Canada that rely on this type of funding are running into budget shortfalls. The society's long-term plan includes a continued emphasis on core services in family law, immigration law, child pro- tection, and criminal law. "Civil law ser- vices [are] almost disappearing," he says. "We are trenching down to core services and putting our resources there." Benton says there would be a loss of service as many of the regional offices integrated social services into casework. "We have a lot of good agents who also try to do that," he says, but the service is not expected to be at the same level as it was in the regional offices. "There is no doubt we are losing some very impor- tant services and very good people." — JEAN SORENSEN jean_sorensen@telus.net young lawyer to a "mini MBA" in terms of helping his practice and leading to more legal work. He says he's confident TDS lawyers will see the same result with their volunteer work. "If you're sitting on a board, it doesn't do much good to just show up at the AGM. If you get involved with the board's work and committee work you'll get to know like-minded people. Over the course of time, the more you can showcase your abilities and the broader your connec- tions, the greater the likelihood that you'll rise in the eyes of people you're working with and eventually, it turns into work," he says. Paul says he became involved with the Misericordia Health Centre a couple of months ago after hearing through a friend's wife that the call had gone out for more directors. He says he has been to two board meetings thus far but feels his most visible contribution was in December when he took part in the "Angel Squad," fundraisers who stood outside the MHC's Winnipeg head- quarters and handed out coffee in the dead of winter while soliciting dona- tions from morning commuters. Paul says he didn't take on his first board position to get extra work although he admits that's a distinct possibility down the road. "I'm doing it because I think it's important. But there's no doubt that there are benefits to knowing people in our community, not just for law but for other social endeavours, like raising money for a different charity." Paul says volunteerism seems to be a part of Winnipeg's DNA. "I think there's a very big commitment to public service in Winnipeg in whatever way people can do it. It could be a large or a small board but there seems to be a desire to assist in Winnipeg." — GEOFF KIRBYSON gmkirbyson@shaw.ca