Canadian Lawyer

8 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP them are a call for continued invest- ment in the court, development of a protocol that will allow it to more effectively supervise and meet the needs of high-risk offenders, and adoption of a criminal-risk screening assessment process to better inform decisions about admission, supervi- sion intensity, and intervention targets intended to reduce criminal behaviour. In sharp contrast with the adver- sarial approach of traditional criminal courts, Nova Scotia's mental health court is a collaboration between justice professionals and mental health and addictions clinicians. "We use concepts of restorative justice," says Williams. "This helps to de-stigmatize mental illness." The Nova Scotia mental health court's approach is now finding its way into traditional courts across the province through a diversion program. Under the judicial initiative, now up and running in at least two commu- nities and being explored by several others, specific days are set aside by the court to hear select cases using the same approach as the mental health court. It's a cost-effective way to expand the program, says Williams. "Courts are expensive. [Creating new mental health courts] is simply not realistic in this economic climate." — DM Mental health court benefi cial but recidivism not reduced Continued from page 7 C E N T R A L "I f you want something done, ask a busy per- son" goes the saying. Well, Julien David- Pelletier is certainly busy because he gets a lot of things done. He's the executive director of Juripop, a not-for-profit that offers legal services for the poor — more pre- cisely, for the not-rich-enough-to- afford-legal-representation-but- not-poor-enough-to-have-access- to-legal-aid. Juripop was founded in 2009 by lawyer Marc-Antoine Cloutier, now 26, and David-Pelletier, 27, when they were both law students at Université du Québec à Mon- tréal. Other co-founders were lawyers Louise Boyd, currently vice president, Marie-Ève Trudel, Arianne Bouchard, Katherine Pelletier, and business man- ager Sébastien Lemire. Juripop employs nine lawyers and one notary, several of whom are full- time. David-Pelletier works "more than full-time" while Cloutier also has a private practice on the south shore of Montreal, he is very involved in the organization, of which he is president. They attracted media attention in July thanks to a social-media fundrais- ing campaign. The public remembers their hugely popular intervention in the Montreal subway, where they had installed four consultation booths, ear- lier this year. People swarmed them, some coming from far-away suburbs to try to get pro bono legal advice. Some was even given to people in the queue. In all, 400 files were processed by the four lawyers and one notary through 15-minute consultations held five Mon- days in a row, during the afternoon rush-hour in January and February. "It says a lot about the crying need for legal aid in our society," David-Pelletier told Canadian Lawyer. Another successful intervention was in the wake of the Lac-Mégantic catastrophe, in which a train crash set the town ablaze, killing 47 people and devastating the city core, including tons of documents, all of which went up in smoke, thereby erasing years of legal records. Acting as a kind of 911 legal firm, Juripop quickly set up an office with one permanent lawyer and five rotating ones, who gave free counselling to distressed individuals and small businesses. "We have the ability and the flexibility to do this sort of rapid legal intervention thanks to our flexible structure and dynamism. In this sort of situation, we intervene fast since the situation is urgent, and manage to sort out the finances later," says David-Pelletier. "In Lac- Mégantic, we could count on pro bono work from several lawyers and we had some reserve money to fill the gap. We couldn't respond to every such dramatic event, of course." Most of the legal assistance Juripop provides concerns family law situations. "Our typical beneficiary is a single mother with two kids who is filing for support or custody," he says. They treat around 600 cases of that kind in a year handled by two full-time lawyers, and another 200 to 300 criminal cases, also handled by two full-time lawyers. The regular program requires the users to pay a fee of between $40 and $60 an hour, variable according to the Juripop: not quite legal aid Juripop was part of a pro bono legal clinic in Montreal's Metro.

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