Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m A P R I L 2 0 1 8 29 Anita Place tent city in Maple Ridge, B.C. in their fight to protect their encampment. For the second time, the City of Maple Ridge had threatened the residents with eviction by way of injunction. In October, the city reconsidered its approach and decided to adjourn its application. During the B.C. Supreme Court hear- ing, the legal team entered into a consent order with the municipality to address life safety concerns at Anita Place and provide for resources such as fire-safe tents and tarps, as well as the installation of a modu- lar washroom onsite. Some might wonder what a commercial lawyer knows about defending the rights of the homeless, but Wotherspoon says it's about marrying together his years of litiga- tion experience with the expertise of those at organizations that work for those who can't afford legal services. "What I bring to the party isn't special- ized knowledge in encampments but . . . 25 years of commercial litigation. DJ and others at Pivot [Legal] are the subject matter experts, but they don't have the same kind of depth of experience in litigation. DJ and I worked so much together we developed an excellent relationship with her deep knowl- edge in the subject area and my litigation skills," he says. Wotherspoon concedes pro bono work is not always a short-term commitment. "We were originally set for a three-week trial and then counsel for Abbotsford said, 'We think it's a six-week trial' and I was not about to bail out because of that. What I did was call out to a number of my friends in the commercial litigation bar in Vancouver to see if they could assist in a variety of ways and everybody I asked said yes, from small and big firms, and that was a heartening moment that so many people were ready to lend a hand," he says. In one instance, Bob Cooper of McEwen Cooper Dennis LLP did all the expert evidence to allow Larkin and Wotherspoon to focus on the rest of the case, freeing Wotherspoon to continue to work for a longer period of time than if he was just getting ready for a six-week trial without that extra support. "One of our concerns was getting wit- nesses to trial because we're dealing with a group of people who are homeless and many suffer from mental health issues, are regular drug users or both. So DJ [Larkin] put a lot of time and effort into developing relationships with people in the home- less camp, which created a lot of trust and allowed her to get people to come to trial," he says. One of the impediments was that Abbotsford is a long way from where the trial was and so they asked Hinkson if he would go to the homeless camp. He said no, so Wotherspoon asked if some of the trial time could be in Abbotsford to make it easier for people to attend the trial. Hink- son said yes. That resulted in two days of evidence being heard at the Super 8 Motel in Abbotsford to allow those living home- less there to get there easily. "Some of the evidence was riveting," he says. One man had grown up on a reserve in Saskatchewan. His mother had been through the residential school system and she taught him at the age of five how to inject her with heroin. "There were times she was so messed up she couldn't inject herself. Every word he spoke was painful for him, but he recognized the impor- tance of having an opportunity to tell his story to the chief justice so that the chief justice would understand his particular path to homelessness," says Wotherspoon. That man had gone on to become an auto body mechanic and had a wife and children. But he became allergic to some of the chemicals in auto body repair work and turned to injection drug use. "Those two days in Abbottsford were dedicated to giving people in Abbottsford an oppor- tunity to get into court and explain their path to homelessness. When you learn that, I think it changes your perspective on homeless people. It could be any of us," he says. Wotherspoon hopes those two days in Abbotsford have opened the door for other opportunities to accommodate access to justice. He would also like to see more lawyers consider what they can do to offer their time to pro bono work. "I know lots of people who do this kind of work, but it's still a significant minority of the lawyers who participate in that kind of pro bono work. To do a six-week trial is hard — I was fortunate Fasken backed me the whole way. I was really lucky to have a firm that recognized the importance of the work and gave me the space to take it on," he says. The Maple Ridge case has been very dif- ferent. "We have developed a good working relationship with the external counsel for Maple Ridge and were able to negotiate a few things that are more helpful for both sides," he says. Taking on pro bono work still remains a risk for some private practice lawyers. Wotherspoon knows of lawyers who have taken on significant pro bono cases and been punished for it. "I know someone who went down in the compensation grid for it and I think that's despicable," he says. "Dentons looks to all of their lawyers to do a certain minimum number of hours of pro bono work every year, which I think is laudable. "What is five to 10 or 20 hours to a lawyer over the course of the year? It's nothing, but there are people who, if they had access to that little bit of [a] lawyer's time, would benefit dramatically. We're very fortunate to be lawyers. I person- ally think it's incumbent upon all of us to provide at last some pro bono support to people in need." While he acknowledges that law firms are businesses and have to make a profit, at the same time, taking on pro bono work gives young lawyers an opportunity to do things they might not have an opportunity to do if they were only doing client work. "You can be exposed to different areas of practice and get more court time by devot- ing even a small amount of time to pro bono work. It's built into my business plan." WHAT IS FIVE TO 10 OR 20 HOURS TO A LAWYER OVER THE COURSE OF THE YEAR? IT'S NOTHING, BUT THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO, IF THEY HAD ACCESS TO THAT LITTLE BIT OF [A] LAWYER'S TIME, THEY WOULD BENEFIT DRAMATICALLY.

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