The panel will be part of the Law Society's Access to Justice programming next week
As the cost of legal services continue to rise, it’s likely that the number of individuals who can neither afford a lawyer nor qualify for legal aid will continue to grow as well.
That possibility will be discussed at “The Missing Middle: The Rising Cost of Legal Fees for Individuals who do not Qualify for Legal Aid,” one of the panels that will run during the Law Society of Ontario’s upcoming National Access to Justice Week.
According to Breanna Needham, founder of Luceo Legal and one of panel’s speakers, high legal fees is a significant contributor to a phenomenon that’s been developing for years: the growing population of self-represented litigants.
“Much like everything else in Canada that has grown in cost, legal services are no different,” Needham says.
“While there's always been self-represented litigants, there will likely be a rise in the number of people who choose to self-represent in the future, for a variety of reasons,” she says. “One is that many members of the public just simply can't afford a lawyer. Many people may be keen to rely on AI assistance.
“Many lawyers, I suspect, could not afford to hire themselves if they needed to,” Needham added.
In recent decades, the number of self-represented litigants has been trending up in some jurisdictions. A report published last year by the National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP), for example, cited data suggesting that 80 percent of the litigants in Toronto’s courts represented themselves in 2021, up from 50 percent between 1998 and 2003.
In another report published in February, the NSRLP found that more than 43.5 percent of self-represented litigants across Canada who responded to a survey had an annual income that fell below $30,000. As respondents’ income levels rose, their likelihood of representing themselves in legal matters fell. The data is based on 268 responses submitted to the NSRLP between 2021 and 2023.
Many courts have not adjusted to this development, Needham says. While the Covid-19 pandemic forced many courts to modernize their systems and improve accessibility by providing services like virtual hearings, “When you have people who aren't trained to navigate the court system, they're stuck in a process that is inherently not designed for them, and many people struggle with that,” says Needham.
Over the years, organizations across Canada have launched various initiatives to support individuals struggling with self-representation. Needham points to Pro Bono Ontario, which offers a free legal advice hotline, as an example. Many law firms offer alternative fee arrangements like flat fees or limited scope retainers; at Luceo Legal, Needham offers a monthly subscription program for small businesses and startups to help them manage their legal budgets.
Still, Needham emphasized that these initiatives only make up a “patchwork” of solutions to affordability, and many gaps remain.
“At this point, there is an access to justice crisis, and it is escalating,” she says. “There needs to be some real change created.”
The LSO’s Access to Justice programming runs from Oct. 28 through Oct. 1 and will feature virtual programming on Indigenous worldviews’ impact on the legal landscape, artificial intelligence regulation, and pro bono services, among other issues. Similar events will be held in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
