Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 10/05) - The Legal Aid system in the Northwest Territories is facing a shortage of lawyers for criminal cases.

"I think it's fair to say we're short right now," says Lucy Austin, the executive director of the Legal Services Board.

Within the last nine months, five lawyers who did Legal Aid work have left the system.

Robert Gorin was appointed a judge of the Territorial Court, another left Yellowknife and three moved over to become Crown prosecutors, including Legal Aid's staff lawyer in Inuvik. That leaves a pool of 13 private-practice lawyers who handle criminal cases in the Territories, plus Legal Aid's two staff lawyers in Yellowknife. The staff position in Inuvik remains vacant.

Austin says that is not enough. "We could probably use at least three more in private practice."

She is not aware of the shortage leaving anyone without legal representation or impacting the quality of service. "So far, it hasn't affected it," she says.

In Hay River Territorial Court in the last two months, a judge has been told delays in two cases were partly due to the shortage. Austin says the available lawyers are taking on more files and are busier than before.

As for the greater chance of conflict of interest when there are fewer lawyers to choose from, she says, "We work around that."

Such a conflict would arise, for example, if a lawyer is asked to represent someone accused of a crime against a previous client of the lawyer.

In all, there are about 50 lawyers in the NWT, but many work for government and others in private practice do not handle criminal cases.

Lou Sebert, a lawyer who has practised in Fort Smith for 22 years, is not aware of any delays because of the shortage.

"I've not seen any more of that than I've seen before," he says.

However, Sebert has noticed lawyers are beginning to travel more on court circuits outside of their usual areas. For instance, he says he may represent Legal Aid clients in Inuvik.

Sebert says the shortage is not as big an issue in the South Slave, where there are five private-practice lawyers handling criminal cases for Legal Aid, as in points further north.

As for the possibility of more conflict of interest because of fewer lawyers, he says,

"That's an issue, particularly if there are multiple accused."