Methodology

This report initially used a research methodology centering on the review of primary legal sources (legislation on the regulation of the legal profession in the jurisdictions considered), primary regulatory literature (reports and other documents produced by regulators of the legal profession), and secondary academic literature. When we discovered that the secondary literature was somewhat limited, we expanded our methodology to selectively incorporate less formal literature generated by organizations involved in community-based not-for-profit non-lawyer activities and programs.

The primary source literature included legislation impacting the regulation of the legal profession and the provision of legal services in all Canadian jurisdictions, as well as comparative jurisdictions. A review was also undertaken of key provisions of regulations put in place by self-regulatory oversight bodies of the legal profession, such as the Law Society of Ontario (LSO). Other primary source literature included annual reports and similar documents produced by organizations engaged in the provision of legal services, or their funders, especially in community-based not-for-profit contexts. Relevant primary source literature was identified by searching online open access repositories of legislation and regulations, as well as public materials of regulatory and provider organizations available online.

The secondary literature was mostly comprised of scholarly research providing explanations, analysis and evaluations of regulatory concepts, frameworks, and activity, as well as legal services programs. An extensive body of literature on the regulation of legal services and access to justice issues was identified, but only a very small body of literature engages in evaluation of community-based not-for-profit non-lawyer programs. Relevant secondary literature was identified by searching online academic research databases (some open access and some only accessible via institutional subscription), as well as searching for literature otherwise available online or in university library collections. With assistance of the Department of Justice, this included a dedicated search of French-language materials. After initial identification and categorization of the secondary literature according to the research questions, the authors and research assistants drafted descriptive annotations of each source. The collected annotations were assessed for key content and common themes, and these formed the basis of this report.

Given the limited quantity of secondary academic literature, we then expanded our scope to attempt to identify and incorporate information from less formal literature generated by organizations involved in community-based not-for-profit non-lawyer activities and programs. This literature is largely held at the level of individual organizations, of which there are a vast number just in Canada, and many multiples more across the comparative jurisdictions. This literature is also not consistently or comprehensively accessible online, which was our only practical means of access. It was not feasible within the scope of this project to attempt to systematically collect this information. Consequently, our incorporation of this less formal literature is necessarily selective and our consideration of it only provides a partial picture of relevant activities and programs. In some instances, we gathered supplementary or clarifying information about program activities from telephone interviews.