Representation for Immigrants and Refugee Claimants
Appendix 2 Interview Guide - Service Providers (continued)
Questions for all service providers (continued)
6. Respondents' overall assessment
The following questions are intended to elicit respondents' views with respect to the work currently being done by different groups of service providers and to elicit any suggestions they may have to improve present legal aid arrangements relating to immigrants and refugee claimants. Interviewers should specifically canvass the respondents' views on how representation services might best be delivered to immigrants and refugee claimants. To set the stage for these questions, interviewers should draw the respondents' attention to:
- the services that should be considered (advice and information, assistance in case preparation, representation at hearings);
- the avenues available for delivering these services (NGOs, legal aid clinics, service providers in private practice); and
- the people who provide these services (volunteers and paid community service workers without legal expertise, immigration consultants, supervised paralegals, and lawyers - both staff and private practice).
- 6.1 [Interviewers should preface this question by indicating that they are about to ask respondents for their views with respect to the quality, effectiveness and utility of service provided by different groups of service providers. Indicate that the same question will be asked with respect to each group of service providers.] Do you have any comments on the work of the following service providers?
- Legal aid clinics, including students
- Immigration and refugee lawyers in private practice, paid or pro bono
- The Refugee Law Office (if Ontario)
- Supervised paralegals
- Paid immigration consultants
- Paid staff at NGOs
- UNHCR
- 6.2 Do you have any suggestions as to how assistance and representation services for immigrants and refugee claimants can most effectively be delivered?
7. Questions for lawyers
The following questions are intended only for lawyers who are directly involved in representing immigrants and refugee claimants. Lawyers who are also respondents in some other capacity, for example as representatives of some organization, should be included as respondents for these questions.
The questions are directed to eliciting information about lawyers' experience with paralegals in the delivery of legal services to immigrants and refugee claimants.
- 7.1 Experience with paralegals
- 7.1.1 Do you utilize the services of paralegals in relation to cases in which you are acting for immigrants and refugee claimants?
- 7.1.2 [For lawyers who do not utilize services of paralegals] Why not?
- 7.1.3 [For lawyers who do utilize services of paralegals] What services do you rely on paralegals to provide?
- Interpretation
- Client interviews
- Ancillary support for clients (housing, employment, welfare, etc.)
- Case research
- Preparation of documents (PIF, affidavits, etc.)
- Contacting and interviewing witnesses
- Preparing client for hearing
- Appearance on motions
- Assistance at hearings
- Other (specify)
- 7.1.4 What services do you provide to immigrant and refugee claimant clients that you do not delegate to paralegals?
- 7.1.5 How closely do you supervise the work of paralegals who assist you? What factors affect the degree of supervision you apply?
- 7.1.6 How does participation by paralegals affect quality of representation?
- 7.1.7 What are the benefits/disadvantages of having paralegals involved in the process?
- 7.1.8 On average, how much time do you spend and how much time do paralegals spend on immigration and refugee cases where you are counsel? Please provide separate estimates for refugee claims and immigration cases.
- 7.1.9 How are the paralegals who assist you compensated for their services?
- Salary paid by lawyer, firm or clinic
- Fee for service, paid by lawyer or firm and passed on to client or legal aid
- Fee for service, absorbed by lawyer of firm in overall fee
- Paid directly by client
- Paid by third party (e.g., NGO)
- Unpaid
- 7.1.10 Do you have any comments on the overall utility of paralegals in relation to your immigration and refugee law practice?
- 7.1.11 How many (what portion) of your clients pay for representation services?
8. Questions for supervised paralegals and immigration consultants (i.e., unsupervised paralegals)
- 8.1 How expert do you consider yourself to be in immigration and refugee matters?
- 8.2 What portion of your work is dedicated to immigrants and refugee claimants?
- 8.3 What services do you provide to immigrants and refugee claimants?
- 8.4 Are there any services that you feel you are able to provide to immigrants and refugee claimants that you are not currently providing? [If yes, interviewer should ask respondent to elaborate and to explain why respondent does not currently provide these services.]
- 8.5 How much supervision, if any, are you subject to?
- 8.6 How are you compensated for your services?
- 8.7 How does participation by paralegals affect quality of representation?
- 8.8 What are the benefits/disadvantages of having paralegals involved in the process?
- 8.9 On average, how much time do you spend and how much time do lawyers spend on immigration and refugee cases on with which you are involved? Please provide separate estimates for refugee claims and immigration cases.
9. Questions for NGOs
The following questions are intended only for respondents from NGOs. The questions are directed to profiling the respondent's organization with regard to provision of assistance to immigrants and refugee claimants. The information of this nature required for this study is very limited. More in-depth information along the same lines is being sought in a parallel study being carried out for the Department of Justice by the Social Policy and Research Council. Interviewers should simply mark the applicable cells on the grid provided.
- 9.1 What services, if any, does your organization provide with regard to representation of persons involved in each of the following proceedings under the Immigration Act?
- Refugee determination
- Detention review hearings
- Immigration inquiries
- Immigration appeals - removals
- Immigration appeals - sponsorships
- Judicial review applications
- Post-determination appeals at CIC (PDRCC and H&C)
- 9.2 Who within your organization provides these services?
- Volunteers (non-professional)
- Staff service workers (non-legal)
- Staff paralegals
- Law students
- Lawyers (pro bono)
- Lawyers (paid)
- 9.3 What factors affect the ability of your organization to assist immigrants and refugee claimants in the proceedings in which they are involved?
- Mandate of organization
- Financial resources
- Staff resources
- Volunteer resources
- Complexity of legal processes involving immigrants and refugees
- Other (specify)
- 9.4 Do current legal aid arrangements have any impact on the ability of your organization to assist immigrants and refugee claimants in the proceedings in which they are involved? Please elaborate.
10. Supplementary questions
- 10.1. What, in your opinion, are the strengths/weaknesses of different payment models (e.g., flat fees for specified services, hourly rates subject to overall time limits, block contracts [tendered on price] or franchises [tendered on services offered])?
- 10.2 What, in your opinion, are the strengths and weaknesses of different service delivery models (e.g., judicare, staff, and mixed)?
