New Provincial Court Report: Fewer judges now than in 2010

The Provincial Court of British Columbia has quietly published an updated document (PDF) detailing both new judicial appointments and judges lost to the court between 30 September 2010 and 31 October 2012.

Boiling it all down, the numbers show that the court has a judicial complement of 123.80 full-time equivalent judges now, three judges less than the complement of 126.30 the court had this time in 2010, and twenty judges below the 143.65 judges the court had in 2005.

In 2010, the court published a powerful a report detailing the effects of the short judicial complement on the administration of justice, Justice Delayed: A Report of the Provincial Court of British Columbia Concerning Judicial Resources (PDF), which ought to be mandatory reading for anyone with an interest in Provincial Court matters. The conclusion reached by the court is short and to the point:

"The Provincial Court of British Columbia is the only provincial court in Canada with fewer judges today than in 2005. In fact there are 17 fewer judges, and unless further appointments are made, this will result  in a loss of over 900 trial days in 2010 and over 1600 trial days in 2011.  

"To be effective in supporting the rule of law, and to fulfill its legal obligations to the public, the Court must process cases within a reasonable time. For most cases the Court is legally obligated to provide timely access and, as with other courts across Canada, seeks to manage its caseload according to accepted standards which reflect the relative public interest and priority of the different case types. 

"Given the reduction in the judicial complement the Court is unable to 'keep pace' with the new cases being presented to it. The current inventory of uncompleted cases is growing markedly, as is the delay for all case types other than youth court prosecutions. Increasingly the Court is failing to meet its legal obligation to provide timely access to justice."

The court has now released an update to the 2010 report (PDF), current to 30 September 2012.

Competition Heats Up for Family Law Arbitrator Training

The Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia, the preeminent provider of legal education for lawyers in the province, has just announced a training opportunity for family law lawyers wanting to practice as arbitrators, mere days after information about a similar course being released by the BC Arbitiration and Mediation Institute; see my post below. CLE's offering is scheduled to run from Tuesday 5 February to Saturday 9 February 2013 at a standard rate of $1,950, about $1,000 cheaper than the BCAMI offering and two weeks earlier.

So far, what we know about the two courses is that CLE's course will be taught by Lorne Wolfson, a respected family law lawyer and arbitrator from Toronto. BCAMI's course (DOC) was designed and will be taught by British Columbia family law lawyers and arbitrators, who I expect will include Glen Bell, Jane Henderson and Craig Neville. The CLE course will also leave you with a copy of the 5th edition of Lorne's book, Family Mediation, Arbitration and Collaborative Practice Handbook.

MediateBC Releases Updated Guidelines for Distance Mediation

MediateBC has announced the release of the Distance Family Mediation Project’s second edition of Mediating from a Distance: Suggested Practice Guidelines for Family Mediators (PDF). According to the blog post announcing the release:

"The guidelines are a detailed compilation of the knowledge acquired by our Distance Family Mediation Project on the topic of how to conduct family mediation 'from a distance', using technology. The project – which took place in three phases, beginning in 2007 – explored the feasibility of using information and communication technologies to conduct distance family mediations in British Columbia. The third phase, completed in June 2012, was a pilot providing family mediation services to people in all parts of the province, with a focus on using web conferencing technology. 

"This second edition of Mediating from a Distance updates and expands on the guidelines published previously by our project, and highlights the knowledge gained during the third phase. It provides a new and exciting emphasis on how to mediate using video and web conferencing technology, as well as offering additional suggestions for mediating with other types of technologies." 

MediateBC has done a fantastic job piloting distance mediation, an essential resource in the lesser-populated areas of the province where it can be very difficult to find a qualified mediator.

BCAMI Family Law Arbitrator Training Set for February 2013

The British Columbia Arbitration and Mediation Institute has been working to develop training (DOC) for family law arbitrators since the Family Law Act became law last November. They must be ready to go, because the first session is set for five days beginning on 18 February 2013. I understand that the cost will be just under $3,000.

Unfortunately, I don't know much more about the BCAMI's new offering apart from this. BCAMI's ordinary arbitrator training is given in Vancouver by esteemed lawyer and arbitrator Glen Bell and requires three separate sessions running to a total of eight days, or two sessions and a total of five days for lawyers. I took my arbitrator training with Glen and thought that the program was excellent.

Arbitration is one of the "family dispute resolution" processes discussed in the new legislation, along with mediation, collaborative processes and parenting coordination. The Family Law Act will make a number of consequential amendments to the Commercial Arbitration Act to make it more friendly to the arbitration of family law disputes.

Family Law Act: New Resource for Justice System Workers and Advocates

I've put together an overview (PDF) of the new Family Law Act for people who work in the justice system and legal advocates. Please feel free to download and to distribute, reproduce and reuse as you'd like, as long as it's not for a commercial purpose.

This overview will be updated from time to time to clarify issues and correct typos. The current version is dated 7 November 2012 (previous version - 3 November 2012); please download the updated document (PDF).

Legal Aid Publishes Booklet on Family Law Act

The Legal Services Society, the organization providing legal aid services in British Columbia, has announced the publication of a new booklet, Guide to the New BC Family Law Act (PDF). The booklet is based on a series of posts on the legislation published between February and September this year on the Electronic Legal Aid News blog, and is written in accessible plain language.

LSS has done a great job discussing and publicizing the Family Law Act. The society's Family Law in British Columbia website in particular is an extremely useful resource.

Family Law Act: Changes to Rules of Court

The Ministry of Justice, in its increasingly useful webpage on the new Family Law Act, has posted information about changes to the Supreme Court Family Rules and the Provincial Court (Family) Rules that will come into effect on 18 March 2013 at the same time as the new legislation.

Rule Changes

The amendments to both courts' rules include:

• implementing the new terminology used by the Family Law Act (for example, parental responsibilities, parenting time and parentage tests);
• addressing the new concepts introduced in the act (for example, parenting coordination, conduct orders and protection orders); 
• addressing new processes established by the act (for example, the enforcement of orders and applications to enforce or set aside the determinations of parenting coordinators); and,
• deleting reference to concepts not carried forward by the act (for example, restraining orders, parental support and declarations of irreconcilability).

Provincial Court Rules

Additional amendments are made to the Provincial Court (Family) Rules, unrelated to the new legislation, largely to correct minor errors and inconsistencies and improve to overall clarity of the rules. Among the more significant amendments are:

• allowing service by email;
• allowing service of applications outside British Columbia;
• requiring addresses for service when filing applications and motions;
• allowing lawyers to search court files; and,
• allowing the electronic filing of documents.

Consequential changes are made to the forms required by the rules, including those used to commence and reply to a court proceeding, the form used to commence a motion and financial statements. According to an announcement from the Attorney General, a more complete overhaul of the rules is anticipated at some point in the relatively near future, perhaps in 2013 or 2014.

For the exact details of the current changes to the rules and forms, read the Order in Council (PDF) that will implement the changes. For a general introduction, read the ministry's overview (PDF).

Supreme Court Rules

Additional amendments to the Supreme Court Family Rules include:

• requiring personal service of applications to set aside agreements; and,
• addressing and assessing awards of expenses.

Consequential changes are made to the forms required by the rules, including those used to commence and reply to a court proceeding, the form used to commence a motion, the forms used for restraining orders, financial statements and the forms used in the divorce process.

For the exact details of the changes to the rules and forms, read the Order in Council (PDF) that will implement the changes. For a general introduction, read the ministry's overview (PDF).