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Interesting Recent Cost Award and legal Aid

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  • Interesting Recent Cost Award and legal Aid

    I came across this recent decision on the issue of costs and legal aid:

    Perry v. Perry, 2008 CanLII 19238 (ON S.C.)

    http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc...anlii19238.pdf

    When a party is represented by legal aid ontario, that solicitor agrees to work for a predefined hourly rate of less than 100 hrs / hour. If they are successful and the issue of costs is dealt with, submissions are generally submitted at the solicitors regular hourly rate plus support staff rates etc.

    This case is interesting as it defines where the difference in the amounts that legal aid funds and regular solicitor rates and what happens to the additional amounts over and above of what they initally fund flows back to Legal aid Ontario.

    At paragraph 3:

    [3] I am sure that the solicitor for the wife is aware of s.46 of The Legal Aid Services Act which indicates that any costs awarded to a legally aided client, even in excess of the costs of the services rendered, belong to Legal Aid Ontario. While it is laudable on the part of the wife’s solicitor to try and assist Legal Aid Ontario with its funding problems, I do not believe that she is entitled to the hourly rate claimed under the Legal Aid Services Act regulations. I have not researched the regulations to ascertain her hourly rate, but I do not believe that the hourly rate claimed is authorized under the Act. Nor do I believe there is provision in the Act to pay for “legal assistants” who are not lawyers or students.

    lv
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