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By Carly Romanow, PBLS Executive Director & Staff Lawyer
Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan (“PBLS”) has partnered with the Regina Public Library to pilot a Family Law Free Legal Clinic to address the growing demand for family legal services. PBLS is the provincial pro bono organization in Saskatchewan. We operate 11 Free Legal Clinics across the province and provide further services through our Panel Programs, which match meritorious legal matters with volunteer lawyers for limited or full representation services. Through the Free Legal Clinics, clients are booked an appointment to meet with a volunteer lawyer to receive up to an hour of free legal advice. In 2017, we booked over 1700 appointments, 41% of those appointments dealt with family law matters. In Regina, the Free Legal Clinic runs every Saturday morning (except on long weekends) at the Salvation Army Haven of Hope. Due to the high demand for our services, clients may wait up to 8 weeks to get a family law appointment at the Regina Free Legal Clinic.
To address this long wait period, we are partnering with the Regina Public Library to pilot an additional Free Legal Clinic which would specifically deal with family law matters. The Family Law Free Legal Clinic will operate 1-2 evenings per month at the downtown location of the Regina Public Library starting January 2019. Volunteer lawyers will see up to six clients in 30 minute appointments from 5:30-8:30pm on Monday evenings. Volunteer lawyers would not have an obligation to assist the client outside of the appointment time. The time commitment would be 3-6 clinic shifts throughout the year.
By volunteering with PBLS, you are able to provide quality legal services to those most in need. All clients are screened to ensure they meet our income eligibility. Clients are served on a first come, first serve basis with no prior appointments being booked. Our organization assists Saskatchewan’s most vulnerable populations, including domestic violence survivors, and low-income families. If you are interested in assisting with this program or have any questions about any of our other programs, please contact Carly Romanow at [email protected] or my direct line 306-569-6233.