Unfulfilled legal needs are at a tipping point in many parts of the Canadian justice system and around the world. The Justice Crisis assesses what is and isn't working in an effort to improve a fundamental right of democratic citizenship: access to civil and family justice.

Meaningful access is often a question of providing pathways to resolving everyday legal issues. The availability of justice services that aren't only tied to the courts and lawyers - such as public education on the law, alternative dispute settlement, and paralegal support - is therefore an important concern.

Contributors to this wide-ranging overview of new empirical research address several key justice issues: the extent and cost of unmet legal needs; the role of public funding; connections between legal and social exclusion among vulnerable populations; the value of new legal pathways; the provision of justice services beyond the courts and lawyers; and the need for a culture change within the justice system. Their findings can inform initiatives to improve access to justice within the Canadian system and beyond.

About the Author

Trevor C.W. Farrow is a professor and former associate dean at Osgoode Hall Law School, and the chair of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice. His books include Civil Justice, Privatization, and Democracy and The Theory and Practice of Representative Negotiation (with Colleen Hanycz and Frederick H. Zemans), and he is a co-editor of The Courts and Beyond: The Architecture of Justice in Transition (with Patrick Molinari).

Lesley A. Jacobs is vice-president of research and innovation at Ontario Tech University and York Research Chair in Human Rights and Access to Justice at York University, where he is currently a professor on leave. He was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC) in 2017 and has written or edited numerous books, most recently Grey Zones in International Economic Law and Global Governance (with Daniel Drache).

Contributors: Carolyn Carter, Thomas A. Cromwell, Ab Currie, Matthew Dylag, Heather Heavin, Devon Kapoor, Michaela Keet, Jennifer Koshan, Herbert M. Kritzer, Moktar Lamari, Marylene Leduc, M. Jerry McHale, Lisa Moore, Janet Mosher, Pierre Noreau, Mitchell Perlmutter, Catherine Piche, Noel Semple, Lorne Sossin, Michael Trebilcock, Wanda Wiegers, David Wiseman

Reviews
"This book is a useful resource on the costs of justice and also lays out some of the challenges in achieving meaningful access to justice." -- Ian Mackenzie * Slaw Magazine *


Awards
Short-listed for Walter Owen Book Prize, The Canadian Foundation for Legal Research 2021 (Canada).



Book Information
ISBN 9780774863582
Author Trevor C.W. Farrow
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint University of British Columbia Press
Publisher University of British Columbia Press