The Quebec Bar Association has announced that a first agreement has been reached with Minister of Justice Simon Jolin-Barrette to increase the rates for lawyers in private practice who accept legal aid mandates.

"It's been a long time since we've been in communication with the Department of Justice to increase the legal aid rates payable to our members because some rates were outdated," president of the Quebec Bar Catherine Claveau told The Canadian Press on Thursday, adding that "some members were discouraged from accepting legal aid mandates because they were losing money."

Without going into detail about the agreement, the she explained that lawyers in private practice who accept legal aid mandates are paid a flat fee to handle a case in its entirety, regardless of the number of hours they invest in a file, but that this first agreement with the Department of Justice will allow for "a mark-up, a catch-up."

"This is another measure to increase access to justice for the most vulnerable people in society, so the more lawyers will be adequately remunerated, the more they will accept this type of mandate to help the most disadvantaged in society; it is important to remember that," said Claveau.

She said that among the elements of the agreement are changes to address the inadequacy of current rates for lawyers in criminal law, family law, youth law and immigration law.

She described this first agreement as "a preliminary and essential step towards a complete structural reform of legal aid in Quebec."

The agreement is scheduled to expire on Sept. 30, after which "a committee will be responsible for the next negotiations," said the Quebec Bar president.

In 2020, the Quebec Bar and the Minister of Justice agreed to create a working group to review the legal aid tariff structure for mandates entrusted to lawyers in private practice.

The conclusions of the "Final Report of the Independent Task Force on the Reform of the Legal Aid Tariff Structure" were published last June and contained 14 priority recommendations.

In a news release issued Thursday afternoon, Jolin-Barette welcomed the fact that "the recommendations identified as priorities by the Task Force will be acted upon quickly."

The minister added that "legal aid is a fundamental part of access to justice in Quebec. We are continuing to analyze the other recommendations."

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Aug. 25, 2022.