Legal Services Society

Legal

Mandate Under section 9 of the current Legal Services Society Act, the society's mandate is to: help people to solve their legal problems and to facilitate access to justice, establish and administer an effective and efficient system for providing legal aid to people in BC, and provide advice to the Attorney General about legal aid and access to justice for people in BC. Section 9 also states that the society is to: give priority to identifying and assessing the legal needs of people with low incomes in BC, consider the perspectives of both justice system services providers and the general public, coordinate legal aid with other aspects of the justice system and community services, and be flexible and innovative in carrying out its mandate. Section 11(4) of the act limits the amount of legal aid the society can provide to any client to "the extent of legal or other services that a reasonable person of modest means would use to resolve the problem." The Legal Services Society Act and the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), together with the Mandate Letter, guide the relationship between our society and the provincial government. These serve as the basis of our agreement and corporate mandate.