Client Service Standards

Legal Aid Saskatchewan aims to achieve the following client service standards:

90% of clients see a lawyer within 3 weeks of being declared eligible for legal aid.

2020/21: 56%

This metric only includes individuals who have applied for full-service representation in criminal and family law. Full-service representation requires that applicants to have an income within our financial guidelines, have a legal matter within our range of service and there is initial merit to pursuing their files.

Clients usually meet with staff lawyers approximately a week before their first court date. This ensures that the staff lawyers have received disclosure from the Provincial Prosecutions Service. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the first court date and the arrival of disclosure was often delayed for months. As a result, appointments were delayed as well.

100% of online applications receive a response within 2 business days.

2020/21: 85%

Applicants are welcome to complete our online financial test at any time. If the online calculator finds them eligible, they will receive a follow-up email or phone call within two business days from a staff member requesting additional information.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Application Center often took on additional responsibility as reception for the various Area Offices. This caused a dramatic increase in the number of phone calls received on a daily basis and resulted in a delay in responding to the online applications. When the Application Center is fully staffed and not taking on additional responsibilities, they are able to promptly respond to both phone and online applications.

95% of complaints receive a response within two weeks.

2020/21: 100%

All complaints are received at Head Office. Within two weeks of receiving the complaint, a staff member at Head Office will have resolved the complaint and if not, then will have asked for additional information or provided an update.