Canadian Forum on Civil Justice Gets $1 Million to Study Costs of Justice

The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice based at York University in Toronto has been awarded $1 million by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to undertake a study entitled The Cost of Justice: Weighing the Costs of Fair and Effective Resolution to Legal Problems.

The study will tackle the following questions:

• How can we better calculate, understand and balance the social value to democratic societies of ensuring an accessible, effective civil justice system against the financial costs of doing so, or the socio-economic costs of failing to provide access?
• What can be done to effectively prevent disputes, and at what costs and benefits?
• What methods are there for limiting or eliminating the need for legal services, through consumer protection, licensing, standard-setting and pro-active regulation, or other innovations identified by the research?
• What can be done to prevent recurring problems for low and middle income Canadians, most especially those who are the most vulnerable?

The study will be conducted by a research alliance of "academics, government departments, law commissions, law societies, bar associations, judicial organizations, public legal educators and other individuals and institutes from Canada and around the world."