Canadian Bar Association Paper on Access to Justice Metrics

The Canadian Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Access to Justice has published a consultation document on Access to Justice Metrics. It is one of five discussion papers in its Envisioning Equal Justice initiative:

"The Envisioning Equal Justice initiative aims to tackle four barriers that currently impede sustainable an d sustained improvement to access to justice: lack of political profile, inadequate strategy and coordination of access initiatives, absence of mechanisms to measure change, and identifiable gaps in our knowledge as to what actually works to improve access."

"This discussion paper is designed to directly address the third barrier to progress: the absence of common terminology about access to justice, mechanisms to measure change, and a practical definition of success. It explores the conceptual foundation for access to justice metrics and identifies some approaches taken in other jurisdictions and by international organizations. It also presents a summary of findings from consultations held with focus groups concerning how they perceive access to justice, as one important perspective in formulating practical components of access to justice."

"The paper concludes with consultation questions designed to elicit feedback and discussion on the issues and options canvassed. Your input will assist the CBA Committee to develop its report and recommendations to be tabled at the Canadian Legal Conference in August 2013."

The Canadian Bar Association website has more background on the Envisioning Equal Justice Project.