Table Of ContentMINISTRY OF THE
ATTORNEY GENERAL
MAY 2 1 2010
LAW LIBRARY
CIVIL LAW
PROGRAM
REVIEW
MEETING TOMORROW TODAY
FINAL REPORT
AUGUST 31, 1993
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General. Civil Law Program Rev.ew
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CIVIL LAW PROGRAM REVIEW PROJECT
FINAL REPORT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOPIC PAGE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i
FINANCIAL SUMMARY ix
PURPOSE OF THE REQUEST 1
ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT 1
BACKGROUND 1
Description of the Review 1
Timing of the Review and Methodology 2
Context of the Review 4
Nature of the Data 5
Current Delivery System 6
THE OPTIONS 7
IMPROVING THE DELIVERY OF LEGAL SERVICES
ORGANIZATIONAL AND OPERATIONAL CHANGES 11
Introduction 11
A. Management of Legal Resources 13
B. Delivery Structure 17
C. Branch Structure 25
D. Teams 31
E. Approach and Commitment 32
ESTABLISHING THE DIRECTION 33
A. Vision 33
B. Human Resources 35
(i) Responsibility 35
(ii) Staff Skills 36
(iii) Support Staff 39
ENHANCING ACCOUNTABILITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
MANAGEMENT 4 0
A. Office of the Assistant Deputy
Attorney General, Civil 40
B. Management Groups 41
C. Customer Service 45
D. Divisional Support 48
E. Legal Director Role 51
F. Management Organizations 52
G. Management Information Systems 53
H. Accountability Structures 55
I. Implementation 57
J. Infrastructure 59
K. Private Sector Retentions 60
L. Communication 63
M. Funding 65
APPENDICES
Appendix "A"
Appendix "B"
Appendix "C"
Appendix "D"
Appendix nEH
Appendix "F"
Appendix "G"
Appendix "H"
Appendix "I"
Appendix "J"
Appendix "K"
Appendix "L"
Appendix "M"
Appendix "N"
Appendix "0"
Appendix "P"
Appendix "Q"
Appendix "R"
Appendix "S"
Appendix HTn
Appendix "U"
Appendix nVn
Appendix "W"
Appendix "X"
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CIVIL LAW DIVISION PROGRAM REVIEW PROJECT
FINAL REPORT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
• The purpose of this paper is to report to Treasury Board on
the recommendations for changes and enhancements to current
legal services delivery to ministries, agencies, boards and
commissions.
BACKGROUND
• The review, a joint initiative of Treasury Board and the
Ministry of the Attorney General, was undertaken to
determine whether resources available to government for
legal services were being used as effectively and
efficiently as possible.
• Legal services provided by the seconded legal services
program and the Crown Law Office - Civil are included, as
well as legal services provided to schedule 1 agencies,
boards and commissions, by the offices of the Public Trustee
and Official Guardian, and civil legal services purchased
from the private sector.
• The review was to address several issues:
the government mandate to review all programs as part
of a revised budget process (the current delivery model
has been in place since 1972);
the reasons for significant overall growth in seconded
legal services in the last few years, along with
increased private sector law firm retentions;
the division's ability to meet demands for legal
services, especially "signature" initiatives, from
within existing resources;
the division's inability to move resources to meet
emerging and government "signature" priorities, as well
as meet ongoing service needs.
11
TIMING AND METHODOLOGY
• The review began on January 4, 1993, and was scheduled to be
completed by the summer of 1993.
• The review undertook two rounds of consultation. The first
was, primarily, focus groups of division staff and client
representatives to gather information about the current
delivery system - what was, and was not, working well and
where opportunities to improve service delivery could be
found. This round was completed in April, 1993.
• The second was, primarily, town hall or open meetings to
receive commentary, feedback and suggestions regarding the
service delivery options that were proposed for discussion
as a result of the first round of consultation. This round
was completed in June, 1993.
• Issues emerged under the following broad themes:
human resources (including people and career planning);
organizational and structural (including business
decisions, planning, relocation and decentralization,
technology, relationship with the MAG, and funding);
and
customer service (including consistency and access to
service, duplication of effort, and risk).
• In parallel with the consultations, a number of working
groups examined specific issues related to the program
review, including the provision of legal services in other
jurisdictions, customer service and performance standards,
the use of outside counsel, relocation, infrastructure,
linkages to other projects and initiatives, innovative
management techniques, and the kinds of legal work currently
being done within the division.
CONTEXT AND FINDINGS
• The second round of consultation identified that the
proximity of legal staff to client groups and division staff
expertise in client program and policies were a strength of
the current delivery system that should be maintained. This
Ill
round also identified that there were certain core areas of
practice that were common to many, if not all, client groups
and that there were opportunities that could be realized in
delivering these services in a coordinated way. Centralized
delivery for all legal services received little, if any,
support.
© The review operated in a rapidly changing environment with
the introduction of the government's expenditure control
plan, reforms to the Crown Employees Collective Bargaining
Act and the introduction of Social Contract Act. In
addition, the review was related to, and operated within the
context of, the Ministry of the Attorney General's strategic
planning exercise and the social justice review (which
considered delivery initiatives for the Official Guardian,
the Public Trustee and the Family Support Plan and other
ministry exercises).
RECOMMENDATIONS
• Many of the recommendations are stand alone. However, they
are intended to operate as an interconnected package of
enhancements. The recommendations reflect the advice of the
working groups and the submissions made throughout the
review both in writing and through the consultation
sessions.
• The recommendations acknowledge and build on existing
strengths and are divided into three categories.
A. Improving the Delivery of Legal Services which has three
organizational and two operational change recommendations.
(i) The grouping or clustering of legal services branches
with some affinity of interest.
Legal directors, with input from clients, will be asked to
make recommendations regarding the appropriate groupings.
Each group will be chaired by a representative chosen from
the legal directors or senior counsel in the branches
represented in the group.
The groups will use peer review for performance appraisal
within each group.
iv
The group will work together as a team to coordinate overall
resource and human resources issues and, where appropriate,
legal advice for the group.
Each legal services branch and ministry will contribute, on
an yearly basis, staff resources which can be used at the
discretion of the Assistant Deputy Attorney General - Civil,
for workload equalization, projects, and to meet corporate
priorities. The proposal for the first year is 10% of staff
resources (lawyer and non-lawyer). The appropriate level of
the contribution will be reviewed yearly.
A corporate recognition of the impact of this corporate
commitment upon ministry abilities to meet ministry specific
priorities is required.
(ii) The establishment, on a phased basis, of core practice
groups in the following areas:
labour relations (building on the pilot project
currently underway at Management Board);
central litigation (building on the Crown Law Office -
Civil);
aboriginal issues (building on the Ontario Native
Affairs Secretariat and ministries' coordination
underway); and
legal services to regulatory agencies, boards and
commissions (building on the work of the Tribunals Task
Force).
As a result of the controversy regarding the configuration
of core practice groups in regulatory offences/prosecutions
and corporate-commercial/advisory further feasibility
analyses of these groups will occur.
All groups to be established within 12 months and evaluated
within the next 6 months for a total phasing-in period of 18
months.
(iii) Consistent with the establishment of self-directed
work teams, the reconfiguration of legal services branches
to remove management layers such as supervisors, deputy
directors, etc.
(iv) The introduction of self-directed work teams replacing
the current hierarchical structure found in some
organizations.
