By Courtney Almeida

FREE Legal Advice

Dial-A-Lawyer offers free legal advice to all Albertans on April 13

Apr 13, 2019 | 7:00 AM

Dial-A-Lawyer is a free legal consultation service being provided to all Albertans on April 13 by the Canadian Bar Association. It is one of the events on schedule for the annual Law Day celebration.

Law Day gives adults and children of all ages the opportunity to be educated on both Canada’s legal system and the legal profession.

“Part of it is to celebrate the signing of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, so it’s in memory of that but it’s also to give individuals the opportunity to come down to the court house, to examine the justice process in a more friendly manner to become informed and familiar with the processes,” says Christopher Ghefquiere, Co-Chair of the Canadian Bar Association, Law Day Committee.

The first Law Day celebration took place in 2013 and has been continuing as an annual event every year since.

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Ask-A-Lawyer is the actual service provided on-site where individuals can sit down with a lawyer for 15 to 20 minutes to receive free legal advice. However, Dial- A- Lawyer was a program that was created to support individuals over the phone, who may not be able to attend the celebratory event in person.

15 to 20-minute-long, free over the phone legal consultations will be offered from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 13 by calling 1-800-644-8950.

“We recognize that this occurs in the cities across provinces but there might be people who would benefit or need such a consultation that live outside these cities, have mobility challenges or have other reasons that prevent them from being able to visit the courthouse. ‘Dial-A-Lawyer’ serves as an event to ensure that these individuals also have that equal opportunity to access this service,” said Ghefquiere.

Advice can be received regarding a variety of legal areas, family law, civil litigation, will and estates, immigration and criminal law being the big topics.

The idea for the service was developed by the Access to Justice Committee, on behalf of the Canadian Bar Association.

Ghefquiere explains how the committee of lawyers saw a pressing need for more access to legal advice as, “sometimes people don’t necessarily need a lawyer to attend court, but they have specific questions for a lawyer to help them so they can represent themselves in court. This was a means to give somebody a free consultation to be able to assist themselves with these legal processes.”

Approximately 30 lawyers from Edmonton to Calgary are volunteering to answer questions. They are recruited based on their category of law specialization.

The goal of Law Day is to make the legal system more accessible by providing the public with access to legal resources.