Public FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions from the Public
LRS is operated by an independent legal service charity (Access Pro Bono) with limited funding. Booking fees help the organization to offset the costs of running the service. We only charge fees for online self-referrals and for callers whose total annual household income in the last year was $100,000 or greater.
Our LRS Coordinators take time to speak to each caller to select the most suitable legal professional for their needs. We also subscribe to an online self-booking platform that is carefully engineered to select the most suitable legal professionals for individual clients. These booking resources come at a total cost that exceeds our grant funding.
When we‘re unable to find a suitable legal professional for a caller, we don’t charge a booking fee. We do our best to guide them to other helpful resources or a partner legal organization to better serve their needs.
LRS is not a pro bono (free) legal service. Although your initial consultation is free, we serve to connect you with a fee-charging lawyer or notary for affordable legal assistance. If you’re looking for free legal services, please check out these other resources.
Your consultation will help you to better identify and understand your legal issues, and then decide whether to work with your assigned legal professional on a paid basis. Your assigned legal professional may or may not provide legal advice during your free consultation.
You must contact your assigned legal professional to schedule your consultation. Please wait 24 hours to contact your assigned legal professional in order to allow enough time for a conflict check, and then remind them that you were referred by LRS for a free 15 to 30 minute consultation.
After your consultation, you can decide whether you wish to work with your assigned legal professional on a paid basis. You can both work out the terms of their retainer.
Following your free consultation of 15 to 30 minutes, you may engage your assigned legal professional to read, sign and/or advise on a document for a fee. You will both need to agree on the service and the fee.
Some of our legal professionals are willing to provide legal services on a contingency fee basis (i.e. you pay their fees from funds you win at trial or by settlement), but this is something that you will need to explore with your assigned lawyer during or after your consultation.
We do keep track of which of our roster lawyers take on legal aid files, but you may be better served by contacting Legal Aid BC directly to locate a legal aid lawyer.