Weyburn's Legal Aid office will be closing as it will be "consolidated" with the office in Estevan - but the head of Legal Aid Saskatchewan assures that the Legal Aid services will still be available to those who need them in Weyburn.
Weyburn's Legal Aid office will be closing as it will be "consolidated" with the office in Estevan - but the head of Legal Aid Saskatchewan assures that the Legal Aid services will still be available to those who need them in Weyburn.
Allan Snell, CEO of Legal Aid Saskatchewan, confirmed the Weyburn office would be closing, and noted it was only open four days a week as it was.
"There will be a lawyer attending as needed and for court days. It shouldn't have much effect on the clients," said Snell.
The Legal Aid office was located in the Auburn Pepper Building at the City Centre Mall, which currently happens to be where provincial court is also held while renovations are being done to the landmark Weyburn Court House.
Snell noted that about 70 per cent of the clients are in need of Legal Aid for criminal charges, and the balance are for family matters.
"Most of the family clients phone in for appointments and arrangements are made," he said.
The reason for closing the Weyburn office is "just a matter of cost efficiency and efficiencies to better serve our clientele. So rather than having two one-lawyer offices, we will have a two-lawyer office in Estevan. The Estevan office is considerably busier than Weyburn's, so it made sense," said Snell.
"The number of clients in the Weyburn office was not sufficiently high to keep it open," he added, noting the Estevan office will now be the main regional office for the southeast.
This is the only jurisdiction in Saskatchewan where this was the case, said Snell, who pointed out that five other branch offices are busier than Weyburn by client numbers.
"To try and realize some efficiencies, it made sense to consolidate the two offices," he added.
The main inconvenience will be that the office will no longer be available for walk-in clients who need legal advice, and there may be some days when a lawyer isn't able to be in Weyburn for a court day "for whatever reason", or if it's a day when he has no clients he needs to be there for.
"The intention is there will be a lawyer available once a week for court, plus on other days as arranged for by phone," said Snell.
The intent was not to compromise services at all, and walk-in clients were a small part of the number of clients for the Weyburn office anyway, he said.
Legal Aid is made available if a client qualifies, if they need legal advice but cannot afford to hire their own lawyer.
