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32 Windsor Y.B. Access Just. 1 (2015)

handle is hein.journals/windyrbaj32 and id is 1 raw text is: EXPLORING A LAW FIRM BUSINESS MODEL TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO JUSTICE Andrew Pilliar* Recent research on unmet legal need in Canada suggests that access to justice problems may represent a latent market for some legal services. But there is relatively little Canadian research on how lawyers organize and run their practices, and on how those practices could improve access to justice. This paper provides a case study of Pivot Legal LLP, an innovative law firm in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood that aimed to improve access to justice for community members. Interviews with the lawyers involved suggest that a similar firm could survive and thrive in the future. These findings have implications for legal entrepreneurs, and also for how the legal profession and the legal academy could better support practice-level innovations to improve access to justice in Canada. Selon de rcentes recherches sur les besoins juridiques non combks au Canada, les probkmes d'accbs a la justice pourraient repr~senter un march latent dans le cas de certains services juridiques. Cependant, peu de recherches ont &t men~es au Canada sur la faqon dont les avocats s'organisent et gbrent leurs cabinets et la faqon dont ces pratiques pourraient permettre d 'amOliorer 1 'accbs a lajustice. Ce document traite d 'une tude du cabinet Pivot Legal LLP cabinet d'avocats innovateur situp at proximit de la partie Est du centre-ville de Vancouver qui vise a amfiiorer l'accs a lajustice pour les membres de la collectivit. De l'avis des differents avocats concern~s qui ont &t interrog~s, un cabinet similaire pourrait survivre, voire prosp~rer au cours des ann~es at venir. Ces constatations ont des incidences pour les entrepreneurs juridiques ainsi qu 'en ce qui a trait aux moyens que les membres de la profession juridique et les professeurs de droit pourraient utiliser pour mieux appuyer les innovations de la pratique susceptibles d'am~liorer 1 'accbs at lajustice au Canada. Andrew Pilliar, PhD student, Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia (UBC). The empirical research contained in this article was approved by the University of British Columbia's Behavioural Research Ethics Board, Certificate of Approval H 12-00230. I owe a debt of gratitude to the former lawyers, staff, and advisors of Pivot Legal LLP who gave generously of their time to allow me to interview them. Thanks also to my supervisor, Professor Mary Liston, my second reader, Professor Michael Trebilcock, and to Professor Emma Cunliffe. Thanks also to Jennifer Spencer, Jamie Maclaren, Robin Sidsworth, Jerry McHale, Q.C., Aleha McCauley, Leonard T. Doust, Q.C., Professor Darlene Johnston, Dean Lorne Sossin, the UBC LLM class of 2011/2012, Anna Lund, Will Damon, and Elliot Siemiatycki for helpful conversations and comments on this research. I would also like to thank an anonymous peer review reader for helpful comments on a previous draft. An extended version of this paper was accepted as my LLM thesis by the University of British Columbia in October 2012. (2015) 32 Windsor Y B Access Just

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