Dozens of lawyers off Legal Aid Alberta roster for not signing new deal, defence lawyer says

For nearly 25 years, Edmonton defence lawyer Deborah Hatch has taken on clients through legal aid.

But as of May 1, she has been removed from the Legal Aid Alberta (LAA) roster because she refused to sign a new contract. 

"I suspect that probably a good 100 lawyers did not sign that contract and were not prepared to do that," Hatch told CBC News. "I know many, many lawyers who were not prepared to sign, that just could not sign a contract that was just this terrible."

Paul Welke, a legal aid lawyer, said he's skeptical that 100 lawyers have refused to sign the new contract. He declined to be more specific, however. 

"Our roster fluctuates on a weekly — if not, monthly — basis," Welke said. "We've got new lawyers joining every month. We have people retiring and leaving every month. So I don't know if we've had a large spike up or down."

LAA said there are currently 1,200 lawyers on its roster.  

In December, Hatch and 11 other senior lawyers from Edmonton and Calgary sent a letter to the LAA president, imploring him to negotiate and to make changes to the proposed contract. 

The letter quoted a proposed policy she found especially offensive: "LAA may suspend me or remove me from its roster at any time, without notice or fault."

"Anyone would realize that a term like that is grossly unfair," Hatch said. "It's shocking and so disrespectful." 

When LAA responded to the lawyers, Hatch said they were told there would be no negotiations and that if the lawyers decided to leave, they would be "sad to see them go". 

"If I were running Legal Aid, I'd be very afraid to lose that many senior lawyers all at once," Hatch said. "I'd be very, very deeply concerned for what that means for the state of justice in Alberta."

Late last year Hatch received a phone call from someone she described as being in a position of power, who suggested that she should tone down the public concerns she was raising about the LAA contract, she said.

The caller allegedly told her they'd be willing to write a letter of support for her to be nominated as a Queen's Counsel, if she stopped making so much noise. 

"I found that quite offensive, to be frank," Hatch said. "I'm especially not interested when someone suggests that it's tied to staying silent about something that's important."