Early in February, Access Pro Bono's Erin Monahan and Neesha Rao presented on the Everyone Legal Clinic to an Innovations in Technology Conference audience in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their seminar was titled, "One Year Later: The Evolution of Canada’s Everyone Legal Clinic (The Young Life and Challenging Times of a Legal Incubator on the Bleeding Edge)."

Having launched in late 2022, the Clinic's 43 articling students, 19 lawyers and 5 staff have since fielded an average of 280 client requests for remote service per month. Meeting this demand by delivering quality services to modest and middle income British Columbians––at low cost and across vast geography––hasn't been easy. The Clinic's work has been routinely challenged by tepid institutional support for legal service innovation, lack of funding for efforts to increase access to justice for the “missing middle”, and a legal profession that is skeptical of efforts to reduce the cost of everyday legal services.

Erin and Neesha explained to their Charlotte audience how APB moved the Clinic from leading edge to bleeding edge without going over the edge of insolvency. Attendees learned what worked for the Clinic (and what didn’t), what adaptations it made to its tech platform and service model, and where it hopes to go in the future.

Check out their PowerPoint presentation here.