Service Standards for the Provision of Legal Services in Government

The Department of Justice is committed to delivering high-quality legal advisory, litigation, and legislative and regulatory drafting services in accordance with the following set of common service standards focusing on timeliness, responsiveness, and usefulness.

Service Standards

Timeliness of Services

• We respond in a timely manner to requests for legal services.
• We negotiate and meet mutually acceptable deadlines.

Responsiveness of Services

• We provide legal services in either official language in accordance with applicable policies on language of work.
• We treat you with courtesy and respect at all times.
• We provide regular and informative progress reports or ongoing feedback in respect of your request for service.

Usefulness of Services

• We provide clear and practical guidance on resolving legal issues.
• In the provision of legislative services, we develop legislative and regulatory drafting options appropriate to your policy and program objectives, and propose appropriate solutions for legal and drafting issues raised.
• In the provision of legal advisory and litigation services, we involve you in the development of legal strategy and positions.
• We identify means to prevent and resolve legal disputes at the earliest opportunity.
• We identify opportunities to implement policies and programs by administrative rather than legislative or regulatory means.

Performance Measurement

Justice conducts a Client Feedback Survey to obtain feedback from clients on its performance against these service standards. The survey is regularly administered every three years.

In addition to gathering formal feedback through the survey, Justice and departments and agencies, on an on-going basis, informally review and discuss the quality of legal services relative to the service standards in order to identify opportunities for service improvement.