Our services for Family Law Advocates

We work closely with Law Foundation of British Columbia funded Family Law Advocates (FLAs). Two FLAs work at Rise, one serving clients in the Lower Mainland and the other serving clients across the province excluding the Lower Mainland.

Our services for all FLAs include:

legal navigation
access to summary legal advice service for self-representing clients
support for family law advocates through our dedicated Family Advocate Support Line, Indigenous Family Advocate Support Line, and
coaching, mentorship and training from our Family Advocate Educator
access to training, online learning and all publications

How our process works?

We recommend reading how we can support clients.

We do not provide representation for clients. If your client is seeking legal representation and is eligible for legal aid, please contact Legal Aid BC directly. We may be able to provide services for clients, who have been approved for legal aid but are waiting for a lawyer, or are coming to an end with legal aid hours. Please fill the online form and speak to the legal navigator.

Rise has a financial eligibility criteria for clients accessing our services. We strongly recommend to check if the client meets our financial eligibility criteria before submitting the online form

Steps for service

We recommend reading all our steps to clarify how our process works before filling our online form.

Step 1

Fill our online form based on your location in the province in the next section.

Step 2

Book an appointment with the legal navigator, who is not a lawyer. Booking link will be in the email sent after the form is submitted. Our emails sometimes end up in spam, please mark our email as a safe contact.

Step 3

This will depend on the information on the form. Navigators and program assistants review all incoming request forms.

If the navigators assess that the client qualifies for Legal Aid BC, an email with information to apply will be sent to the one provided on the form. In this case, the client’s appointment with the navigator will be canceled. If the client is denied legal aid, they can reach back to us and will not need to submit another form. Clients or support workers in the Lower Mainland can email clc@womenslegalcentre.ca and outside the Lower Mainland can email vlc@womenslegalcentre.ca.
At this stage, the navigator will also assess if the legal matter falls within our scope of services. For matters, Rise cannot help with, the navigators may provide information about legal and community resources that may be a better fit in the legal matter.
If the matter falls within our scope of services, and the client does not qualify for Legal Aid, speak with the navigator, who will assess for Rise’s financial eligibility and how the client can be best supported. Community partners are encouraged to attend the navigation call with the client.

Step 4

Depending on the call with the navigator, referrals may be made to:

internal program or service including summary advice service at Rise;
referral to a community organization better suited to assist;
another legal resource.
(this is not a complete list, the legal navigator is best suited to explore options with the client and you).

Request assistance

We recommend reading how we can support clients.

Rise has a financial eligibility criteria for clients accessing our services. We strongly recommend to check if the client meets our financial eligibility criteria before submitting the online form.

Please read below about how you can refer clients to us:

Lower Mainland clients can be referred by completing our online form.

If the client’s email is being provided on the form, please double check that it is safe for them to receive emails regarding scheduling appointments and follow-ups from Rise.

If there are no safety concerns, please complete the Confidential Appointment Request Form.

If there are concerns regarding the client’s email, you can provide your email or fill out our Safe Contact Form to ask for assistance.

Questions regarding clients in the Lower Mainland can be sent to clc@womenslegalcentre.ca

Clients outside the Lower Mainland can be referred through one of the options:

Will you continue supporting the client?

If yes, complete and submit the Request for Service.
If no, please direct or support the client to complete our online form after reviewing the information below:
1. If the client’s email is being provided on the form, please double check that it is safe for them to receive emails regarding scheduling appointments and follow-ups from Rise.
  - No concerns regarding email safety, please complete the Confidential Appointment Request Form.
  - Yes, there are concerns regarding the client’s email, fill out our Safe Contact Form to ask for assistance.

Questions regarding clients outside the Lower Mainland can be sent to vlc@womenslegalcentre.ca

Assisting family law advocates

Got questions about your clients or need support with a client file?

Clients do not need to be Rise’s clients for you to access the service.

You can access our Family Advocate Support Line (FASL) lawyer, who provides fast and comprehensive advice on routine and complex cases.
You can also access our Indigenous Family Advocate Support Line (IFASL) lawyer. IFASL is a dedicated phone line for Indigenous advocates and workers supporting Indigenous clients. IFASL is open to receiving questions on both family law and Child, Family. and Community Service Act (CFCSA) matters.

Note: Clients cannot book appointments for these services.

Training and Education

You can attend all our monthly training offered by the various programs.

Family Advocate Support Line (FASL) training are led by staff lawyer Taruna Agrawal
Indigenous Family Advocate Support Line (IFASL), training are led by Frances Rosner
Family Advocate Educator training are led Andrea Bryson

To access our training page, please request password from education@womenslegacentre.ca

you have access to our recorded training led by the Family Law Educator in addition to the monthly training offered by Rise. For any assistance in accessing these training, email education@womenslegalcentre.ca

you can access all of our guides and reports, which may be useful in assisting your clients.