Client Service Policy

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

HALTON COMMUNITY LEGAL SERVICES CLIENT SERVICE STANDARDS POLICY

What You Should Expect from Us

The Staff at Halton Community Legal Services work hard to provide you with the best quality of service possible. This is what you can expect from us:

The legal services we provide to you

• Are easily accessed, practical, and useful
• Include high-quality legal expertise
• Are responsive to your needs in a timely way
• Include practical reasons for the advice given and reasonable alternatives if needed
• Are delivered in the spirit of cooperation
• Include ethical and professional advice and information
• Include referrals to other community services if the help you need falls outside our clinic’s areas of practice

Contacting Us – Our Business Hours

• We are open Monday to Friday from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM.
• If you have an appointment, you should be seen within 10 minutes of your appointment time unless a staff member tells you otherwise.
• If you do not have an appointment, we will assist you in order of your arrival and we strive for a wait time of less than 20 minutes before you speak with an intake worker.

After You Contact Us

The needs of our community fluctuate and we constantly assess how to best meet those needs. We also require flexibility in order to respond to client emergencies. As such, staff will make best efforts to contact you as follows:

• An intake worker will speak with you about your legal issue(s) during business hours and within 2 business days of you contacting the clinic. If required, we will make our best efforts to assign a caseworker to your file who will contact you within 2 business days.
• Once you have spoken with your caseworker for the first time, emails and phone calls will receive a response within 2 business days.
• Sometimes your email or phone call will require a detailed answer or legal advice, in which case you will receive a reply within 3 business days.
• If more time is needed to answer your questions, your caseworker will let you know.
• Please avoid emailing or calling your caseworker or the clinic multiple times per day. Excessive calls waste staff time and make it more difficult to help you and other clients. Your caseworker will reply once per day to you unless you are told otherwise.
• If you do not hear from us after several days, please call us.
• If you mail or fax the clinic, you will receive a reply within 5 business days.

What Halton Community Legal Services Expects from You

We work hard to create a workplace that is safe for everyone. We also respect our staff’s human rights and legal rights under workplace legislation, including their right not to be subject to harassment, threats of violence, and violence.

In order to assist you in the best way possible, we expect you to:

• Tell us how we can help you with as much detail as possible
• Tell us about any limitations you may have (time deadlines, resource constraints)
• Provide your contact information and update your contact information if it changes
• Ask any questions about the information or advice we give you
• Treat all staff with dignity and respect
• Try to speak calmly about your problems and avoid yelling or swearing. Consistent abusive language will not be tolerated.
• Never threaten, intimidate, or use any form of violence against our staff. This behaviour will not be tolerated and may lead to changes in how the clinic works with you, or in serious cases, may lead to the clinic being unable to help you.

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