Now that Clicklaw has been up & running for closing in on a year (wow, time flies!), we’re learning more about how the site is being used. Among the more popular features on the site are the common questions, which offer good starting points for 80 questions that are, well, common. Over the last six months, here are the top 10 most visited common questions on Clicklaw:

• I am the executor of my mother’s will and am doing the work myself
• I’ve been dismissed (fired) without just cause
• I want to find out about getting BC disability benefits
• I’ve missed a few mortgage payments and am facing foreclosure
• How long will my EI last if I get laid off?
• I am being harassed by debt collectors. Are they allowed to do that?
• Our marriage is over; do we have to go to court?
• Should I have an enduring power of attorney or a representation agreement?
• I’m being sued in small claims court
• Can they search my school locker without my consent?

The People’s Law School recently added the following titles to Clicklaw: You Owe Money and Someone Owes You Money are video animations of a character experiencing debt collection problems. Accompanying the videos are the fact sheets You Owe Money and Someone Owes You Money.

Want to get a flavour in less than 5 minutes for what the Clicklaw HelpMap offers? In this video posted on YouTube, we show you the top 5 things you can do on the HelpMap:

1. You can search by community in British Columbia for someone who can help with legal problems.
2. You can locate a result on the map (where we’re integrating with Google Maps).
3. You can narrow your results down in a few different ways — by topic (e.g., show me only “Family law” services) or by type of help (e.g., show me only services that provide “legal advocacy, advice or representation”).
4. You can start your search by clicking on a topic and narrow down from there.
5. You can find services that are provided in languages other than English (by starting with a community in BC and narrowing down by language).

We’d love to hear your feedback on the Clicklaw HelpMap. Please consider taking our 3-minute Clicklaw feedback survey online, posting a comment here on this blog, or contacting us at editor@clicklaw.bc.ca.

Cliff Thorstenson of the Nicola Valley Advocacy Centre has recently updated the 2008 Legal Help for Rural British Columbians  legal guide. The updated 2009 guide, Legal Help for British Columbians: A Guide to Help Non-legal Professionals Make Legal Referrals for Clients, is now available on Clicklaw. The LawMatters project of Courthouse Libraries BC assisted with printing the update for distribution to all BC public and courthouse libraries.

HelpMap is a new feature that we’ve just added to Clicklaw this month. Integrated with Google Maps, HelpMap assists the public in finding those who can provide assistance with legal problems in their community. It also assists service providers who are making referrals for clients who have legal issues.

HelpMap includes information about free and low-cost legal services provided by groups including:

• pro bono clinics, community legal clinics, and legal aid offices
• court registries
• courthouse libraries
• organizations with community legal advocates,
• Native Courtworkers, and
• other law-related helping services

We will continue to add more services to HelpMap in the future. If you have any feedback about the new HelpMap, please post a comment below, or email editor@clicklaw.bc.ca.

The Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre has recently added a new video to Clicklaw titled 5 Ways to Protect Yourself When Renting. The video is available in Cantonese, Mandarin, Arabic, English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Punjabi, Farsi (Persian), Spanish and Vietnamese. There is also a factsheet available in Chinese (traditional), Chinese (simplified), Arabic, English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese,  Punjabi,  Farsi (Persian),  Spanish and Vietnamese.

We’ve recently made some tweaks to the Clicklaw topics as a result of the usability testing we conducted over the summer. More improvements resulting from the usability testing will be coming in 2010.

 Here’s a quick summary of the updates to the topics:

• “Victims & crime” is being split into two different topics: Victims of crime, and Crimes & offences
• “Immigrants” is being expanded to Immigrants & refugees
• We’re adding a new topic: Cars & getting around

As a result of these small changes to the topics, some of the resources on Clicklaw may be temporarily affected. For the rest of this week only, if you use the above topics to search for resources, you may not get completely accurate results. The Clicklaw team is updating all of the resources affected by this. Our goal is to have all of the resources updated by the end of the week, so hopefully this will cause as little disruption as possible.

You can find the new taxonomy posted on the Clicklaw Blog under the PLEI Taxonomy tab.

The Law Centre in Victoria added a new website to Clicklaw this week.  PATHWAYS: The Family Law Diagnostic Tool  is an interactive website that can help you identify the issues you may need to address as a result of the breakdown of a relationship. It also provides the information and procedures you will need to deal with these issues.

Legal Services Society has recently added three new titles to Clicklaw:

• What You Need to Know About Fraud Charges and Social Assistance alerts clients to the serious consequences of being convicted of welfare fraud (a ban from receiving welfare for one or two years, or possibly even for life). Intended to be handed out as needed to LSS clients, this publication is also available online.
• If You Can’t Get a Lawyer for Your Criminal Trial is for people who have been charged with serious and complex criminal offences and cannot get legal aid but cannot afford a lawyer. This booklet explains why, how, and when they can ask the judge to appoint a free lawyer (a Rowbotham application), and includes a checklist of points to cover in court and copies of the necessary court forms.  
• How Does a Court Order Affect Me? describes what a court order is and the conditions that must be followed when there is a court order in place. It also sets out the possible consequences if someone breaches a court order.

As Clicklaw Manager Drew Jackson is currently taking a leave, we are fortunate to have Brenda Rose stepping in as Clicklaw Project Coordinator beginning October 6th. Brenda has worked for many years in the Legal Services Society’s Community and Publishing Services, and has been contributing to Clicklaw as a member of the editorial review committee.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about Clicklaw you can contact Johanne Blenkin, Executive Director of Courthouse Libraries BC, or Janet Freeman, Clicklaw Co-editor at editor@clicklaw.bc.ca