When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid Audre Lorde, Poet, Teacher and Activist, 1934-1992
About the Franklin Law Consultation
My name is Ron Franklin and I am the founder of Franklin Law. I want to take a moment to tell you about two types of consultations that we offer at Franklin Law. But before I do that, I think it is important for me to point out that a Franklin Law consultation is not for everyone and strongly encourage you to take a moment to read and reflect upon the information that follows before you decide whether or not you want to consult with us.
Non-Unionized employees, Unionized employees, and other workers seek out Franklin Law’s support, advice, and representation for a number of reasons.
Some employees suspect that they have been exploited or wronged but are unsure whether or not to take legal action. For example, your employer may have changed a term of your employment without your consent and you may not know how legally significant the change is – you don’t know whether or not you have been constructively dismissed and are worried that if you claim that you have been dismissed, your employer will claim that you voluntarily resigned.
Some workers know that they have been wronged but are unsure whether or not they want to take, or can take, legal action. For example, you might be a unionized employee who has repeatedly been told that it is a waste of time to see a lawyer outside of the Union because lawyers like those can’t help you. You’ve seen decisions where Unionized employees have been represented by Franklin Law like this decision against a school board and believe that the answer is not that simple. You want to explore whether or not a lawyer from outside of your Union can be of assistance in your particular case.
Some employees and other workers sincerely want to hold their employer or Union accountable but are too afraid to do so. They want to speak truth to power but believe know that employers have more resources and the playing field is stacked against them. They need need experienced, knowledgeable, and compassionate lawyers to advise and represent them – lawyers who understand their fears and concerns, embrace them, and change them from liabilities to assets.
Most of the employees and other workers who come to Franklin Law, retain us from the very beginning. Other employees turn to Franklin Law for advice and representation after demand letters written by other advocates go unanswered by employers or prove ineffective. Many workers come to us through referrals from other law firms and legal clinics. Other employees turn to us when other advocates tell them that their case is too complex or give up on their case because results are not forthcoming as quickly as they would like.
Ultimately, a Franklin Law Consultation is about four things:
First, it is about providing employees like you with a safe, accessible, and cost-effective space to communicate your goals, and acknowledge and express your fears, anger, and other emotions.
Second, it is about helping employees like you to get timely and objective legal advice, and practical options about the injustices that they face at work.
Third, it is about helping employees like you to take the first step in the daunting yet empowering process of fighting injustice at work and speaking truth to power in the most informed way possible.
Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, it is about providing employees like you with certainty. Our ultimate goal is to provide you with frank and trustworthy advice about your legal options so you can finish the consultation process much more informed than when you started, and make decisions about how you would like to proceed with a greater degree of confidence. More than anything else that is the benefit and value of a Franklin Law consultation.
Because we aim to provide employees and other workers with certainty, the Franklin Law consultation is an incredibly involved process. Our consultations are not designed to provide employees with answers about their case after spending five minutes with us on the phone, and, except in cases where accommodation is necessary, we are reluctant to consult with clients who are unwilling to take the time to meet with us and discuss their experience in detail from start to finish. We don’t decide to represent employees, or tell employees whether or not we believe that they have strong or weak legal cases before we consult with them. We have done this work long enough to know that easy wins are few and far between, and sometimes the best advice that we can give is advice that we dislike giving the most – sobering advice about why the legal system is not well suited to addressing an employee’s particular concern. Because of this approach, we do not meet with every employee who contacts us and all of Franklin Law consultations are paid consultations.
Although we are selective about the employees and other workers who we work with, access to justice is incredibly important to Franklin Law and remains a cornerstone of our firm. And because we want to make our services accessible to as many workers as we can, we offer two types of consultations at incredibly reasonable flat rates – consultations through Franklin Law’s Consultation Clinic and though Traditional Franklin Law Consultations.
Franklin Law’s Consultation Clinic is typically held throughout the week. It was designed to promote access to justice by offering a lower cost alternative to Franklin Law’s Traditional Consultation and is based on a model of legal advice and support similar to that offered in legal clinics run by law schools. During the Consultation Clinic, you will meet with a lawyer who will listen to you, go over your case with you, and take detailed notes. The lawyer will not provide you with legal advice right away but will discuss your case with me or another senior lawyer at Franklin Law and then get back to you with legal advice, and an overview of legal and practical options that may be available to you. He or she will do so within two to three business days of the initial meeting. For example, an employee who consults with a lawyer on Monday can expect to receive legal advice by Thursday, and an employee who consults with a lawyer on Thursday can expect to receive legal advice by the following Monday at the very latest. During the Consultation Clinic, we charge a flat fee of $200.00 for a consultation lasting 1.0 hour or less (i.e., 176.99 plus HST), which is $100.00 less than the flat fee for our Traditional Consultation. In very complex cases, it may take additional time to provide legal advice.
Traditional Franklin Law Consultations are designed to promote access to justice and deliver practical legal advice in extremely time sensitive situations. These consultations are designed to allow employees like you to meet with me or another senior lawyer at Franklin Law and obtain legal advice, and an overview of the legal and practical options that are available to you, on the same day. For a Traditional Consultation with a senior lawyer at Franklin Law, we charge a flat fee of $300.00 for a consultation lasting 1.0 hour or less (i.e., $265.49 plus HST). In complex cases, it may take additional time to provide legal advice.
You can request either type of consultation with one of Franklin Law’s employment, human rights, or labour lawyers by clicking here, by calling our office at (416) 572-8525, or by emailing us at consultation@franklinlaw.ca. Please note as well that when you contact Franklin Law through our website or by leaving an e-mail or voice mail message, you are not retaining Franklin Law.
When we receive your message, we will call or email you as soon as possible (typically within 24 hours), and then take a few minutes to talk to you about booking a consultation and what you can expect. We will also ask you a few questions to determine whether or not there are any issues that might limit our ability to provide you with advice and/or represent you. Please note that we only provide legal advice after we have received a detailed overview of your situation and have a solid understanding of your fears, concerns, needs, and desired outcomes. As well we do not engage in significant document review in advance of the consultation but prefer to review documentation with the benefit of your immediate feedback during the actual consultation. After a Franklin Law Consultation, you should have a much better understanding of the legal options that are available to you and have all of the information that you need to make an informed decision about your next move, whether that means taking no further action, taking steps to pursue redress on your own, or retaining Franklin Law to help you to fight injustice at work.
Thank you for taking the time to learn about Franklin Law’s approach to consultations and the two types of consultations that we offer. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you in the near future.
Sincerely,
Ron Franklin