Legal Risk Management in the Department of Justice

Appendix C: Data Collection Instruments

Evaluation of Legal Risk Management
Key Informant Interview Guide

Since 1999, the federal government has managed potential and realized legal risks within the framework of the Legal Risk Management (LRM) Initiative. Wide in scope, the Initiative reaches into organizational structures and processes, work and management tools, and expected skills and behaviors of legal counsel and managers within the Department of Justice and Government of Canada departments and agencies.

In 2003, the LRM Initiative evolved from a time-limited initiative, with a project office and dedicated human and financial resources, to an ongoing initiative that was integrated into the overall work of the Department. As a result, the LRM Accountability Framework and Governance Structure (AFGS) was put into effect (see Annex A). The AFGS stipulates that it is "the responsibility of all employees and managers across the DOJ to know and apply LRM principles and methods appropriate to their particular positions and areas of responsibility". It also establishes defined roles and responsibilities for senior managers.

The Department's Evaluation Division is now evaluating the implementation of the LRM Initiative. As part of the data collection process, interviews will be conducted with a range of key informants within the Department.

All information that you provide is confidential and will be used only for research purposes. No individual participant will be identified in any of the reports submitted to Justice Canada. The information that you provide will be reported in aggregate form, and individual responses will not be shared outside of PRA Inc. and the Department's LRM Evaluation Team, which includes representatives of the Evaluation Division and the Law Practice Management Directorate.

The interview should take about 60 minutes and, with your permission, will be tape-recorded to ensure the accuracy of information reported. All tape recordings will be erased at the end of the study. Finally, we would like to remind you that your participation in this interview is completely voluntary.

Introduction

1. Please describe your current role and responsibilities. How do they relate to LRM?

Rationale for the LRM Initiative

Implementation of LRM

Results

Thank you. We greatly appreciate your participation.

Legal Counsel Survey

Si vous préférez y répondre dans l'autre langue officielle, veuillez changer de texte maintenant vous ne pourrez pas le faire une fois que vous aurez commencé à répondre aux questions.

Since 1999, the federal government has managed potential and realized legal risks within the framework of the Legal Risk Management (LRM) Initiative. Wide in scope, the Initiative reaches into organizational structures and processes, work and management tools, and expected skills and behaviours of legal counsel and managers within the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Government of Canada departments and agencies.

The DOJ Evaluation Division is conducting an evaluation of LRM in the Department. The purpose of the evaluation is to examine how LRM has been implemented in the Department and to assess whether the structures and processes put in place to support LRM are contributing to the effective management of legal risk in the federal government. The evaluation is being conducted by PRA Inc., an independent research firm working in collaboration with the Justice Evaluation Division, the Law Practice Management Directorate and the Research and Statistics Division. This survey of legal counsel is being conducted as part of the evaluation. Your response is very important to us. We want to hear from all DOJ counsel, even if legal risk management is not part of your daily work.

The survey is easy and quick to answer. Most questions only ask you to click on the appropriate response. The questionnaire should take about 15 minutes to complete. You can only access the survey site once, so please complete the survey in one sitting. (Please note that if you click on your browser's "back" button while completing the survey, you will need to respond again to the questions that follow the one you returned to.)

All information you offer is confidential and will be used only to create aggregate results to be included in the evaluation report. No individual's responses will be identified.

We would appreciate receiving your completed questionnaire by March 18, 2008.

If you have questions about the survey, please contact Susan Kelly, Evaluation Division at (613) 957-7657. For technical questions, please contact Jo-Anne Chrétien at (613) 957-9610.

Background

The following questions will be used to establish a profile of survey respondents.

Shared Understanding

The following questions ask about your experience with legal risk management.

A legal risk is a risk arising out of an issue or event giving rise to legal considerations. A legal risk may arise from a government action or decision (or proposed action or decision), or from exterior actions or decisions that have legal implications and that require a government response or action of a legal, communication-related, organizational or political nature.

Implementation of the LRM - Litigation Files