Crown Agents

The PPSC executes its mandate through in-house counsel and private sector lawyers known as agents. The agents represent the PPSC in areas of Canada where it is impractical or otherwise not cost-effective for staff counsel to do so.

Overview

Pursuant to subsections 7(2) and 9(1) of the Director of Public Prosecutions Act, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) may retain private-sector lawyers to perform any of the duties and functions of a crown prosecutor. The PPSC operates a regime of fixed-term agreements for agents with terms not exceeding five years. Under this regime, any law firm or lawyer may express interest in becoming an agent, by applying at the time of a vacancy. The DPP appoints agents following a competitive process. The PPSC may on occasion retain an ad hoc agent for a specific assignment.

As of July 31, 2019, the PPSC retained 150 agent firms representing 380 designated counsel.

Agent Affairs Program

The Agent Affairs Program (AAP) ensures that agents provide high-quality legal services at a reasonable cost. To attain this goal, the AAP undertakes a variety of activities including operational policy development, coordination, direct supervision and corporate/headquarters management.

The AAP comprises a division at HQ and agent supervision units in eight regional offices. The units have experienced counsel who assist agents and monitor their work.

National caseload breakdown

When expressed as a percentage of total litigation work, agents undertake slightly less than 51% of the caseload; however, since these files are generally less complex than the ones that in-house counsel undertake, agents represent less than 33% of the total reported hours. The highest proportion of litigation work by agents is in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia.

Budget

The PPSC has a budget of $ 47.3M to cover the costs of agents in 2019-2020.