In a way, the high hourly rates that some lawyers charge—and I agree with my colleague that if you go outside of the big cities, the median income for lawyers is surprisingly low.... A dedicated tax on legal fees, which is what British Columbia did—but when using the word “dedicated”, apparently somebody had their fingers behind their back and crossed, and all those other things—is a reasonable way to think about funding the legal aid system. All you need to do is dedicate the funds that are taxed.
Once you start to see legal aid as an essential service, models for funding it will quickly come to mind. We have may other essential services that we fund through either dedicated taxes or user fees. It can be done. It's just a matter of the will.