Back in 2008 the Law Society became in charge of paralegal regulation. Originally it was called the Law Society of
Upper Canada, today however it is called the Law Society of Ontario.
Since the beginning of paralegal regulation. Paralegals have been trying to gain more
privileges that should come hand in hand with that, in some ways we have been successful.
We have benchers and a board in the Law Society, the
Lawyer Referral Service is now referred to as the Law Society Referral Service and most recently we have been informed that paralegals will be allowed to provide family law service, after having taken a separate course of study to obtain the license.
This is however not enough progress over the course of fifteen years. More needs to be done!
If the point is to make access to justice easier, shouldn’t paralegals be
allowed to service Legal Aid clients? Shouldn’t paralegals be allowed to service clients in family law? As well as in immigration/refuge?
Within the past twelve years positions for paralegals have opened in legal aid centres, though few and far between they are a large step in the right
direction for our profession. We hope more opportunities will open in the
near future so that more people can have better access to better justice.