Paralegal Update

Governance Task Force
The Law Society’s Governance Task Force is holding approximately 10 consultation meetings this spring with small groups of
lawyers and paralegals in four locations across Ontario. Meetings will be arranged in Toronto with leaders of legal organizations.
Lawyers and paralegals invited to the meetings will include those in a variety of practice areas in sole practices and small-to-
large firms, corporate counsel and academics.
The Task Force will report the results of the consultation to Convocation, together with its recommendations on whether
changes to governance at the Law Society should be considered.
Summary Hearing Process Expanded
The summary hearing process permits hearings that are time-sensitive or straightforward to be heard quickly by a single
bencher Hearing Panel. Matters which may result in the revocation of licence are not heard at summary hearings.
The Law Society’s summary hearing process has been expanded to include the following case types:
• The provision of legal services by a paralegal whose licence is suspended
• Breach of an undertaking to the Law Society
• Failure to pay costs awarded to the Law Society
• Failure to comply with an order of the Hearing Panel.
The summary hearing process was first approved in 2005 for three case types: failure to maintain financial records; failure to
respond to the Law Society and failure to co-operate with the Law Society. For more information, see the January 2009
Professional Regulation Committee report.
Recent By-Law Amendments
Several changes to Law Society By-Laws have been made to reflect policies previously approved by Convocation. By-Law 7.1
[Operational Obligations and Responsibilities] was amended to allow lawyers handling catastrophic impairment claims at the
Financial Services Commission of Ontario to delegate the mediation of subsidiary issues to licensed paralegals employed by
their firm.
By-Law 4 [Licensing] was amended to implement the following paralegal regulation policy changes previously approved by
Convocation:
• Section 10.01 – a person with a P1 licence applying for an L1 licence must forfeit the P1 licence at the time that an
L1 licence is issued;
• Section 12 – a person who has previously surrendered a P1 licence may apply for a new licence without repeating
the educational and examination requirements;
• Sections 23 to 26 – a paralegal may apply to surrender a licence in the same manner as a lawyer;
• Section 30 – members of the Canadian Society of Professionals in Disability Management have been added to the
regulation exemption list;
• Section 30 – the repeal of the subsection regarding the FSCO regulations, which have now been repealed; and
• Section 32 – trade union representatives enforcing collective agreement benefits in Small Claims Court have been
added to the regulation exemption list.
Rule 8 Amended
Rule 8 of the Paralegal Rules of Conduct was amended to clarify how the rule applies to non-payment of financial obligations
incurred in the course of practice on behalf of clients, and maintain the ability of the Law Society to respond where there are
allegations of non-payment.

posted by Tanya Hutchens read more HERE