Paralegal family law licence could help Ontarians who can’t afford a lawyer navigate courts | 24CA News

The Law Society of Ontario (LSO) will resolve whether or not or to not open the doorways of household court docket to paralegals at present by voting on a licence that may permit them to supply some household authorized companies.

If the proposal is green-lit, certified paralegals will ultimately be permitted to assist purchasers navigate household court docket by strolling them by way of procedures — like submitting deadlines. It may additionally assist them in getting ready and finishing functions for easy joint and uncontested divorces, home contracts and title adjustments.

Stakeholders have been grappling with the scope of this licence for 5 years. It was initially advisable to Ontario’s Attorney General in a 2017 report to assist handle entry to justice in household court docket, the place the vast majority of litigants are actually self-represented, largely as a result of they cannot afford a lawyer.

The model that is up for a vote at present is narrower than what many paralegals and a few specialists had been hoping for, however paralegal LSO board member Michelle Lomazzo says it is a begin.

“It’s this or nothing … at least it’s a foot in the door,” she instructed CBC Toronto. “I believe we’ll be able to add things to it over time.”

A broader model of the licence — which might have allowed paralegals to characterize purchasers in court docket for divorces, baby assist and spousal assist, and to draft separation agreements — was dropped simply earlier than a LSO vote in February, as a result of attorneys and the judiciary had been in opposition to it.

“We didn’t have the votes,” mentioned Lomazzo. “Hopefully this passes … if you’re not accustomed to filling out forms or even to the court process, it’s super intimidating for anybody to navigate.”

If it is permitted, paralegals should full 260 hours, or about three months, of full-time schooling and coaching, and cross an examination to acquire the licence. Since these applications nonetheless need to be developed, Lomazzo says it will be a minimum of two years earlier than paralegals can begin offering household authorized companies. 

Court system ‘not user-friendly’ for self-representation

Leona Harvie, from Aurora, Ont., needs she may have turned to a paralegal for assist navigating the system in 2015, when she began self-representing after she may now not afford a lawyer for her divorce.

“There was a lot of trial and error, a lot of costly mistakes,” she mentioned. “Our court system is not user-friendly and is not overly accessible to the general public, who are the very taxpayers who fund the system — so that’s a problem.”

Harvie says she, like many middle-class Canadians, fell into a niche within the system the place she made an excessive amount of cash to qualify for authorized support however was “financially exhausted” by lawyer’s charges.

The variety of folks self-representing in household court docket has been on the rise since a minimum of 2014, in response to Statistics Canada. In the 2019-2020 fiscal yr, 58 per cent of litigants in household court docket had been self-represented throughout the nation, and specialists say that quantity is nearer to 80 per cent in city centres like Toronto. 

“Family law is the area in which we see the greatest pressure on the system,” mentioned Julie Macfarlane, a regulation professor emerita on the University of Windsor.

Macfarlane based the National Self-Represented Litigants Project in 2013, after her analysis confirmed most individuals who seem in court docket with no lawyer cannot afford one, or have run out of cash to proceed paying a lawyer. 

“We need change now,” she mentioned. “The window that’s being opened here is far too narrow, and also doesn’t reflect what has been said in previous studies about the level of paralegal experience and expertise.”

Macfarlane’s greatest criticism considerations the constraints placed on paralegals for divorces.

“There is no basis on which [paralegals] can practise in any kind of a contested divorce here,” mentioned Macfarlane. “I think that that just rules out far too many cases.”

Judiciary on board, household attorneys opposed

The narrower focus does work for the judiciary, which might permit paralegals to seem in court docket on motions to alter baby assist the place an individual’s revenue is lower than $150,000 (and decided by their employer) and to reply to proceedings to implement assist funds by way of this licence. 

In a letter to the LSO, Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz of the Superior Court of Justice and Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve of the Ontario Court of Justice mentioned the licence “will improve access to justice and serve the needs of vulnerable family law clients.”

The Family Lawyers Association instructed CBC Toronto in an announcement that it would not endorse the licence, however will ask to be consulted on implementation if it is permitted.

When requested why the affiliation would not assist this proposal, the FLA pointed to its previous submissions opposing the broader licence. 

In these, the FLA argued the licence is not going to improve entry to justice as a result of many household attorneys provide comparable charges to paralegals; that lower-income household instances aren’t much less advanced; and that the proposed coaching is not sufficient to attain the authorized experience wanted to guard the pursuits of purchasers.

Lomazzo disagrees, and hopes her fellow members of the LSO’s board of administrators will vote in favour of the brand new licence at present.

“It shouldn’t be about what paralegals or lawyers want,” she mentioned. “It’s about access to justice for the people of Ontario.”