On May 31, 2010 I attended a get together at Convocation Hall at the Law Society to announce the results of the Listening to Ontarian's Report of the Ontario Civil Legal Needs Project hosted by the Law Society.  The upshot of this meeting was that during the gathering I had quite a long converseration with the representatives of Legal Aid who made it very clear to me that there was a large gap in the servicing of needs in Family law since paralegals have been barred from practicing in this area and that Legal Aid would in fact like to see paralegal practice expanded to once again cover this area and Legal Aid would like to have a mandate to  issue legal aid certificates which would cover both lawyers and paralegals in many of the areas of practice.  These discussions however are in very early stages.   I also had discussions with representatives of the PSO and Agents of Court wherein a joint AGM for our three societies was proposed for September.  The feeling was that we would have more clout as a unified force.  Arrangements are currently being negotiated for this event for sometime early in the Fall.

On June 3, 2010 I attended another meeting at the Law Society with respect to paralegal organization which was attended by the group who manages paralegal audits.  There were long presentations as to what their requirements were for the audit.  According to the representatives these requirements may be found in detail   on the Law Society website, however for your edification we will detail some of the necessaries herein:  they are very anxious to see 1.  time management system either Amicus Attorney or Credenza; 2. tickler system; 3. conflict identification  as well as identification control mechanism and clear concise documentation of retainer agreements and accounting for trust and general accounts.  A letter should be sent to clients confirming retainers or otherwise.  We were informed that they only expect to do about 75 audits per year and ample notification will be sent to those who will be audited in order to allow for preparation.

 Should you have any comments with respect to any of these issues, please contact me.

Regards 

Judi Simms - President

 On January 7, 2010 I attended a meeting at the Law Society with liasons Shena Weir and Julia Bass.  The subjects of conversation were expending the areas of practice and the hostility shown towards paralegals by various members of the Standing Committee at the Standing Committee meeting held on December 4, 2009.  I received assurances from both Shena and Julia that considerable attempts were being made to change attitudes towards paralegals but that it would take time.  After the meeting I also felt that some progress was being made with respect to expanding the areas of practice in future! (but that it would take a considerable amount of hard work on our part)

 

We also discussed our recent correspondence from the Competition Bureau!

We have just been advised by First Service Brokers that the renewal premium for 2009-2010 will be $852.00 which is a reduction of 5% from last year.  You can only benefit from this reduced premium if your membership fees are up to date.