Fellow members,
Directors of the executive committee and directors of policy committee of the Paralegal Society of Ontario will be meeting with the Law Society on March 30, 2010. As you may be aware, the Paralegal Society of Ontario has taken a leading role to bring the issue of exemptions to the forefront. Please see our report to the law society from July 23, 2009 on this issue. In addition to this report, VicePresident Richard Lammers has worked hard for our members ensuring each of your complaints are communicated to the Complaints department of the Law Society and following up on each complaint!
Exemptions will be on the table for discussion at this meeting. We receive complaints from our members regarding corporations owned and operated by non-P1's offering legal services in WSIB and Small Claims Court . Resolution of these complaints will shape our profession. It is assuring to see the law society adopting some of the PSO recommendations.
The other item on the agenda is POA reform. The PSO submitted a report to the Ministry of Attorney General on APril 17, 2009. We will continue to address POA reform.
In addition the Paralegal Society of Ontario, Licensed Paralegal Association of Ontario (LPAO) and Paralegal Society of Canada (PSC) will be meeting prior to our meeting with the law society signalling a united voice for our profession on these important issues.
Thank you,
Chris Surowiak, Paralegal
President , Paralegal Society of Ontario
Update on MARCH 30, 2010 Meeting;
The meeting consisted of 7 members from the Law Society ( Law Society members include policy, compliance, complaints, government relations dept), PSO ( Chris Surowiak, Rod Walker, Janet Wigle-Vence,Rick Lammers Lori Mathers) , representatives from the Licensed Paralegal Association(LPA) and Paralegal Society of Canada.(PSC) .
Prior to our meeting with the Law Society, on February 16, 2010, Robert Burd from LPA , Judi Simms from PSC and Chris Surowiak from PSO met personally and subsequently we had a teleconference to discuss these important issues. Collaboration of our resources is important to address the many important issues that have influence to our profession.
Agenda item : POA reform
The Impact on POA reform can have huge impact on our profession if some of the proposed reccomendations are implemented. Approximately 1300 paralegals are directly effected and the remaining paralegals are indirectly effected.
The proposal is to have Part 1 traffic offences converted to an AMP ( Automatic Monetary Penalty) procedure. Instead of a conviction which would be on record, there will be an AMP fine which is under a municipality. The PSO, LPA,PSC are unified to work towards prevention of this recommended reform to the Provincial Offences Act. Roderick Walker ( Vice President of PSO) is on the Law Commission of Ontario committee that is overseeing the project on modernization of POA reform.
Agenda item : exemptions ( non-professional corporations performing the work of professional corporations)
Overall there was consensus and understanding amongst the Law Society and ourselves on this issue.
We brought to their atttention that their website needs to be corrected on the issue of collection agencies. Question 4 of the Paralegal Questions and Answers asks " Do collection agencies staff require a licence? " . The answer on the law Society web site states:
Staff of collection agencies, who work to collect debts owing to clients of their agencies, need a licence to appear in Small Claims Court. Under the Law Society Act, staff of collection agencies working in the normal course of debt collection do not need a licence to carry on that work.
The answer suggests that collection agencies can provide legal services provided they hire a Paralegal . This answer is not supported by the law society act, business corporation act nor law society by-laws. Although the bulk of the PSO complaints received from our members involve collection agencies, the issue of non-professional corporations performing legal services involves many areas including wsib, tribunal consulting companies.
The Paralegal Standing Committee report to convocation dated February 25, 2010 has been accepted and in the process of being codified into a by-law. Every Paralegal , please take note to paragraph 18 of this report:
'... a business corporation such as a collection agency cannot be the vehicle for providing legal services."
This one statement summarizes nicely what the PSO has been advocating towards . This statement applies to all corporations and not only collection agencies and applies to all areas of our practice.
The PSO will continue to advocate for our profession on these important issues. The PSO will continue to advocate towards the elimination of exemptions. Your Board is committed in making this happen.
Thank you ,
Chris Surowiak
President, Paralegal Society of Ontario
