Welcome to the Paralegal Society of Ontario

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Mark Your Calendar for Saturday

 October 16, 2010

as

The Paralegal Society

of Ontario

presents the

2010 Fall Conference

Held at the

Four Points Sheraton

London,Ontario

 

Speakers, Sponsors, Networking

and Information all at one location.

Plus join us on Friday night for our "Meet and Greet"

This is an event you won't want to miss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PSO makes submissions on the regulation of Immigration Consultants

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On June 12, 2010 the Ministry of  Citizenship and Immigration Canada requested input on applications to regulate immigration consultants. The deadline to make submissions was July 2, 2010.  We thank everyone that called or emailed us to provide their comments on this issue.

Click here to review our submissions.

 

 

Report to the Attorney General of Ontario

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The President of the Paralegal Society of Ontario, Chris Surowiak, says: "Paralegal regulation has been a positive step in our profession. The Law Society has an open door for the Paralegal Society of Ontario, which makes it easier to address our concerns. Knowing that exemptions to licensing are being looked at is important to us as well."

Currently there are more than 2300 licensed paralegals. Click here to view the  Two year report on the implementation of paralegal regulation  tabled in the legislature.

The Law Society is there for the public. The Paralegal Society of Ontario is there for Paralegals. The PSO meets on a regular basis with the Law society and the Paralegal Standing committee expressing a voice for licensed paralegals. 

 

Update with meeting with law society March 30, 2010

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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

 

PARALEGALS : PROVINCIAL OFFENCES ACT

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Attached is a Consultation Paper regarding the Provincial Offenses Act. If your livelihood depends in partial or in its entirety utilizing the Provincial Offenses Act, we encourage you to submit your recommendations to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The PSO will make submissions based on the responses received.

 
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