Ontario Access to Justice

PARALEGALS - DO ONE THING TODAY !
sign into the LSO portal, attend the AGM and vote.
Numbers Count. Lets show LSO that Paralegals will in fact stand up and be counted, for Family Law, for Immigration, for our future in this profession. SEE YOU AT 5 P.M. TODAY!.

https://portal.lso.ca/

LSO Portal Redirect

A motion requesting the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) ask “the Attorney General to immediately assume regulatory control of the practice of law and provision of legal services” in Ontario has been denied a place on the annual general meeting’s (AGM) agenda. However, the paralegals who brought the motion plan to bring the issue up from the floor the night of the meeting either way.

https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/articles/36102/paralegal-motion-to-have-ag-take-control-of-legal-services-denied-spot-at-lso-annual-meeting

Bruce Parsons of Paladin LLP leads a group of paralegals who allege that the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) denies access to justice for financially vulnerable people in Ontario seeking legal services by resisting the expansion of their areas of practice and acts in the interests of its lawyer majority rather than that of Ontarians.

https://financialpost.com/globe-newswire/ontario-access-to-justice-the-law-society-of-ontario-will-be-challenged-on-whether-it-facilitates-access-to-justice-for-ontarios-most-vulnerable-people

AGM Group Update Meeting TONIGHT at 8 p.m. if you want to participate, log in!! Looking for speakers who know their rules of order and folks to work the election news cycle, all are welcome.
meet.google.com/wsw-oxiw-acm

Meet Real-time meetings by Google. Using your browser, share your video, desktop, and presentations with teammates and customers.

Would you pay $20.00 to practice in Family Law? In Immigration? To do appeals on LTB or Small Claims Files?

We can’t promise to deliver these practice areas for $20.00. Or $50.00. But we can and do promise to raise these issues and fight, for increased Paralegal Areas of Practice and for increased Access to Justice.

Should the Law Society of Ontario be dissolved for not acting in the public interest?

https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/yarmus-should-the-law-society-of-ontario-be-dissolved-for-not-acting-in-the-public-interest?fbclid=IwAR0xyhyydkdSJR_W9IkHeacj9CEP1j0CH7qKR7JaMbDZtKhuHwluxxEy8IA

PARALEGAL ACTION PLAN
WHAT’S GOING ON
PARALEGALS ARE BRINGING A MOTION TO THE LSO AGM TO HAVE THE LSO ADDRESS ITS FUTURE DIRECTION IN SELF GOVERNANCE FOR LAWYERS AND PARALEGALS
PARALEGALS ARE SEEKING GOVERNANCE THAT ADDRESSES THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN AFFORDABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY AND CHALLENGES THE LSO AS THE STATUS QUO
THE MOTION WILL BE HEARD AT THE LSO AGM MAY 11, 2022
WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE FOR PARALEGALS?
PARALEGALS HAVE A SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE on Facebook OntarioAccessToJustice - join us and share :)
PARALEGALS HAVE A WORKING FACEBOOK GROUP AT Ontario Paralegal Strategic Planning Motion AGM 2022, join and stay informed ;)
PARALEGALS ARE PROMOTING THE CAUSE! WITH ADS AND WITH PRESS RELEASES, ETC.
FINANCIAL PROMOTIONS - our modest budget
PARALEGALS CAN CONTRIBUTE FINANCIALLY BY EMAIL TRANSFER
[email protected]
Auto deposit for accesstojustice
Contributions from $5.00 up welcome
Our plan - $200 in web ads
Our plan - 600 per press release, we have time for two
Our current balance is 350.00, we need 1050 more by April 25th, 2022, to fund the press releases
VOLUNTEERS - email [email protected]
PARALEGALS CAN SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
PARALEGALS CAN WRITE MPP’S AND CANDIDATES
PARALEGALS CAN ADDRESS MPP’S AND CANDIDATES DURING THE ELECTION
LETS MAKE ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND REGULATORY REFORM AN ELECTION ISSUE
AGM ATTENDANCE
PLAN ON ATTENDING THE LSO AGM AND LETS DISCUSS THE FUTURE OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION IN ONTARIO MAY 11, 2022

Ontario Access to Justice updated their website address.

LSO ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, MAY 11TH, 2022

WHEREAS Lawyers and Paralegals in the Province of Ontario have been granted the privilege of self-regulation in the practice of law and provision of legal services in Ontario, initially through the Law Society of Upper Canada and now continued through the Law Society of Ontario;

WHEREAS the Law Society of Ontario has been granted a monopoly in regulating the practice of law and the provision of legal services in the Province of Ontario;

WHEREAS the Law Society of Ontario has a duty to maintain the cause of justice and the rule of law;

WHEREAS the Law Society of Ontario has a duty to act so as to facilitate access to justice for the people of Ontario;

WHEREAS the Law Society of Ontario has a duty to protect the public interest;

WHEREAS the Law Society of Ontario has a duty to act in a timely, open and efficient manner;

WHEREAS the Law Society of Ontario has undertaken to set standards of learning, professional competence and professional conduct for licensees and restrictions on who may provide particular legal services proportionate to the significance of the regulatory objectives sought to be realized;

WHEREAS some 57% of Family Law Litigants are unrepresented in Family Court, according to Justice Bonkalo's report;;

WHEREAS Ontario Family Law lawyers surveyed in 2011 reported overwhelmingly (81%) that the number of unrepresented litigants has increased since 2006 and in one Court reported the representation rate had fallen from 89% in 1992 to 59.2% in 2001 and continues to fall;

WHEREAS the Law Society of Ontario has received the Bonkalo report on Family Law and a report from the Access to Justice Committee, both of which recommend licensing paralegals to assist in this crisis;

WHEREAS the Law Society of Ontario has a complete set of training materials for Family Law within its licensing process for lawyers;

WHEREAS the Law Society of Ontario has had ongoing discussions about paralegal regulation in Family Law since undertaking the regulation of paralegals in 2007;

WHEREAS in December 2017 the Law Society of Ontario through Convocation agreed in principle to allow paralegals to do Family Law work;

WHEREAS the Access to Justice Committee took over four years to develop a comprehensive plan;

WHEREAS the comprehensive plan placed an emphasis on educational and professional competencies to allow for paralegals to provide limited family law services;

WHEREAS the Access to Justice Committee's report was unexpectedly removed from the

February 2022 Convocation agenda, bowing to pressure from family law lawyers, rather than the Law Society of Ontario meeting its legislated duties of facilitating access to justice, protecting the public interest, and acting in a timely, open and efficient manner;

WHEREAS the Law Society of Ontario has failed to take action to license paralegals to provide access in Family Law;

And WHEREAS the Law Society of Ontario has failed to take any meaningful and effective action to assist the public with access to representation in Family Law;

WHEREAS The crisis of Access to Justice is reflected in increasing demand from Pro Bono

Ontario (153%) and where increasing numbers of self-represented litigants are appearing in Civil Courts(18%) and Small Claims Court (13%) and those numbers are increasing;

WHEREAS the Law Society of Ontario has failed to take any meaningful or effective action to address this increasing crisis;

WHEREAS legal aid funding in Ontario has had its funding reduced to a level of income well below the poverty line and some $10,000.00 below an individual working minimum wage 35 hours a week;

WHEREAS individuals are facing criminal records, incarcerations, evictions and loss of custody and access, major impacts on their everyday life;

WHEREAS the Law Society of Ontario has failed to take any meaningful and effective action to deal with this ongoing and developing crisis;

WHEREAS the 2012 "Legal Needs Analysis Report" delivered to the Law Society of Upper Canada, and the Attorney General of Ontario, was a statutory five-year review of paralegal licensing. The report identified and recommended the need for expansion of the scope of practice of paralegals;

WHEREAS the Law Society of Ontario has issues within its own processes where ".racialized lawyers are more likely to end up in discipline and to receive harsher penalties...";

WHEREAS the Law Society of Ontario has failed to update the rules governing real estate transactions wherein the vast majority of property in Ontario are now converted to Land Titles and a Solicitors Opinion on title is no longer necessary for most transactions;

WHEREAS section 91 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was amended in or around 2011 to allow licensed paralegal to be able to provide full representation and document preparation. Despite this Act, the Law Society of Ontario has failed to take any steps to amend By-Law 4 to permit paralegals to provide any and all immigration services;

WHEREAS, fifteen years after paralegal regulation, paralegals remain a minority at Law Society of Ontario committees, and at Convocation;

WHEREAS the regulation of paralegals in Ontario reveals the Law Society's propensity to favour professional interests of lawyers over the public interest and to regulate to preserve its entrenched status, prestige, and self-regulatory privilege for its benefit more than in and for the public interest;

WHEREAS, in 2007 England and Wales joined Australia in moving away from a self-regulatory model for lawyer regulation, and implemented a co-regulation, where two or

more bodies share oversight of lawyers. This is according to the Canadian Lawyers Magazine article dated November 14, 2019;

And Whereas the Law Society of Ontario has lost public confidence, and lost the confidence of its licensee to continue to act as the regulator of the legal professions; Therefore it is moved that the Law Society of Ontario shall approach the Attorney General of Ontario and advise that the Law Society of Ontario has failed in its legislated duties to regulate the Legal Professions, and in particular the Paralegal Profession in the public Interest, to facilitate access to justice for the people of Ontario, maintain and the cause of justice and the rule of law, and to act in a timely, open and efficient manner; and request the Attorney General to immediately assume regulatory control of the Practice of Law and provision of Legal Services

Each year, The Law Foundation of Ontario awards millions of dollars to many carefully selected grantees. Through the work of grantees, and through funds paid to Legal Aid Ontario, the Foundation is carrying out its mission to advance access to justice in the province.

https://lawfoundation.on.ca

Home - The Law Foundation of Ontario Established by statute in 1974, The Law Foundation of Ontario is the sole foundation in Ontario with the mandate of improving access to justice.

As legal professionals we have a duty to ensure the public understands their rights and has confidence in the justice system. These free legal sessions are part of our commitment to work together to help break down barriers to the justice system.

Access to Justice provides members of the public the opportunity to ask legal professionals from across Ontario general questions on everyday legal matters such as wills, landlord and tenant issues, family law, vaccine mandates and more. A panel of lawyers and paralegals with diverse expertise shared resources and considerations to help participants feel empowered to address their legal concerns.

Access to Justice brings together a range of justice sector stakeholders locally and from across Canada to develop meaningful, public-centred solutions that advance systemic change in the justice system. This is an opportunity to learn about new initiatives, connect with diverse partners and explore critical access to justice issues from different perspectives.

Access to justice is a fundamental principle of our justice system, and yet every day many are faced with barriers to getting the help they need. Vulnerable and marginalized populations face additional barriers to accessing justice based on factors like gender, race, culture, age, language, literacy, disability, income support, and geographical location.

https://lso.ca/gazette/blog/access-to-justice-week-2021?fbclid=IwAR1cNIYFmC8CXVSYOeZ6ux6jO7nqflHedD_1gSXockxsjoQyy2OZlyZB0sE

By: Teresa Donnelly, Treasurer | October 22, 2021

Access to justice is a fundamental principle of our justice system, and yet every day many are faced with barriers to getting the help they need. Vulnerable and marginalized populations face additional barriers to accessing justice based on factors like gender, race, culture, age, language, literacy, disability, income support, and geographical location.

https://lso.ca/gazette/blog/access-to-justice-week-2021

Access to Justice Week 2021 | Law Society of Ontario The Action Group on Access to Justice (TAG), will be hosting the sixth annual Access to Justice Week (A2J Week) in Ontario from October 25 to 29. This year’s schedule is our fullest to date. With a total of 25 national and local programs, A2J Week 2021 offers something for everyone.