Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 8 9 N ow that the Law Society of Upper Canada has committed to opening some parts of fam- ily law to paralegals, practitio- ners are warning against letting para- legals offer legal services in the area without lawyers' supervision. The Law Society of Upper Canada's governing body approved a proposal at its December meeting to create a new licence for paralegals that would train them in some aspects of family law such as form completion, uncontested divorces and motions to change. The proposal was part of an action plan in response to a report conducted by Justice Annemarie Bonkalo that sought ways to provide more access to justice for the large numbers of self-repre- sented litigants in Ontario's family courts. Bencher Howard Goldblatt, chairman of the LSUC's access to justice committee, says going forward the law society will be "moving cautiously" and engaging with specialists to identify the parameters of the details of the plan going forward. He says there will be ongoing consultation with family lawyers and other stakeholders. "It's more important to get it done right than to get it done quickly," he says. Some family lawyers say they have serious concerns about whether the law society plan will eventually allow parale- gals to practice without the supervision of a lawyer. Heather Hansen, a partner with Mar- tha McCarthy & Company LLP, says she would not support letting paralegals offer legal services in family law if they are unsupervised. "I think that this is a genuine effort to respond to a need and there are elements of this strategy that should be part of our system, but they need to be integrated, thought out and there needs to be con- sultation," she says. "And they have to be supervised." Goldblatt says at this stage the law soci- ety is not ruling anything out. "We're not going into this by saying this is an absolute yes or this is an absolute no," he says. "We're looking at the areas that we need to work towards and we'll be doing what needs to be done in order to meet whatever needs we identify." Other steps in the action plan included assessing what additional family legal ser- vices by paralegals are in the public inter- est and considering experiential training for law students. Though some benchers asked that the vote on the paralegal new licence proposal be delayed a month so that more consultation could be done, the action plan was approved by a show of hands with two votes against and a handful of abstentions. — MALLORY HENDRY AND ALEX ROBINSON \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ P R A I R I E S \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP ONT. LAW SOCIETY TO WIDEN SCOPE OF FAMILY LAW FOR PARALEGALS GET AHEAD OF YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS OSGOODE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Whether you're looking for Continuing Legal Education programs or want to commit to developing your expertise through part-time graduate studies, Osgoode Professional Development has a program to suit your needs. CONSIDER YOUR LEARNING GOALS, TIME AND BUDGET CPD PROGRAMS Choose from 1-day courses, certificates and online programs MASTER OF LAWS (LLM) Complete a degree part-time over two years in one of 14 legal specializations A WORLD LEADER IN LAW SCHOOL LIFELONG LEARNING Learn more at osgoodepd.ca/resolutions Wambui Nyamathwe Kabage International Lawyer and Mediator, EKN LLP ntitled-10 1 2017-12-13 2:31 PM

• Cover