The Law Society's Annual General Meeting took place virtually on May 12, 2021. A video recording of the webcast is available at this link.
Motion The motion made at the meeting carried. View the motion. In accordance with the Law Society by-laws, Convocation will consider the motion within six months of the date of the AGM.
Responses to questions received but not answered during the meeting due to time constraints.
The Law Society Act gives Convocation authority to make by-laws. The Law Society Act also includes the following:
Application of Corporations Act 6 (1) Sections 84 and 126.1, subsections 129 (2) and (3) and section 317 of the Corporations Act do not apply to the Society.
Conflict (2) In the event of conflict between any provision of this Act and any provision of the Corporations Act, the provision of this Act prevails
The Law Society Act, as enacted by the provincial legislature, gives the Law Society authority to regulate paralegals who provide legal services in Ontario. Section 13 of the Act provides that the Attorney General for Ontario serves as the guardian of the public interest in all matters within the scope of the Act or having to do in any way with the practice of law in Ontario or the provision of legal services in Ontario.
Paralegals licensed by the Law Society may represent a client before the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) and may provide legal services to clients for matters relating to an IRB hearing. However, other immigration-related legal services not connected to an IRB hearing are outside of the paralegal scope of practice, and federal law requires professionals to be registered with and regulated by the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC).
The Law Society and the (ICCRC) are working together on a special, streamlined admissions process for licensed paralegals who want to become a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC). More information is available at the following link: Special RCIC admissions stream for licensed paralegals | Law Society of Ontario (lso.ca)
LAWPRO does not “use paralegal money”. The money used to capitalize LAWPRO came exclusively from lawyers and its premiums come almost exclusively from lawyers or transaction levies obtained on work done by lawyers. When the Law Society became the regulator of licensed paralegals, favourable premiums were available to them in the private market. As such, LAWPRO’s license was not changed to also capitalize a program for paralegals.
Please go to the following link on the Law Society’s website for this information: Your Source - Lawyer | Law Society of Ontario (lso.ca).
Complaints are confidential to the Law Society. Complaints that lead to disciplinary action against a licensee may become the subject of a matter before the Law Society Tribunal, which makes information about the matter available to the public.
The online delivery model for licensing examinations will continue for the next 3 years, until the end of the 2023-2024 licensing cycle.
The Law Society does not fund local law association’s or their activities. The Law Society’s lawyer licensees pay an annual levy to support local courthouse libraries. Paralegals do not have such a levy applied to their annual fees.
The Law Society regulates the licensed paralegal profession, but does not control the “title” of “paralegal”. The activities of para-professionals who are not licensed with the Law Society would not be unauthorized practice unless they were providing legal services without a licence.
2020 Annual Report and Financial Statements now available at lso.ca/annualreport