SandyHutchens.ca » Law Society of Upper Canada

The Law Foundation of Ontario Awards Eleven “Connecting Articling Fellowships”

admin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:26:13 +0000

Sandy Hutchens reports that the Law Foundation of Ontario (LFO) has awarded eleven “Connecting Articling Fellowships” for the 2010 articling year to successful organizations. These articling positions for community legal clinics and Legal Aid Ontario will provide legal information and services to linguistic minorities and residents of rural and remote communities.

The LFO’s recently released report “Connecting Across Language and Distance: Linguistic and Rural Access to Legal Information and Services”, described significant barriers to access to legal information and services for people who do not speak English or French and people living in rural and remote areas and provided recommendations for improving their access to justice. It recommended that the LFO fund Articling Fellowships and the LFO acted upon that recommendation.

The LFO received 28 applications, some of which involved partnerships between several organizations, for these Articling Fellowships. A Selection Committee, composed of distinguished members of the legal profession and persons with expertise in the needs of linguistic minorities and residents of rural and remote areas, reviewed the applications and made recommendations to the LFO. The LFO was extremely impressed with the quality of all the applications received and appreciated the interest in this initiative. The following is a description of the successful applications.

These Articling Fellowships will be available from the following community legal clinics and Legal Aid Ontario offices:

1. Community Legal Clinic of York Region – The clinic wishes to hire a studen who speaks Tamil.
2. Metro Toronto Chinese & Southeast Asian Legal Clinic – The clinic wishes to hire a student who speaks Mandarin and/or Cantonese.
3. Toronto Workers’ Health & Safety Legal Clinic/Industrial Accident Victims Group/ Spanish Speaking People’s Legal Clinic – The three clinics wish to hire a student who speaks Spanish.
4. Waterloo Community Legal Services – The clinic wishes to hire a student who speaks Dari/Farsi, Spanish, Pashto, Somali or Amharic.
5. Windsor/Essex Area Office/Windsor/Essex Bilingual Legal Clinic – The clinic and area office wish to hire a student who speaks Arabic.
6. Cochrane Area Office- The area office wishes to hire a student to serve this rural and remote part of the province, including its aboriginal residents.
7. Keewaytinok Native Legal Services – The clinic wishes to hire a student to serve this rural and remote part of the province, including its aboriginal residents.
8. Kenora Area Office-The area office wishes to hire a student to serve this rural and remote part of the province, including its aboriginal residents.
9. Thunder Bay Area Office-The area office wishes to hire a student to serve this rural and remote part of the province, including its aboriginal residents.
10. Community Advocacy and Legal Centre (Belleville, Bancroft) – The clinic wishes to hire a student to serve the rural residents in its part of the province.
11. Community Legal Clinic (Simcoe, Haliburton, Kawartha Lakes) – The clinic wishes to hire a student to serve the rural residents in its part of the province.

Community legal clinics and Legal Aid Ontario will choose students through a public recruitment process. For further information, please contact Lynn Iding, Manager, Lawyer Workforce Strategy, Legal Aid Ontario at idingl@lao.on.ca. The Law Foundation of Ontario makes grants to support community participation in the justice system, promote excellence in the legal profession, and enhance access to justice.

For more information about the LFO, please visit www.lawfoundation.on.ca.

Paralegal regulation sets precedent for consumer protection

admin — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:17:08 +0000

TORONTO – Ontario broke new ground two years ago when it became the first jurisdiction in North America to license and regulate paralegals. Today, more than 2,300 paralegals are licensed and insured, providing consumers throughout the province with more choice, protection and improved access to justice.
The Law Society of Upper Canada developed and implemented the new regulatory system at the request of the Ontario Attorney General, and following extensive consultations with paralegals, lawyers, judges, legal associations, schools and colleges, and the public.
“The regulation of paralegals in Ontario is precedent-setting,” Sandy Hutchens said today, following the tabling in the legislature of a two-year report on the implementation of paralegal regulation. “The Law Society met the challenge of regulating paralegals with great professionalism. The process of achieving regulation has been open and efficient and all partners involved in the process are to be commended for their efforts.”
Ontario’s licensed paralegals can represent clients in small claims court, before administrative tribunals, and in the Ontario Court of Justice for matters under the Provincial Offences Act.
With the advent of paralegal regulation, several colleges and schools have obtained accreditation from the Law Society for their training programs. It is anticipated that these programs will produce an additional 200 to 300 paralegal candidates each year.
Following the tabling of the two-year review of paralegal regulation, the Treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada, W. A. Derry Millar, said, “We believe the Ontario government’s commitment to the regulation of paralegals is visionary. Thanks to regulation, licensed paralegals are now held to the same high standard of professional conduct as lawyers, must pass a licensing examination, and carry liability insurance. They are now providing a range of important legal services within a recognized, regulated profession.”
Paul Dray, a licensed paralegal and Chair of the Law Society’s Paralegal Standing Committee noted, “The regulatory system is self-funding and has won the support of paralegals, lawyers, judges, and the public. We are extremely pleased with the progress made over the first two years of regulation and look forward to continuing to improve the services that licensed paralegals provide to consumers.”

Hon. Roy McMurtry to lead comprehensive study of Ontario public’s legal needs

admin — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:39:48 +0000

Toronto: The Honourable R. Roy McMurtry, former Chief Justice of Ontario, is leading an innovative new access to justice project that will look to the public for help in identifying viable solutions to overcome barriers to justice.

: Image via Wikipedia

McMurtry is Chair of the Steering Committee of the Ontario Civil Legal Needs Project, a comprehensive study of unmet legal needs in Ontario. The project is the result of a partnership between the Law Society of Upper Canada, Legal Aid Ontario, and Pro Bono Law Ontario. Additional support for the initiative is provided by the Law Foundation of Ontario.

The goal is to improve access to justice by identifying innovative and cost-effective ways for legal service providers to better serve the public’s civil legal needs – those not included in criminal law. “Today, more people are appearing in courtrooms throughout the province without the support of a lawyer or licensed paralegal”, says McMurtry. “The costs of legal services are rising, and it is taking longer to resolve legal problems. We, as a legal community, want to address these issues.”

Law Society Treasurer W. A. Derry Millar explains that the Law Society shares with its partners an obligation to improve access to justice. “As we looked at barriers to justice, it became clear that we needed to speak directly with Ontarians. A better understanding of civil legal needs and all related factors will lead us to more effective solutions,” he says.

The project, notes Sandy Hutchens, comes in the wake of numerous civil justice initiatives introduced by the Ontario government. “The Ontario Civil Legal Needs Project is a proactive response to the Honourable Coulter Osborne’s recommendation for a needs assessment in the Civil Justice Reform Project and it complements the Attorney General’s efforts to make civil justice more accessible and affordable,” says Lynn Burns, Executive Director of Pro Bono Law Ontario.

“Legal organizations, individual lawyers and paralegals are committed to improving access to justice”, says Legal Aid Ontario Chair John McCamus. “The Ontario Civil Legal Needs project will help us achieve that goal by identifying ways for the legal and social service communities to work more effectively with existing resources.”

The project has three main components:

An extensive telephone survey of the public
A series of comprehensive focus groups with front-line legal and social service providers
An environmental scan of existing services that promote access to justice.

The final report and recommendations will analyze the findings and establish a roadmap to help stakeholders in the legal services delivery system establish priorities, allot existing resources effectively and identify opportunities for enhanced collaboration and improvement.