Paralegals are a step closer to being permitted to offer at least some family law legal services, as the number of Ontarians who represent themselves in family court soars. She recommended paralegals be allowed to provide some family law legal services unsupervised, including appearing in family court. Bonkalo recommended that paralegals be allowed to represent their family law clients in court, other than at trials. “Access to justice is a serious challenge in the family justice system, where approximately 60 per cent of litigants represent themselves and struggle to resolve their personal family law disputes,” he said. Many of these people find the task of navigating the family law system alone difficult and confusing.”In response to the opposition to paralegals in family court, the president of the Ontario Paralegal Association emphasized that there will be an educational component to a specialized licence for paralegals to provide family law services.

Source: thestar January 02, 2018 22:41 UTC