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Law Society Virtual Annual General Meeting

August 10, 2020

The Law Society’s Annual General Meeting took place online on August 10, 2020. A video recording of the broadcast is available by clicking here. See below for answers to questions received during the meeting but not responded to due to time constraints.

Meeting Materials:

Please note that the motion submitted to the Secretary on March 20, 2020 and published below and in the Ontario Reports, and the motions submitted to the Secretary on July 2, 2020, published below, have been withdrawn. As such, there are no motions for the Annual General Meeting.

Questions and Answers

Responses to questions received but not answered during the meeting due to time constraints.

What power does the LSO CEO and her staff have to make changes to the Law Society regulation (such as we saw during COVID-19) without the approval of Convocation?

The Law Society’s Chief Executive Officer is responsible for the management and oversight of the Law Society’s operations and is accountable to Convocation in implementing Convocation’s policy direction and decisions. Convocation has been responsible for reviewing and approving all policy decisions during COVID-19.
When will the Family Legal Services Provider be put into place that the public will actually benefit from the changes?

In June 2020, the Law Society’s Access to Justice (A2J) Committee launched a Call for Comment on a Family Legal Services Provider (FLSP) licensing model. As set out in the FLSP consultation document, final recommendations are to be made to Convocation in 2021, which will be followed by implementation of approved recommendations.
Are the fees charged to paralegals and lawyers related to costs to the Law Society?

Yes, the annual fees paid by lawyers and paralegals support program delivery and administrative activities related to the licensing and regulation of lawyers and paralegals.
Follow up on the address question for the online directory - what do you mean by "take into consideration"; can you explain? Other provinces, for e.g. Nova Scotia, do not publish lawyer addresses; why can’t Ontario adopt that strategy? When you say that regulators are "required in the public interest" to publish addresses, do you mean that this a legal requirement on the LSO under provincial legislation?

The Law Society will consider the comments and questions raised at the meeting about the lawyer and paralegal directory in the context of the Law Society’s regulatory objectives. The directory originates in the Law Society Act’s authority for a licensee register in s. 27.1 of the Act, which Act also includes by-law making authority with respect to the register and its contents. By-Law 8, Part III governs the content of the register.
The Law Society Tribunal’s annual report (page 10 of 24) deals with training courses for panel members on Solicitor-Client Privilege and Litigation Privilege. What are you doing about Paralegal-Client privilege? I was served a Summons to Witness last year to testify against a former client. No assistance was provided by the Law Society.

Rule 13.6 of the Law Society Tribunal’s Rules of Practice and Procedure governs privileged documents and communications. Documents and communications between paralegals and their clients which are for the purpose of legal advice are considered privileged, by both the Law Society Tribunal and the Law Society’s Professional Regulation Division. This position is supported by jurisprudence, and this topic has been addressed in Tribunal adjudicator training.
Was legal aid for paralegals part of the lobby for changes to the Legal Aid Services Act? Will Legal Aid be available to paralegals in the future? We can provide legal services at a more cost effective rate than lawyers alone.

The Law Society does not have a position on paralegal eligibility to provide legal aid services pursuant to a certificate.
Is there any update on a timeline for restoration of full court services?

For updates on court operations, please continue to refer to the Law Society’s COVID-19 Response page, as well as checking the websites of the Ministry of the Attorney General and specific courts and tribunals for updates.

Terms or Concepts Explained