intro pt.2

In Ontario, paralegals are regulated and have a distinct role from lawyers. They can provide legal services such as giving advice, helping with legal documents, and representing clients in certain situations. However, there are limitations to what they can do, such as drafting wills or contractual documents. They can represent clients in small claims court, traffic court, minor criminal matters, and tribunals. Okay, so jumping right into it, first we should discuss what regulation currently looks like. So the only province that has paralegals regulated is Ontario. So basically in Ontario they have a distinction between the practice of law and the provision of legal services. So the practice of law is reserved for the lawyers and the provision of the legal services is more of what the paralegals do, what me and you will be doing later on. So basically paralegals are able to give some legal advice, help people with legal documents, and they can even represent somebody before an educative body such as a court or tribunal. And they can negotiate legal interests, rights, or responsibilities of a person. But there are restrictions that paralegals can come across. So for example, in Ontario, while they can do all of that, they wouldn't be able to draft a will or any sort of contractual documents or anything more transactional in nature. They can represent people in small claims court, traffic court, some minor criminal matters, and tribunals.