More affordable legal advice and representation for British Columbia businesses and consumers may be coming if a transformation of the province’s legal profession becomes a reality.
Governors of the Law Society of BC have approved in principle recommendations by an internal task force to certify and regulate paralegals in B.C., and to merge the regulatory operations between the Law Society and the Society of Notaries Public of BC.
Art Vertlieb, president of the Law Society, told Business in Vancouver, “We’re really focused on the justice system and people receiving advice for commercial transactions and the whole gambit of legal issues. The initiative [potentially] gives a range of options for companies large and small. Large corporations have small cases and it gives them the option to have paralegals represent their case rather than have a lawyer. It gives consumers more choices.”
Currently, paralegals in B.C. provide legal work under the supervision of a lawyer because there isn’t a certification program for paralegals. Generally, paralegals have not been allowed to represent clients in court, although some have through a two-year pilot project in specific jurisdictions in the province.
While paralegals have tried for more than 20 years to become certified and regulated under the Law Society of BC, there is growing recognition now that the costs of using lawyers for certain types of cases has limited access to legal advice and representation in B.C.
According to a 2010 Provincial Court Judges Association of B.C. report, 90% of civil litigants, 40% of people charged with criminal offences and 90-95% of family law litigants appear before the court without a lawyer.
While the details over the task force proposals need to be discussed, Vertlieb suggested, “Paralegals can learn to go to small claims court, deal with cases there, commercial disputes, people arguing over contacts, phone bills, ICBC cases or corporate disputes in small claims court which has a limit of $25,000. Instead of hiring a lawyer, you [could] have the option of hiring a paralegal.”
Wayne Braid, CEO of the Society of Notaries Public of BC, was cautiously optimistic about the potential of increasing affordable access to legal services under the proposed recommendations. Along with the possibility of merging regulatory functions with the Law Society, the industry is hoping that changes in the legal profession will include broadening the work available for notaries in B.C.
Currently, notaries provide legal services primarily for real estate transactions, estate planning and preparing legal documentation like wills and representation agreements. Braid hopes notaries could also provide legal services relating to the probating of estates, preparing marriage, separation and uncontested divorce documentation and provide corporate support for entrepreneurs.
But changes to the legal system in B.C. are still years away, even though demand for affordable legal services remains high.
“I think there’s huge public demand. There are so many stories about people representing themselves because they can’t afford a lawyer. And you have all these self-help books to do your own divorce or family settlement agreement, but even with those books, people are worried about doing it properly,” said Braid. “It’s just become far too expensive to go to lawyers and people are looking for an alternative.”
