Canada

In Ontario, paralegals have established themselves to be competent legal service providers in many practice areas and are now entrenched in the legal services landscape. Here's what the United States can learn from our experience.

Last month, it was announced that reforms to Canada’s Divorce Act will be delayed due to COVID-19, highlighting just how important it is that courts prepare for this and other types of possible disasters. There are a number of practical steps courts must take now in order to meet people’s needs in a world where going to a physical courthouse is even more difficult—and dangerous.

The National Self-Represented Litigants Project has released its 2018/2019 report on the demographics of SRLs in Canada, including their income, education level, party status, and experience with legal services. While some of the results may come as no surprise, others are more eyebrow-raising.  

Technology has always been a key component of efforts to expand the realm of legal services. Yet, Ontario's former Attorney General Chris Bentley argues that the biggest roadblock to the development of direct to consumer legal technology tools is the lawyer monopoly on legal services.

The percentage of self-represented litigants in many state family courts is substantial. According to a new post by the National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP), these self-represented parties often feel like outsiders in a court system that appears to them as a private club. 

The National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP) recently published a paper that looks at costs awards to self-represented litigants (SRLs) in Canadian courts. The paper notes the leading Canadian cases in which SRLs have been ordered costs awards and analyzes the development of these principles in family law matters. Generally, the report concludes that Canadian courts have broadened SRLs’ ability to obtain costs. 

The National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP) has launched a new resource in Canada. The National Database of Professionals Assisting SRLs contains contact information for attorneys offering unbundled legal services, and paralegals and other professionals willing to offer affordable services.

The National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP) recently released Canadian data on case outcomes for self-represented litigants (SRLs). These new figures come shortly after NSRLP published research showing that in cases where a self-represented litigant faces a motion for summary judgment brought by a represented party, 95% of SRLs will have their cases dismissed. 

Courts in many countries have been striving to provide various services to help facilitate the increasing number of self-represented litigants who need their services—especially in family law cases. In Ontario, Canada, the National Self-Represented Litigants Project recently published An Open Letter to the Canadian Judiciary, meant to encourage a dialogue between self-represented litigants (SRLs) and judges, who may struggle at times to effectively assist SRLs in their courtrooms.

Legal Aid Ontario, which promotes access to justice for low-income individuals, recently created programs that provide services to couples wishing to divorce as long as one individual makes less than $18,000 and the other does not make more than $50,000. If couples qualify, the program provides "a whole different avenue that people can now access to resolve their family law problems."