Team to explore potential role for non-lawyers in legal services
A legal services task team has been appointed by the Saskatchewan government to explore the possibility of allowing non-lawyers to provide some legal services to the public.
The team is jointly headed by the Ministry of Justice and the Law Society of Saskatchewan. They will consult with lawyers, the public and other legal service providers to see how access to legal services can be improved.
“Currently there are individuals all over the place who aren’t able to get a lawyer for a variety of reasons,” said Mary Ellen Wellsch, co-chair of the team and a lawyer with the ministry. “There might not be one in their community. They might not be able to afford one. They might not be able to find one who practises in the area of law that they need.”
Also part of the team is co-chair Gerald Tegart, bencher at the Law Society of Saskatchewan, plus three lawyers, three people in the business of providing legal services who are not lawyers, and three members of the general
The line between legal information and legal advice is something that we’ve spent some time exploring.
public. Wellsch said they tried to establish a team with regional and gender diversity. She said ethnic diversity was also a factor.
The team was established after a public survey conducted in April and May of last year.
“Access to justice is a big item in the Ministry of Justice and the Law Society,” said Wellsch. “There have been calls across the country, across the world, for increased access to justice. Particularly, some have asked for the legal profession and the government to look at expanding the role of people other than lawyers providing legal services.”
It’s unclear what type of services could be provided and by whom.
“Well there’s a whole range of things that non-lawyers could do, but we don’t want to prejudge what those might be,” said Wellsch.
Tim Brown, executive director of the Law Society of Saskatchewan, said Section 30 of the Saskatchewan Legal Profession Act prohibits anyone except lawyers from providing any type of legal services.
“The line between legal information and legal advice is something that we’ve spent some time exploring and we haven’t got a definitive answer because it’s a pretty wide open question, depending on the context,” said Brown.
In Ontario, regulated paralegals are allowed to perform some areas of law including representing clients in small claims court, on summary conviction offences where the maximum penalty does not exceed six months in jail or a fine of $5,000 or before an administrative tribunal.
According to Wellsch, the team will be allowed to set their own timelines as long as they’re ready to give their recommendations within the next year. Anyone who wishes to submit suggestions to the team can send an email to LSTaskTeam@gov.sk.ca.