NEWS RELEASE - NON-LAWYERS CAN ACT FOR A FEE The Law Society of BC (LSBC) would have the public and news media believe that Independent paralegals are not authorized to practice law according to the BC legal professions Act. However, this is far from the truth. In 2001 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in paragraph 55 of LSBC v. Mangat that: 'The term "other counsel" in ss.30 and 69(1) [of the Immigration Act] cannot be a simple repetition or another way of expressing the concept of lawyers. It is plain from the structure of the Act that this expression is used in contradistinction to the terms "barrister and solicitor". Lawyers are either barristers or solicitors, so "other counsel" must mean non-lawyers.' SCC also ruled that "The Expression "Other Counsel" is not restricted to Lawyers. SCC also referred to both federal and provincial statutes that allowed agents to appear before various tribunals on behalf of their clients. SCC also ruled that "Other Counsel" Can Act for a Fee. In paragraph 63 of this ruling SCC stated that: 'This issue was addressed in R. v. Romanowicz (1999), 45 O.R. (3d) 506, where the Ontario Court of Appeal held that the use of the words "counsel or agent" (ss. 800 and 802 of the Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46) meant that non-lawyers were authorized by law to act for a fee. Although the provision in the case at bar use "other counsel" instead of "agent", the provincial legislation cannot limit the language of the federal legislation to unpaid counsel.' Based on the LSBC v. Mangat (2001) Supreme Court of Canada ruling, non-lawyers can act for a fee in both immigration matters as well as criminal summary matters. As well, since the BC Liberal government passed an amendment to the Workers Compensation Act, non-lawyers can also act for a fee in WCB matters. It is of my opinion that the Law Society does not disclose the above information only to protect their money grabbing members who charge an average of $250 per hour plus taxes and disbursments. Now that comes to a lot more than $250 per hour. The bottom line is that non-lawyers can act for a fee where statutes state that "counsel or agent" may appear on behalf of the client. For more information contact Lee Hanlon at 604-820-2685. L. Hanlon, CD Paralegal http://paralegalconsultantservices.shawwebspace.ca/ Mission, BC Share on Facebook This ad has had 42,079 displays and 2,993 readers