Paralegal Ethics

Specific issues

Scope of Practice

• For all of these reasons, I find that the paralegal is not a suitable adult, and that permitting a paralegal to provide assistance would be inconsistent with the proper administration of justice in the Youth Justice Court. (R. v. K.P.D., 2015 ONCJ 88 (CanLII), <http://canlii.ca/t/ggg5b>.)

Good Character

• Registered sex offender seeks license
• Lawyer not to lose ability to practice, but wife (who is a Judge) may?
• Good Character hearings: Past history can be overcome.
• Good Character hearings: Past disbarment can be overcome.

 Civility

• Not sure if this belongs under civility or mental health, but: Don’t write contracts on toilet paper
• Lawyer taken to task for ‘derogatory comments’ about junior counsel appeals master’s order

Mental Health

• Interesting review of the effects of legal practice on mental health and the effects of mental health on professional responsibility written by Megan Szeto.
• New Legal Assistance Program that will support paralegals although whether or not that support ends up being detrimental to legal practitioners in general remains to be seen.

Undertakings

• Towne v. Miller referenced in the text.

Dealing with Self Represented Parties

• Commentary on Meads v. Meads, a case in which AB Associate Chief Justice Rooke speaks clearly about self represented parties who engage in abusive and vexatious tactics.
  • Finally, some plain talk about a pervasive problem
  • The ‘scourge’ of unrepresented litigants
  • Canada: Alberta Court Skewers Gibberish Legal Arguments
• Supreme Court’s Chief Justice McLachlin states that the Canadian Judicial Council: “… views the increasing numbers of self-represented persons who appear in the court system as a serious matter.” And further suggests: “These principles will assist key participants in the justice system to ensure that self-represented persons are provided with fair access and equal treatment in the courts.”

Dealing with Difficult Clients

• Carole Curtis (now Justice Curtis) discussing dealing with difficult clients in practice.

Client confidentiality

• R v. Murray — solicitor-client confidentiality

In discussing Paul Bernardo’s right to solicitor-client confidentiality during a hearing to see whether the main case should be dismissed due to delay, Justice Gravely mentions:

[21] Justice Quinn in the course of making a ruling on one of the applications in this case expressed eloquently the public importance of the right when he said:

For those who might succumb to a vagrant thought as to how Bernardo, ensconced in penitentiary having been convicted of heinous crimes, has the temerity, and, is permitted, to assert rights both in this court and in the court below, it is to be remembered that the issue here is the quality of those rights rather than the quality of the litigant.
http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2000/2000canlii22631/2000canlii22631.html

• CBS News — 60 Minutes on Alton Logan
• NY Times — When Law Prevents Righting a Wrong

Covering Your Assets

• File retention: How long, How much?
• Managing the Licensee/Client relationship
• Be aware of the potential pitfalls of offering unbundled or untraditional services to clients on a budget
• More information on unbundling legal services without increasing your exposure to liability
  
• From the battlefield: Comments by counsel who have been sued on what they could have done to avoid it