B.C. is not following Ontario’s example of licencing paralegals as independent of lawyers, but they are taking steps to deal with the demand in a way that is more acceptable to the body of lawyers in B.C. The B.C. Law Society has been working on an alternative scheme that allows paralegals operating under the supervision of a lawyer to have more responsibilities or permitted activities.

The B.C. Law Society has decided to define paralegals as highly trained legal assistants who are lawyer supervised. The newly defined “Paralegal” in B.C. will do advocacy work in lower courts and tribunals, but not as independently licensed paralegals as in Ontario, but as an employee of a law firm or lawyer.

For B.C. colleges Hart’s ‘Paralegal’ program incorporates all practice areas as the graduates would have the potential to work on real estate, family, corporate, etc. files for a lawyer or handle their own landlord/tenant or small claims court files. They will need independent legal skills like advocacy, interviewing and negotiations.

Program Licencing:

Hart Legal Educational Services has developed detailed curriculum, student materials and various class and instructor resources for legal courses covering legal knowledge areas, competencies and skills required for this vocation. Hart Legal supports the courses through an online Learning Management System (LMS) which includes quizzes, tests & exams.

The Program may be licensed by a Private Career College. Hart Legal will assist with the PCTIA program registration.

Interested? Contact Hart Legal Educational Services for more information