Following a year in which less than half of Ontarians in family court cases had legal representation, the province is starting a consultation and review that it hopes will reform the system to provide better access to family court legal services.

Family court includes cases with potentially huge consequences for the people involved, such as divorces, child custody and access, and child support. Yet in 2014-15, more than 57 per cent of Ontarians in family court were representing themselves. The Ministry of the Attorney General says this is at least partly because only lawyers (as opposed to paralegals, law clerks and law students) are allowed to provide legal services in family court.

To lead a review of the situation and make recommendations on reforms, the province has appointed Justice Annemarie Bonkalo, who was chief justice of the Ontario Court of Justice until last spring.

The terms of the review set out three objectives:

Identify the legal services at different stages in a family law matter that, if provided by persons in addition to lawyers, could improve the family justice system by better enabling people to resolve their family law disputes;
Identify persons other than lawyers (e.g., paralegals, law clerks and/or law students) who may be capable of providing those family legal services with appropriate safeguards put in place (e.g., education, training);
Recommend procedures, mechanisms and/or safeguards (such as education, training, insurance, regulation and/or oversight) to ensure the quality of family legal services provided by alternate legal service providers.

The ministry said the review will not include child protection matters under the Child and Family Services Act.

A consultation document with nine discussion questions has been released online for public feedback to assist in the review.

The consultation is being done in partnership with the Law Society of Upper Canada, which regulates who can provide legal services in the province. The society would have to amend its bylaws and its Rules of Professional Conduct for non-lawyers to be able to take on more responsibility in family court.

The society would also need to review the education and training of paralegals if their responsibilities were expanded, and the document notes the province is considering creating "sub-classes of licences for specialized practice areas" for paralegals.

"In order to determine whether to permit paralegals or others to provide legal services in family law without the supervision of a lawyer or, alternatively, to promote the provision of such services under the supervision of a lawyer, the consultation seeks to find out about what kinds of legal services in family law are currently being provided in everyday practice," the document says.

Any changes would also need to include consideration of whether paralegals can be qualified for Legal Aid Ontario services (legal services made available to low-income individuals).

In looking at examples of other jurisdictions, the document highlights a two-year pilot project in British Columbia that began in 2013, and a new rule that took effect in Washington State in 2012. Both provided for more opportunity for non-lawyers to assist in family courts, but neither program has had a formal evaluation made available yet.

Feedback on the consultation document is available until April 30, 2016.

Review aims to improve access to family court legal services

Read this for free.