Paralegals & Legal Secretaries

A London careers college has become Southwestern Ontario's first school to offer an accredited course to train paralegals. Westervelt College has had a paralegal program since 1997, but until recently the field was largely unregulated, said Westervelt vice-president Richard Doerr.

That began to change in 2006 when the province passed legislation requiring mandatory post-secondary training and licensing for paralegals.  Paralegals are not qualified lawyers but often act as legal agents, typically in areas such as traffic offences, small claims court and some legal tribunals.

The Law Society of Upper Canada, the governing body for lawyers and the legal profession in Ontario, is supervising the accreditation of paralegal courses in post-secondary schools.  Doerr said Westervelt welcomed the establishment of professional standards and moved quickly to get accreditation for its paralegal course.

"So many people were acting as paralegals without proper training, insurance or a code of professional ethics," he said.

Existing paralegals can still practice if they demonstrate their experience and education meets the new standards.  Doerr said several community colleges in the Toronto area have an accredited paralegal course but Westervelt is the first in the London region. Demand for paralegals is growing, he said.

The Westervelt course includes instruction from a team of six lawyers and graduates about 40 to 50 students a year.  Westervelt is Canada's oldest private vocational college, dating back to 1885. (Source>>>)