How working through NEO works

1. 1

   Step 1: Apply online

   Tell us about your licence, the areas you practise in and where you work. It takes a few minutes and costs nothing.

2. 2

   Step 2: A person reads your application

   Someone at NEO reads it and checks your standing on the Law Society directory. We reply by email, whatever the answer.

3. 3

   Step 3: A call with us

   If it looks like a fit, we arrange a call to talk through the files you take, how the fee share works and any questions you have.

4. 4

   Step 4: Insurance and conflict checks

   You show us proof of professional liability insurance that meets the Law Society’s By-Law 6 and names you as an insured, with at least $1,000,000 per claim and $2,000,000 in the aggregate. We check the names on your current client list against NEO’s records for conflicts, as the Paralegal Rules of Conduct on changing firms (rule 3.05) require, and ask only for what that check needs.

5. 5

   Step 5: The written agreements

   We send you an Independent Contractor Agreement and a Confidentiality Agreement. Take the time you need, and your own legal or tax advice if you wish. Nothing is agreed until both of us sign.

6. 6

   Step 6: Your portal account

   You receive an email to set your password for the NEO portal, where the matters you accept appear.

7. 7

   Step 7: Your desk fee billing link

   You can pre-authorize a card for desk fees through a private billing link, adding the card on Stripe’s secure page. Nothing is charged when you add it, and the first desk fee that could apply is for your first full calendar month.

8. 8

   Step 8: Record NEO in LSO Connects

   Add your relationship with NEO in the Business Relationships section of LSO Connects. Which work status applies to you is for you to settle with the Law Society.

1. 1

   Step 1: A matter comes to NEO

   A client contacts NEO, or you introduce a client of your own. Either way it becomes a NEO matter, on NEO’s retainer and in NEO’s name.

2. 2

   Step 2: You decide whether to take it

   You accept or decline each file offered to you, on whether it suits your practice areas, your competence and your capacity.

3. 3

   Step 3: NEO’s conflict check comes first

   Before any work starts, the matter goes through NEO’s firm-wide conflict check. NEO may decline a matter, for example because of a conflict or because it is outside the paralegal scope of practice.

4. 4

   Step 4: The client signs NEO’s retainer

   The client signs NEO’s retainer agreement electronically, and the case opens in NEO’s portal with where it came from recorded: firm-sourced, brought in by you, or excluded work. That record sets your share.

5. 5

   Step 5: You run the file

   You do the work under your own licence, in NEO’s systems: the case, its calendar and deadlines, tasks, documents, court forms and messages. Emails you send clients from the portal go out when you send them; they are not held for an administrator’s approval.

6. 6

   Step 6: NEO bills, and the client pays NEO

   NEO issues every invoice. The client pays NEO, by card online through Stripe or into NEO’s trust account. You never take client money personally, in cash or any other way.

7. 7

   Step 7: Closing the file

   When the work is done, NEO closes the file once nothing is left in trust for it, and keeps the closed file and its records.

1. 1

   Step 1: Fees collected in the month

   We take every client payment NEO received on your matters during the calendar month (Toronto time). Fees billed but not yet paid wait for the month they are paid in.

2. 2

   Step 2: Each payment is applied in order

   HST first, then disbursements (filing fees, couriers, process servers, copies, mileage and the like), then fees. Only the part that lands on fees is shared.

3. 3

   Step 3: The share for each matter

   Each matter’s fees are split by where it came from, as recorded when the file was opened: firm-sourced (50% to you), brought in by you (90% to you) or excluded work (100% to you).

4. 4

   Step 4: HST on your share, if you are registered

   13% is added to your share, and you invoice NEO for it.

5. 5

   Step 5: Adjustments, and the desk fee if it applies

   Agreed adjustments (for example a filing fee you paid yourself) are added or taken off line by line. If the month’s desk fee is owed and hasn’t already been paid (for example by your card), it is taken off.

6. 6

   Step 6: Your statement and payment

   By the 15th of the next month you receive a Payment Statement listing each matter, its fees, the share, HST, any adjustments, the desk fee and the net payment, and NEO pays you. Your desk fee notice for the month (amount due, waived, or a receipt) is emailed before any card charge.

Try your own assumed numbers in the fee share calculator. It is an illustration, not a forecast: what you earn depends on the files you receive and accept, the fees NEO collects and your own work.

1. 1

   Step 1: Notice

   Either of us can end the agreement with 30 days’ written notice, or immediately for serious misconduct, a breach of confidentiality, or a suspension or loss of licence.

2. 2

   Step 2: Files are handed over properly

   The files stay with NEO, and you help transfer each one to whoever will carry it on. A client can always choose their own representative, and any transfer follows the Law Society’s rules.

3. 3

   Step 3: You are still paid for your work

   You are paid your share of fees NEO collects later for work you did, on the usual monthly statement.

4. 4

   Step 4: Afterwards

   For 12 months you agree not to solicit NEO clients you worked for to move their matters, although the client’s own choice is always respected. Update your business relationships in LSO Connects.

Which page do you need?

• The terms in one table, worked examples and a calculator: the fee share.
• The portal, the research and drafting tools and the client portal: what you get.
• The Law Society, tax and privacy rules behind the model: the rules.
• Ontario lawyers looking for referrals or agency work: For Lawyers.
• Paralegal students and licensing candidates: files are offered only to P1 licensees, so please apply once you are licensed. If your program approves a supervised placement for credit, see For Students.

General information only

This page describes how licensed paralegals can work with us. NEO Legal Services Professional Corporation is a licensed paralegal firm (Mo. Farooqui, Licensed Paralegal, LSO licence P21785), not a law firm. It is general information, not legal, tax or employment advice, and it is not an offer or a contract: terms apply only once a written Independent Contractor Agreement is signed by you and NEO, and where this page and the agreement differ, the agreement governs. NEO does not guarantee any number of files or any income. Each paralegal remains responsible for their own obligations under the Law Society of Ontario’s rules and by-laws.

Would this suit your practice?

Tell us about your licence and the files you take. Applying is free and commits you to nothing.