The systems behind your files
The desk fee ($250 plus HST, $282.50, waived in full in a month with fewer than 5 qualifying firm-sourced matters) and NEO’s share of the fees cover your workspace, the firm’s systems and support. You keep your own licence and your own judgement. Here is what that includes, as it stands today.
- One portalCases, calendar, documents and messages
- NEO trustClient money never passes through you
- By the 15thYour monthly statement and payout
Workspace
Somewhere to work, if you want it. Where and when you work on your files is up to you.
A workspace in Pickering
A workspace at our office, Unit 236, 1099 Kingston Road, Pickering, ON L1V 1B5.
Running your files
A NEO portal account for the matters you work on, with every file, date and document in one place.
Cases
Each matter in one place, with its proceedings, documents, notes and a Facts & Timeline view for the facts and the chronology.
Calendar
Appointments by day and month, with the client, the matter and the meeting details.
Deadlines and Doc Tracker
Court dates, filing deadlines and limitation periods across your matters, and a checklist of the documents each matter needs.
Tasks and My Day
Tasks across your files, and one list of what needs you today.
Time
Billable time recorded on each matter.
Messages and email templates
Emails to clients from the case, filed on it, with templates for the common ones. They go out when you send them.
Notifications
Alerts in the portal and, if you allow them, push notifications on your phone or computer.
Opening matters properly
The steps every new NEO matter goes through before any work starts.
Intake
New enquiries and NEO’s intake forms, followed through until the person becomes a client.
Conflict Check
A search of names across the whole firm for conflicts of interest, run on every new matter, including one for a client you bring in.
Agreements and e-signing
NEO’s retainer agreements and intake forms sent to clients to sign electronically, and documents you sign yourself.
Client identification
Client identification as part of NEO’s client onboarding.
Court and tribunal work
For the courts and tribunals where a licensed paralegal may appear.
Court Forms
Ontario court and tribunal forms to fill in, with help from AI if you want it; reopen and edit a filled form, and copy its details to the case.
Court Rules
The rules for each court and tribunal, to read alongside the file.
Filings
A record of the documents filed with courts and tribunals on each matter.
Letters
Letters on the firm’s letterhead, signed and filed on the matter.
Litigation Support
Collect and organize the evidence and disclosure in a contested matter.
Research and drafting
Tools to find the law and draft faster. Several use AI.
Case Research and CanLII
Search and save case law, and look things up on CanLII.
Case Library
Canadian decisions to search and read in the portal.
Ontario & Federal Laws
Ontario statutes and regulations from e-Laws, and federal ones from Justice Canada, with AI answers to questions about them.
Legal Copilot, Drafting and Document Analyzer
Ask questions, draft documents for a matter, and upload a matter’s documents for an AI review; research can be saved as PDFs.
About the AI tools
Anything an AI tool writes is a draft. You check it against the law and the facts, you are responsible for anything you use, and the confidentiality rules apply to what you put into it. The tools do not give legal advice, and they are never used to screen applications.
The client side
NEO’s client portal, which every client on your files can use.
Agreements and documents
Clients sign their agreements and share documents with you securely.
Messages and appointments
Clients message you and book appointments from the portal.
Invoices and payment
Clients see their invoices and can pay them online by card through Stripe.
Hearing reminders
Clients get an email reminder a week before, and the day before, a court or tribunal date they must attend.
Money and paperwork
NEO bills and collects, so you never handle client money.
Invoices and payments
NEO prepares every invoice and takes every payment, by card online or into NEO’s trust account.
Trust records
NEO keeps the trust account and its records, so money held for your clients is never in your hands.
Your monthly Payment Statement
By the 15th of each month, by email: each matter, where it came from and its percentage, the fees collected, your share, HST, adjustments, the desk fee and the net.
Your desk fee notice
Each month, by email: amount due, waived, or a receipt, with the month’s count of qualifying firm-sourced matters.
A private card link
If you choose to pre-authorize a card for desk fees, NEO keeps only the card type, the last four digits and the expiry; the rest stays with Stripe.
What you bring yourself
- Your professional liability insurance, which must meet the Law Society’s By-Law 6 and name you.
- Your Law Society annual fee and continuing professional development.
- Income tax and Canada Pension Plan contributions (as a self-employed person you pay both portions of CPP).
- HST on your share, which you collect and remit to the CRA if you are registered.
- Your own computer, mobile phone and data, travel and parking.
What NEO doesn’t do
- Guarantee any number of files or any income.
- Direct how you do the work. That is for you, under your licence, within the client’s instructions and the Law Society’s rules.
- Provide benefits or vacation pay, or deduct income tax, CPP or EI from your payments.
- Allow NEO’s systems or name to be used for work outside NEO.
General information only
The features on this page are described as they stand today and may change. NEO Legal Services Professional Corporation is a licensed paralegal firm (Mo. Farooqui, Licensed Paralegal, LSO licence P21785), not a law firm. This page is general information, not an offer or a contract: what NEO provides is set out in your written Independent Contractor Agreement, and where this page and the agreement differ, the agreement governs. The fee share in full.
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