Scope of Paralegal Practice Policy

Purpose

NEO Legal Services Professional Corporation is a licensed paralegal firm, not a law firm. Ontario paralegals may provide only the legal services that the Law Society of Ontario's By-Law 4 allows. This policy explains that scope, what NEO does not do, and how we check every matter before we accept it, so that each client gets help from the right professional.

Who it applies to

Everyone who works at or with NEO: the principal and every licensed paralegal, including independent contractor paralegals, and every employee and student. Only a licensee decides whether a matter is within scope.

What a licensed paralegal may do

Under section 6 of By-Law 4, a licensed paralegal may give a party legal advice, represent them, negotiate for them and prepare documents for a proceeding, or an intended proceeding, in these places:

1. Small Claims Court, for claims of up to $50,000, not counting interest and costs (the limit since October 1, 2025).
2. The Ontario Court of Justice under the Provincial Offences Act, for example Highway Traffic Act charges, other provincial offences and municipal by-law charges.
3. Summary conviction court under the Criminal Code, but only for the offences By-Law 4 allows: those for which an accused could appear through an agent before certain 2019 Criminal Code amendments (Bill C-75) came into force, plus four specific driving offences the By-Law names. Not every summary offence qualifies, so a licensee checks the exact charge and section. If the Crown proceeds by indictment, the matter is no longer within scope.
4. Tribunals created under an Ontario or federal statute, such as the Landlord and Tenant Board, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal, the Social Benefits Tribunal and the Licence Appeal Tribunal. For a federal tribunal, we also check that the federal law governing it allows a paralegal to represent a party.
5. Statutory accident benefits claims before a mediator, evaluator, arbitrator or the Director acting under the Insurance Act, other than a claim by someone who has, or appears to have, a catastrophic impairment.

The work must relate to a proceeding in one of these places. Advice or documents that aren't connected to such a proceeding can be outside scope even when the subject seems familiar.

Family law: only with FLSP authorization

By-Law 4 allows a paralegal who has completed the approved Family Legal Services Provider (FLSP) training program, passed the Law Society's FLSP examination and registered with the Law Society to provide a short list of family law services:

• an uncontested divorce, or one started by a joint application, where divorce is the only claim and the parties ordinarily live in Canada;
• filing a domestic contract with the court under subsection 35 (1) of the Family Law Act, where the parties ordinarily live in Canada;
• an application to the court under subsection 7 (3) of the Change of Name Act, after the Registrar General has refused a change of name application;
• a motion to change child support for a child under the age of majority, seeking only the table amount, in narrow circumstances: among other limits, the parties must ordinarily live in Canada, and the payor must not be self-employed, must earn no more than $150,000 a year, none of it outside Canada, and their income must be fully shown by T4 slips and the total income (line 15000) on their tax return, with no income imputed and no expert evidence about it. Special or extraordinary expenses, shared or split parenting time and undue hardship are excluded;
• the enforcement of support (or costs ordered about support) under a court order or a filed domestic contract, as long as there is no likelihood of an order for anyone's imprisonment.

NEO provides family law services only through a licensee who holds FLSP authorization in good standing, and only within these limits. Everything else in family law, including contested divorces, property division, spousal support, decision-making responsibility and parenting time, restraining orders and child protection, is referred to a family lawyer. If no NEO licensee holds FLSP authorization at the time, every family matter is referred.

What NEO does not do

These matters are outside a paralegal's scope. We don't take them on, and we refer them:

• actions and applications in the Superior Court of Justice, other than in Small Claims Court and the FLSP family matters above;
• appeals heard in the Superior Court of Justice or a higher court, and every appeal or judicial review in the Divisional Court, including appeals from Small Claims Court and judicial reviews of tribunal decisions;
• Small Claims Court claims above the court's limit;
• criminal charges that By-Law 4 doesn't cover, and any charge the Crown proceeds with by indictment;
• family law beyond the FLSP services above;
• wills, powers of attorney and estates;
• real estate purchases, sales, mortgages and title work;
• corporate and commercial work, such as incorporations, shareholder agreements and buying or selling a business;
• applications to government, including many immigration applications, that are not part of a proceeding before a court or tribunal within scope.

Referring to a lawyer

When a matter, or part of it, is outside scope:

1. We tell the person as early as possible, in writing where appropriate.
2. We point out any deadline we know of, without advising on the out-of-scope matter, as our Engagement and Non-Engagement Policy explains.
3. We offer a referral. See Lawyer Referral, our Referrals to Other Professionals Policy and our Referral Fees Policy. A referral never costs the client anything, and the client chooses whom to hire. The Law Society Referral Service at findlegalhelp.ca is another option.
4. If part of the matter is within scope, we may act on that part only, under a written limited scope retainer, with a lawyer handling the rest. See our Limited Scope Retainers Policy.

Checking scope at intake

1. Intake gathers the facts that decide scope: the court or tribunal, the type of matter, the amount claimed, the exact charge and section, and any family, property or estate issue.
2. A licensee decides. Before a retainer is offered, a licensee confirms the matter is within scope and records that decision on the file, along with the conflict check and identity verification.
3. When in doubt, we treat it as outside scope until a licensee confirms it, using the Law Society's guidance or its Practice Management Helpline where needed.
4. The retainer says what is included: the forum and the services. Anything else is not.
5. We check again when a matter changes, for example when a claim grows past $50,000, the Crown elects to proceed by indictment, a decision is appealed to the Divisional Court, or a family issue arises. We tell the client promptly in writing, protect deadlines we can within scope, and help them move to a lawyer.

Staff and students

• Office staff do not give legal advice, accept clients or tell anyone whether a matter is within scope. They pass those questions to a licensee, as our Supervision and Delegation Policy requires.
• Students do not give legal advice on their own. A student may help prepare what the supervising licensee advises, but the advice is the licensee's. See our Students and Placements Policy.
• No one at NEO says or suggests they are a lawyer, or that NEO is a law firm.

How we describe ourselves

In all our marketing, we identify ourselves as licensed paralegals and advertise only services within a paralegal's scope, as our Marketing and Advertising Policy requires. We advertise family law services only while a NEO licensee holds FLSP authorization, and only those services. Whenever we say we provide legal services, we make the limits of that scope clear.

Review

This policy is reviewed at least once a year, and whenever By-Law 4, the Small Claims Court limit or the Law Society's rules change. The principal approves every change.

Questions

Questions about this policy go to the principal. Email info@neolegalservices.com, call 647-200-3526 or toll-free 888-519-2435, or write to us at Unit 236, 1099 Kingston Road, Pickering, Ontario L1V 1B5.