The Paralegal Cup is back! We want to include more colleges, more students, more licensees and more judges! We want to help more paralegal students enhance their skills and become effective and responsible advocates. And we need your help to make this a reality! 

We are asking for donations to cover the cost of student awards, our banquet dinner to celebrate our students and other miscellaneous expenses that are part of running a moot competition.

The Unique Role of Ontario’s Paralegals

In 2007, the Law Society of Upper Canada began licensing Ontario's paralegals in an attempt to regulate non-lawyer, yet factually competent, legal service providers. Paralegal licensing is reflected in the 2006Access to Justice Act.After much debate, the Ministry of the Attorney General, the Law Society of Upper Canada and Queen's Park agreed that Ontario's paralegals are an instrumental and profound solution to Canada's nationwide struggle to provide cost efficient representation and Access to Justice for the public.

Entrusted with this duty to solve the Access to Justice problem, paralegals must:

-  complete a demanding community college program

-  pass a substantive and ethics based exam

-  complete at least 120 hours in a work placement with a licensee

-  continue their education by completing Continuing Professional Development training

-  comply with a stringent “good character” requirement

-  conduct themselves with honesty and integrity

-  comply with the Rules of Paralegal Conduct, which are enforced by the Law Society of Upper Canada

The Development of the Paralegal Cup

In 2013, Fallon Burns was elected to the Board of Directors of the then Paralegal Society of Ontario, now Ontario Paralegal Association (OPA), a paralegal professional association. Fallon set out to create new opportunities for paralegal students across Ontario. As the Student Director, Fallon teamed up with her Humber College Paralegal Degree classmates, Karen Fair and Doug Taylor, to create a skills competition for paralegals. This skills competition, referred to as a "mooting competition," allows paralegal students to network with senior paralegals and to develop their oral and written advocacy skills.

Most importantly, the competition offers paralegal students practical training from mentors who would teach them to be better legal advocates for Ontario's public.

The first Paralegal Cup was hosted at Humber College Lakeshore Campus in Toronto, Ontario in November 2013. Thirty-five (35) paralegals, five (5) lawyers and several Deputy Judges of the Small Claims Court attended the Paralegal Cup to teach our next generation of paralegals. Humber College, Centennial College, Canadian Business College and Seneca College sent teams of students to compete in the event. Further, students and community members were able to hear key speeches from the elite of Ontario’s legal community. Benchers of the Law Society of Upper Canada, Ontario Justice Education Network, the Federal Crown and members of the Board of Directors of Legal Aid Ontario spoke at the banquet and further enriched the experience for all. 

This Year

The Paralegal Cup promises to be an event that far exceeds the success of last year.  Speakers are attending the banquet from the upper echelon of Ontario’s legal and academic community.  It is without a doubt that the student participants and the community members attending will benefit greatly from being able to participate in the weekend long event.  Moreover, it is the public of Ontario, the people relying on the ease and affordability of proper access to justice that benefit from advocates who have challenged and developed their skills in advocacy.