Dec. 10, 2021 – 7:28 AM -New Family Law SCJ Form; New Fees for Court Transcripts; LSO Call for Comment re: mandatory minimum compensation for experiential training for lawyer licensing candidates

  1. The SCJ has posted a new Motion to Change Endorsement form for Family Lawyers.  You can find more information online here. I have also attached the new form.
  1. The Ministry of the Attorney General is proposing changes to the court transcript fee structure that align with the move to digital documents in Ontario’s courts.  The existing Ontario Regulation for Fees for Court Transcripts (Ontario Regulation 94/14) can be found here.

The proposed updates include:

•     a new per page rate for a first copy of a certified electronic transcript;

•     clarification that the existing $20 flat rate fee is for a certified or uncertified electronic copy requested at another time from the first (electronic or print) copy order;

•     an increase to the existing per page rate for a first copy and additional copy of a certified printed transcript; and

•     clarification that only the first copy of any paper transcripts required to be filed to the Court of Appeal or Divisional Court are subject to the regulated rates that can be charged by ACTs. (In this scenario, an electronic transcript could be ordered at the same time for no extra charge.)

MAG is now seeking input on the proposed changes and FOLA will be preparing a Submission.  If you want to send comments for FOLA’s consideration, please send them to Katie Robinette at katie.robinette@fola.ca by December 14th.  Alternatively, you can send your comments directly via the online link (bottom of the page) by December 22nd.  Learn more: Administration of Justice Act, Ontario Regulation 94/14 (O. Reg. 94/14), Fees for Court Transcripts.  If you have any questions, please contact Court Reporting Services, Court Services Division at CourtReportingServices@Ontario.ca.

  1. The Law Society of Ontario is seeking input on your views about mandatory minimum compensation for experiential training for lawyer licensing candidates. As you may know, in December 2018, Convocation approved enhancements to the experiential training component of the lawyer licensing process which when implemented would require mandatory minimum compensation. A subsequent report to Convocation in November 2021, recommends that the Law Society adopt a best practices approach to compensation which encourages rather than requires that all experiential training placements be paid a mandatory minimum compensation.  This issue was debated at November’s Convocation and it was decided that Benchers needed to further consult on the matter.  Emails received on this matter will be provided to members of Convocation for review.  For more information, please visit here.

FOLA will be preparing a submission and if you would like to send your comments for consideration, you can send those to Katie Robinette at katie.robinette@fola.ca by February 1, 2022.  You can also send your comments directly to: PolicyConsultation@LSO.ca.  The LSO’s deadline for comments is March 15, 2022.    

Please share with your members.

Katie W. Robinette

Executive Director

FOLA.ca

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