Beware ticket fighters.

For those of you like me, who like to fight tickets as a hobby for family members or friends,

One of the prosecutors I dealt with for my friend's ticket, he filed a complaint with the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) that I was providing legal services without a licence and the LSUC sent me a cease and desist order, even though the LSUC by-laws clearly allow individuals to provide legal services without a licence to family and friends.

I replied back asking for further clarification because of the specific provisions in the LSUC by-laws and the Law Society Act; waiting to hear back.

I have local prosecutors "watching" me as well, but I have advised them of what the law says:

- You can represent yourself as many times as needed per year and you are not considered to be provinding legal services.

- You can represent FAMILY as many times per year as you want, and you are LEGALLY providing legal services.

- You can represent FRIENDS and NEIGHBOURS up to 3 per year, and you are LEGALLY providing legal services.

Send them this (and always take a copy to court with you):

LAW SOCIETY ACT

Not practicing law or providing legal services

1. (8) For the purposes of this Act, the following persons shall be deemed not to be practising law or providing legal services: 3. An individual who is acting on his or her own behalf, whether in relation to a document, a proceeding or otherwise.

LAW SOCIETY ACT

Interpretation

1. (1) In this Act, "person who is authorized to provide legal services in Ontario" means, (b) a person who is not a licensee but is permitted by the by-laws to provide legal services in Ontario;

Exception, non-licensee practising law or providing legal services

26.1 (5) A person who is not a licensee may practise law or provide legal services in Ontario if and to the extent permitted by the by-laws.

Same

26.1 (7) A person who is not a licensee may hold themself out as, or represent themself to be, a person who may provide legal services in Ontario, if,

(a) the by-laws permit the person to provide legal services in Ontario; and

(b) the person specifies, in the course of the holding out or representation, the restrictions, if any,

(i) on the areas of law in which the person is authorized to provide legal services, and

(ii) on the legal services that the person is authorized to provide.

LSUC BY-LAW 4 - PART V - PROVIDING LEGAL SERVICES WITHOUT A LICENCE

Providing Class P1 legal services without a licence

30. The following may, without a licence, provide legal services in Ontario that a licensee who holds a Class P1 licence is authorized to provide:

Acting for friend or neighbor

30. 4. An individual,

i. whose profession or occupation is not and does not include the provision of legal services or the practice of law,

ii. who provides the legal services only for and on behalf of a friend or a neighbour,

iii. who provides the legal services in respect of not more than three matters per year, and

iv. who does not expect and does not receive any compensation, including a fee, gain or reward, direct or indirect, for the provision of the legal services.

Acting for family

30. 5. An individual,

i. whose profession or occupation is not and does not include the provision of legal services or the practice of law,

ii. who provides the legal services only for and on behalf of a related person, within the meaning of the Income Tax Act (Canada), and

iii. who does not expect and does not receive any compensation, including a fee, gain or reward, direct or indirect, for the provision of the legal services.

I had a JP do this to me! Unfortunately I did not have a copy at the time. I've only been back to traffic court once since then (for someone else) and did not need to argue this as the charge was withdrawn.

If a JP still does not allow you to represent your family member/friend even after citing the LSA and LSUC, what would you do?

I would make sure to object and then since a conviction will most likely follow, I would file an appeal and get a Judge to overturn the decision.

ShrekTek wrote:I would make sure to object and then since a conviction will most likely follow, I would file an appeal and get a Judge to overturn the decision.

So you would have the defendant attempt to do the trial?

Another related question: if you are representing a friend and you are also a witness, what should you do if the court orders the witnesses to be excluded?

Personally I would just say I object and walk out and leave the court room completely. For an appeal, you need to pay for official transcripts, so the less time in the court room, then less it costs. If the defendant is asking you to help, then they most likely are not skilled enough to do the trial anyway. On an appeal I would ask for charge to dropped, or alternatively I would ask for a new trial with an order that you can be their counsel.

As far as being able to represent somebody and also testify as a witness, this is very much frowned upon. I have not been able to find anything that says you can not do it, but there is sure is a lot of stuff saying that it should not be allowed. I think you will have an uphill battle trying to represent somebody and then also getting the JP to let you testify.

Google the following:

lawyer witness jekyll hyde

And also read this case law:

Stanley v. Douglas, [1952] 1 SCR 260, 1951 CanLII 30 (SCC) http://canlii.ca/t/22rwh