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  • Alternative Business Structures (ABS)

    I've been monitoring this development for the last couple of years. For those of you that aren't familiar with ABS, this would allow non lawyers to provide legal services to the public and also allow non lawyers to have voting ownership of lawyers businesses.

    They invited the public to submit suggestions which I did prior to the April 30, 2016 deadline. Justice Anne-Marie Bonkalo is gathering information and will release her report September 30, 2016.

    Chris Bentley (former politician) and now with LIZ (Legal Innovation Zone) at Ryerson University predicts within 18 months, ABS will be offered by at least one Canadian Province and once that happens it's game over for the rest.

    The President of LSUC (Law Society of Upper Canada) was asked if he felt lawyers could continue without non lawyers to help and he answered "No".

    I think once non lawyers are allowed to provide legal services, things will improve greatly. Personally I think I could offer financial calculations at 1/5th the cost of lawyers in maybe 1/10th the time and unlike lawyers actually be competent.

    Lets all hope that if this is implemented, it is the beginning of the end for lawyers and we can eliminate this scourge from Family Court and actually get competent people to make decisions.

  • #2
    Here is the likely future for Family Law in Canada...

    Accounting firms will represent you in court.

    The advantages they have over lawyers include but are not limited to:

    1. They know how to calculate income
    2. They have technology that will make Divorcemate look amateurish
    3. They can fairly divide assets
    4. They can value pensions and split them properly
    5. They would analyze the case and charge a flat fee (not this archaic billable hours crap)

    Check out this article. Wait till they discover the inefficiencies and incompetence of our Family Court system.

    Lexpert ® | Lawyers: Accountants are eating your lunch

    Comment


    • #3
      I would offer a word of caution that many of these accounting firms employ people who are not certified accountants. Similarly many people don't know that bankruptcy trustees do not have to be accountants, they merely take a course, pass an exam and put our their shingle.

      I do, however, feel that an accountant is one of the most under-used (and often times less expensive) tools for family law matters.

      I personally would never have hired a lawyer who didn't have formalized training/certification in business or accounting. It isn't common to find a lawyer with these credentials.

      Comment

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