Yesterday our Paralegal, Murray Brown, celebrated 5 years with our firm. A “workiversary’ of this length is something that needs to be celebrated and certainly, our Paralegal needs to be celebrated.
In Ontario, the relationship between Lawyers and Paralegals has been a tough one since I’ve been practicing law (23 years) and likely before that. The tensions are flaring again in Ontario as Paralegals push to take on roles in Family Law. We don’t practice in that area of law, but I can understand why it is important a Lawyer be involved when there are complicated assets and custody issues.
In the area of Business Litigation, Murray is an asset to our firm as he handles all of our Small Claims Work. Small Claims is a tough Court to practice in. As with all Courts in Ontario, it doesn’t have enough Judges, so dockets are long and adjournments are frequent. Murray’s patience to guide our clients through the system is one of the things that makes him so good at what he does.
The title “Small Claims” does not accurately describe the types of cases that Murray handles in Court. The monetary limit of our Small Claims Court is currently $25,000.00. That is a lot of money to many Small Businesses. The issues in Small Claims Court can be complicated, particularly when dealing with contracts that are not in writing: this is where Murray’s experience as a Business Litigator really kicks in.
Yes, your business can represent itself in Small Claims, however, with someone like Murray who has over 13 years experience and knows how to get results, why would you, particularly when all of our Small Claims Work is on a flat fee basis.
Congratulations on 5 years with our firm Murray – we look forward to celebrating the next 5 with you as well !
Inga B. Andriessen JD
Lawyer & Proud Co-Worker of Murray Brown, Paralegal