The following scenarios contain information which you must use the knowledge accrued during your Ethics & Professional Responsibility course to correctly respond to the questions.
Good luck!
Scenario One
You have been working as a paralegal for a long time and consider yourself to be very experienced. You are involved in a matter where the paralegal on the other side is less experienced than you are, and it shows. These was an informal meeting held with our respective clients, the opposing council and a mediator where you couldn’t help but make some comments about “Junior”. After the meeting was over, the other paralegal approached you separately to ask you not to refer to him that way again, but you think he is overreacting. It was only an informal meeting, and really, you think the nickname suits him. Did you do anything wrong?
Scenario Two
A lawyer has asked you to act as “Agent” to do a debtor examination in the Superior Court of Justice because he is now unable to attend on his client’s behalf. You have done many before in Small Claims Court and am very familiar and capable.
How should you respond to the lawyer?
Scenario Three
You represent the Plaintiff in a Small Claims Court matter where you negotiated a settlement with the Defendant. You gave an undertaking to hold the settlement funds in trust until certain conditions were met, and though your client has not met those conditions, she has instructed you to release the funds to her.
How should you handle this situation?
Scenario Four
Your new receptionist has come to you with a concern after dealing with a long time client. She felt uncomfortable with the tone of the conversation she had with the client and with the client’s staring intently at her during the conversation. You assured her that this is just the client’s way and that none of your other employees have ever had a problem with him.
Is there anything else you need to do?
Scenario Five
As a paralegal, you have only dealt with clients in matters revolving Ontario Disability Support Program claims. One of your clients has received an eviction notice from his landlord and needs immediate assistance.
How should you handle this matter?
Scenario Six
You are retained by a tenant in a dispute against her landlord before the Landlord and Tenant Board. You are currently representing that landlord in an unrelated Small Claims Court matter. Although you received confidential information from the landlord client, it is irrelevant to the tenant’s dispute with him.
Can you represent your client, the tenant, in the Landlord and Tenant Board matter?
Scenario Seven
You are approached by a prospective client who advises you that she ended the relationship with her previous paralegal because she was unhappy with the services she received. The client provides you with her file. The name of the other paralegal is unfamiliar to you. You contact the Law Society to confirm that the representative is a licensed paralegal, but you learn that he is not. You review the client file in more detail and do not find any errors.
Should you report this individual to the Law Society?
Scenario Eight
You have a busy practice and want to hire another paralegal to assist you. The ideal candidate would be available to work extra hours and overtime, which may not be possible for someone who is married or has children.
Can the job description you prepare indicate your preference for a candidate that has no current familial commitments?
Scenario Nine
Your brother’s on-again-off-again girlfriend has asked you to act for her in a Provincial Offences matter. Accepting the girlfriend’s case will help both her and your brother. The Paralegal rules do not specifically prohibit you from acting for a friend or family member.
Should you take on this matter or should you decline to act for the girlfriend?
Scenario Ten
You represent a plaintiff in a Small Claims Court matter. The court scheduled a date for trial. However, in a letter you received from the defendant’s paralegal, it appears that the paralegal thinks the date of trial is a month after it has actually been scheduled. You mention this to your client, and he wants you to just ignore the letter and hope that the defendant and her paralegal miss the trial date.
Should you follow your client’s instructions? Why or why not?
Scenario Eleven
While waiting to be called into court for the first time in your client’s matter, your client makes small talk with the other individuals in the area. He begins loudly questioning the intelligence of the judge presiding over the matter and complains bitterly over how the “system has failed him”. None of the court staff or judges is around, and the other individuals seem to echo or agree with your clients comments.
Should you do anything?
Scenario Twelve
You represent a client in a litigation matter where the opposing side is represented by a lawyer. At an open mediation, your client and the opposing party agreed to settle the action instead of proceeding to trial. My client has advised me that he has since changed his mind and wants to go to trial. I advised the lawyer for the other side, and she responded that she will subpoena my testimony to confirm that you client agreed to settle. Your client does not want you to do so.
What should you do?
Scenario Thirteen
You represent the plaintiff in a matter where the defendant is self-represented. You understand that you need to deal with the defendant directly, but she seems to be relying you on more and more to assist her with her side of the matter.
What should you do?
Scenario Fourteen
You received a letter from the Law Society’s Complaints Services Department asking you to respond to a complaint of misconduct made against you by a former client.
How are you supposed to respond if you cannot disclose confidential information regarding the client or her matter, let alone that she was even a client?
Scenario Fifteen
You have been served with a court order that requires you to attend at court to produce certain documents and information regarding one of your clients.
Do you need your client’s consent? What should you do?
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