January 12, 2021
New Learning Centre Modules
New modules on when and how a lawyer should withdraw services, and lawyer delegation and supervision of others have been released on the Law Society's Learning Centre.

The Withdrawal of Service Module covers:

  • The circumstances in which lawyers must withdraw services, and the circumstances in which lawyers may withdraw services;
  • The procedure for withdrawing services;
  • How to not place a client in a position of disadvantage as a result of withdrawing legal services; and
  • Rights and obligations when transferring a file to new counsel.

The Delegation of Tasks and Supervision Module covers:

  • Tasks that may and may not be delegated to legal assistants and other staff; and
  • Supervision responsibilities lawyers have over non-lawyer staff members.

Visit the Learning Centre for modules on other topics including trust accounting, client identification and verification, retainers, file retention and conflicts.
Surrogate Reform Project Update
The Surrogate Reform Committee, the Surrogate Rules Advisory Committee and Justice Digital
have been hard at work in their efforts to modernize and streamline the process of applying for Surrogate
Court grants.

In September, feedback was requested from the profession about the digital application process and a first draft of the Application for a Grant of Probate. The overall response was very positive and the variety of comments reflect the breadth of issues and concerns facing Surrogate practice.

The current version of the Application documents is available in this information package. Feedback on this version is welcome can be emailed to surrogatereform@sagecounsel.com by Friday, January 29.