Difference Between Paralegals and Legal Secretaries
In Ontario, Canada, a paralegal can apply to the Ministry of the Attorney General to be appointed as a Commissioner for Taking Affidavits (aka Commissioner of Oaths - the U.S. equivalent of a notary public). If a paralegal holds a valid licence, they are assumed to be a member in good standing with the Law Society of Upper Canada.All applicants (regardless of background or standing) are subject to a criminal background check, and depending upon its outcome, a time-limited commission will be granted.
This link is not necessarily the norm in other jurisdictions. In the United Kingdom for example, notaries are a distinct group, and tend to be solicitors.
Read more about this topic: Paralegal
Famous quotes containing the words difference between, difference and/or legal:
“The difference between people and ideas is ... only superficial.”
—Richard Rorty (b. 1931)
“The difference between de jure and de facto segregation is the difference open, forthright bigotry and the shamefaced kind that works through unwritten agreements between real estate dealers, school officials, and local politicians.”
—Shirley Chisholm (b. 1924)
“We should stop looking to law to provide the final answer.... Law cannot save us from ourselves.... We have to go out and try to accomplish our goals and resolve disagreements by doing what we think is right. That energy and resourcefulness, not millions of legal cubicles, is what was great about America. Let judgment and personal conviction be important again.”
—Philip K. Howard, U.S. lawyer. The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America, pp. 186-87, Random House (1994)