law Assignments

0 | P a g e

Law Firm Legault Arruda & associés

End-of-study project - Paralegal techniques Collège CDI. Administration. Technologie. Santé.

1

As part of your End-of-study project, you will have to work and respond to all requests from the

Legault Arruda et associés Law firm. It is an office that brings together lawyers practising in

several areas of law as well as notaries.

You will have to apply all the concepts learned in class in order to hand over your completed files to your employer.

Your files will be sent to you in phase with delivery deadlines to be met. Any delay will be sanctioned based on the number of days of lateness.

When you submit completed files or ask questions of your employer, you will need to write a professional email that respects all the rules seen in class, including the confidentiality notice and the full address.

Phase 1: Code of Ethics

You are employed by Me Jean-Claude Van Damme, of the Legault Arruda & Associés Law Firm, a general partnership. Your office is located at 2020 Mercier Boulevard, Suite 52, Laval, H7N 1M1. Me Van Damme's email address: [email protected]. The phone number at the office is 450-662-6470. The fax number at the office is 450-658-7894. Code: LA-5796

To complete the billing, Me Van Damme provides you with the following information:

 File opening fee: $150.00 (Lump sum)

 A paralegal's hourly rate: $85.00

 Me Van Damme hourly rate: $250.00

 GST: 197846541245 QST: 45784915467

Me Van Damme informs you that he is newly appointed to sit at meetings of a group that wants to form the Association of Paralegals for CDI College. Administration. Technologie. Santé. He is sending you a draft of the Code of Ethics that they developed during the last meetings. Here is what is required in this file:

Client's Name: Association of Paralegals of CDI College. Administration. Technologie. Santé.

Representative: Sylvain Généreux

Address: 338 Beauport Street Montreal, Quebec, H4S 8M5

Phone: 450-623-7595

Email: [email protected]

File number: 3214-2

Advance fee: $250

2

Work to be completed:

 Using the skills achieved in the 1 and 2 Word Processing courses as well as Law Review and Methodology, please correct the layout of the text and produce a clear table of contents;

 Using the skills achieved during the course of Ethics and Legal Financial Management, find the five ethical errors. Write a memo to Me Van Damme by specifying the articles of the Code of Ethics for Lawyers that were not respected. Make sure you follow the rules of the McGill Canadian Guide to Legal Citation;

 Using the skills achieved during the Legal Drafting courses as well as Bilingual legal terminology, please complete the missing definitions and specify the terms in English;

Additional instructions:

Billing and agenda

 In order to complete the billing, you need to write down your time and keep track of what you have done by specifying the date, file number, task performed and time invested. For example, you can write in a Word file:

TIME SHEET

Date: May 25, 2020 File number: 3214-2 Task: Fixing of the layout Time: 1 hour

Date: May 26, 2020 File number: 3214-2 Task: Insertion of the table of materials Time: 0.5 hours

 You must also enter the delivery time and reminders in the Outlook electronic calendar. You will eventually have to send everything to Me Jean-Claude Van Damme, who will verify your ability to keep an agenda.

Delivery deadline:

3

Phase 2: Argument plan and annotated bibliography

Me Van Damme is now asking you to prepare three files by starting the initial research. Anxious to make a good impression, you reassure him by telling him not to worry, that you will take care of the files and that he will not regret it.

FIRST MANDATE

Your client, Mr. Jacques Daniel, is accused of driving while impaired. At the time of his arrest, he categorically refused to submit to the alcotest. You know that a person who refuses to comply commits an offence (s. 320.15 (1) C.cr.). Indeed, a peace officer who has reasonable grounds to believe that a person has driven a means of transportation while impaired may require that person to provide a breath sample (s. 320.28 (1) a) i. C.cr.). Me Van Damme is considering challenging the actions of the peace officer in court on the grounds that they are contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He requests of you to prepare the main elements that he could possibly use in the event they were to challenge the accusations.

Client name: Jacques Daniel

Address: 493 Légaré Street, Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, J8E 2R1

Phone: 450-547-2214

Email: [email protected]

File number: 3512-1

Deposit fee: $100

SECOND MANDATE

An independent association representing the rights of merchants offering contact services (such as

hairdressers or masseurs) has decided to retain the services of Me Van Damme. In response to the

Public Health Agency's decision to postpone the opening of their businesses until January 2021,

the association has asked your firm for help in challenging this decision that puts their survival at

risk. In order to convince the governmental authorities, Me Van Damme wishes to challenge the

discretionary power of governmental agencies. More specifically, he intends on relying on

Roncarelli v. Duplessis as well as the Baker cases. From memory, he recalls that he could use a

passage from the decision that states that there is "nothing like absolute and unfettered "discretion,"

for instance, where the administrator could act for any reason or for any reason that would come to

his mind." He asks you to research the limits to the discretionary power and to prepare the main

elements that he might invoke if he decides to legally challenge the decision.

4

Client's Name: Traders Association

Representative: Robert Laporte

Address: 235 Placentia Street, Repentigny, Quebec J6A 7B6

Phone: 450-368-1053

Email: [email protected]

File number: 1002-1

Deposit fee: None

THIRD MANDATE

Mr. Gascon met with Me Van Damme to help him regularize his situation. Like millions of people

around the world, Mr. Gascon is stateless, which means he is deprived of having a nationality.

Stateless people may find it difficult to enjoy basic rights such as going to school, seeing a doctor,

holding a job, opening a bank account, buying a house or even getting married. The client asks

what can be done to allow him to regularize his situation and live normally in Canada.

Statelessness is an international issue and Me Van Damme is not a specialist in the field. He wants

you to prepare a report in which you will discuss the requirements to apply for Canadian

citizenship and the documents to be provided.

Client’s Name: Richard Gascon

Address: 2014, South Church Road, Mont-Laurier, Quebec J9L 0C7

Phone: 450-882-5464

Email: [email protected]

File number: 1003-1

Deposit fee: None

5

Work to be completed:

 Using the competence acquired during the Computerized Legal Research course, please analyze the research request, determine the problem and identify relevant information in the computerized legal databases;

 Using the skills achieved during the Legal Drafting and Law review and methodology courses, please write an argumentation plan and an annotated bibliography that outline the results of your research in a clear and orderly manner;

Additional instructions:

The argument plan should include:

 A short introduction (explanation of the legal problem in your own words)

 The main and secondary arguments identified

 A brief conclusion

The annotated bibliography should contain at least:

 The main articles of relevant legislation (if applicable)

 Two relevant court decisions

 One doctrine

The annotated bibliography should contain a list of sources deemed useful in the search and an

explanation of the reason for the selection and how your sources will be used in the text.

Final product:

Each mandate requires the preparation of a document of approximately four pages (including the

argument plan and the annotated bibliography). Make sure you follow the rules of the Canadian

Guide for Legal citation.

Models of argumentation plan and annotated bibliography are available on request.

Agenda and billing

Again, you need to write your time and keep your agenda. Please refer to Phase 1 to refresh your memory about the instructions.

Delivery deadline for the first mandate : 9h00 01/18/2021

Delivery deadline for the second mandate: 9h00 02/01/2021

Delivery deadline for the third mandate : 9h00 02/12/2021

6