Paralegal Program

Our Paralegal Program has been designed to provide you with the education you need to become a paralegal. In Ontario, paralegals are licensed and regulated by the Law Society of Ontario (LSO). A licensed paralegal can provide specific legal services and represent clients in certain courts (including provincial offence court, summary conviction criminal court, small claims court and administrative tribunals). In addition to working independently in the areas of law permitted for paralegals, many licensed paralegals also work under the supervision of lawyers in other areas.

This program is an LSO-accredited paralegal education program that can be completed in anywhere from 24 months (in its compressed format) to a maximum of 36 months.

Intake Date(s)

September and January

Admission Requirement(s)

You must secure departmental approval before you can register for courses (see How To Apply). Approval will only be considered if you meet the following requirements:

You must have advanced computer skills. If you do not meet the computer skills requirement, you must complete our COMP 9727 Microsoft Office Fundamentals and our COMP 9191 Microsoft Word course or our COMP 9719 Microsoft Word (Distance Learning) course.
You must complete the General English Assessment and score high enough to be assigned to College English. If you do not meet this requirement, you must complete our ENGL 1030 Skills for College English course.

How to Apply

You must complete the Paralegal Program online entrance form. If you are accepted, you will receive an email within seven business days (excluding college closures) of the day we receive your application. Once you receive your confirmation, you can register in your Term 1 Module courses. You must complete the entrance form before you register for courses or you may be withdrawn at any time.

Completion Details

You can only receive exemptions from the Legal Studies department for a maximum of 40% of the program's total courses. Once you have completed all the requirements of this program with a cumulative grade average of C (63%) or better, you can request to receive a certificate using the department contact information on this web page. Program graduates are eligible to apply for admission to the LSO's two-part paralegal licensing process.