Paralegal Program

Our Paralegal Program is a Law Society of Ontario (LSO) Accredited Program and has been designed to provide you with the education you need to become a paralegal. In Ontario, paralegals are licensed and regulated by the 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.

Notes

Hybrid Delivery Announcement:

This program is currently participating in the LSO-approved Hybrid Delivery Project, and this will continue until further notice from the LSO. Information on the project can be found in the Paralegal Standing Committee Report November 26, 2021 and details of the George Brown College implementation will be emailed to all students. For more information, contact us using the department contact information on this web page.

LSO Remote Learning Policy:

In any course where more than 35% of hours are offered remotely, you must keep your video engaged throughout each class (although backgrounds may be blurred for privacy).

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 be comfortable using a computer with Microsoft Office. If you do not meet this requirement, you must complete our COMP 9727 Microsoft Office Fundamentals course.
You must have a strong proficiency in both spoken and written English. In order to demonstrate this, you must provide proof of a post-secondary diploma/degree from a recognized English-language institution or you must provide proof of a passing score on an English-language post-graduate proficiency test. If you do not meet the English-language requirements, you must complete our General English Assessment (GEA), complete our college English course – COMM 2017 Communicating Across Contexts – and, if assigned to it in your GEA results, its prerequisite – COMM 1162 Introduction to College Communication.

If you started courses prior to September 2023, you must complete our COMM 2017 Communicating Across Contexts course (which replaces our discontinued College English course) or you must have an approved equivalent and apply to transfer your credit to George Brown College.

How to Apply

You must complete the Paralegal Program online application form and you must email all documents required in support of your application to celegal@georgebrown.ca. (Do not send any extra documents that are not required.) 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 application form before you register for courses or you may be withdrawn at any time.

Completion Details

This program can be completed in anywhere from 24 months (in its compressed format) to a maximum of 36 months (with program coordinator approval only). 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. (However, graduates of this program are not eligible to attend the college's convocation ceremonies as those ceremonies are for full-time program graduates only.) Program graduates are eligible to apply for admission to the LSO's two-part paralegal licensing process.