Welcome to the Family Lawyers Association of Ontario!
What We Do Generally
The Family Lawyers Association of Ontario (FLA) represents the interests of Ontario
family law practitioners at various government and law society levels, dealing with
issues such as legislative amendments, Legal Aid, paralegals, and policy analysis.
What do we do for you?
-
Advocacy – The Family Lawyers Association is often called upon to make submissions on various issues that affect our members.
-
Education – Our Board works hard to ensure that our members are updated on relevant policy changes, important news and upcoming events, and opportunities for Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
-
Community – Board Members sit on and contribute to various associated committees, including: the Alliance for Sustainable Legal Aid (ASLA), the Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) Family law Advisory Committee and the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) Treasurer’s Liaison Group.
-
Continuing Education – Board members sit on the planning committee for the 311 Jarvis Open Bar Series and North Toronto Family Court Education Committee [NTFCEC]. This is a way for our members to have input on the type of programs offered in the two series. We also notify members of each program.
-
Social / Networking – We occasionally organize and host opportunities to help family lawyers meet, discuss relevant issues, and also to have fun!
-
Information Distribution to Members – We keep our members appraised of developments and events relevant to family law and practice.
Here are some highlights from the 2022-2023 year:
-
We have been actively and strongly advocating for an increase in the LAO tariff, lowering the eligibility threshold, and increasing the authorized hours. We have met and will continue to meet with Legal Aid Ontario (LAO), the Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG), and the Alliance for Sustainable Legal Aid (ASLA) regarding these issues.
-
We have been a strong voice in advocating against the Family Legal Services Provider Licence (FLSP) licence, on its’ own and with other lawyer associations.
-
We will continue to advocate for the membership and will make our position know regarding the rollout proposals and implementation of the FLSP licence.
-
We have met with the Courts to share the views of our membership regarding in person versus virtual appearances.
-
We made written submissions to the Federation of Ontario Law Associations’ (FOLA) National Requirement Committee regarding mandatory family law competencies and training at law schools.
-
We made written submissions to the LSO regarding Mandatory Succession Planning for family law lawyers.
-
We provided input to the Federation of Law Societies of Canada regarding the National Standards in Family Law.
-
We made submissions to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on the issue of public access to the virtual court.
-
We provided input to the Attorney General of Ontario with respect to criteria and process of appointing King’s Counsel in Ontario.
-
We re-launched our website in 2024, creating a more modern and user-friendly website to keep the membership informed and engaged.
-
We continue to partner with the 311 Open Bar Program and the North York educational committee to provide programming to our members. This year, we brought several additional programs to our members, including a Caselines [now Case Center] training session, a workshop on applying the Separation Date Assessment Guide, and a two-part workshop on CanLII legal research and drafting in family law.
FLA Board of Directors
2023 - 2024
Interested in Joining the Board of Directors?
Join us at the next AGM! More information will be shared on our events page, or contact us at familylawyersassociation@gmail.com with any questions.
You can also contact us anytime to join a subcommittee of the Board. Current subcommittees include the Legal Aid subcommittee, the Advocacy subcommittee, and the Communications subcommittee.