AI for Paralegals in Ontario: 5 Office Jobs to Hand Over, and What the LSO Expects

A paralegal practice in Ontario runs on two kinds of work. There's the work your licence is for: advising a client, drafting the claim, standing up at the Landlord and Tenant Board or in Small Claims Court. And there's the office around it: the intake procedure, the reminder about an unpaid account, the welcome email, the same six questions answered every week.

AI for paralegals is useful in the second kind this month, at no extra cost, and risky in the first. This guide covers five office jobs a small practice can hand over, three that stay with the licensee, and what the Law Society of Ontario has put in writing. We aren't licensees and this isn't legal or professional-conduct advice. Where it matters, we link the Law Society's own page.

What the Law Society says about AI for paralegals

The Law Society of Ontario hasn't banned generative AI. Its guidance applies the rules you already work under. The practice note is called Generative AI: Your professional obligations, dated April 10, 2024, and it sits with a quick-start checklist and a policy checklist on the Law Society's technology page for paralegals. It names six duties and cites the Paralegal Rules of Conduct for each.

• Competence (Rule 3.01). Understand what the tool can and can't do, and verify anything you rely on. The note is specific: the check is done by a human being, not by the AI.
• Confidentiality (Rule 3.03). Read the tool's terms. Redact identifying, sensitive or confidential information. Where anonymizing can't protect confidentiality or privilege, explain the risk and get the client's informed consent first.
• Honesty and candour (Rule 3.02). Tell the client when AI use is relevant to the services and may affect their interests, the outcome or the cost.
• Supervision. The note compares an AI tool to a non-licensee employee: you delegate properly and you check the work. If you have staff, write a firm policy.
• Fees (Rule 5.01). No hidden charges. An AI cost passed on as a disbursement has to be fair, disclosed in good time, and billed at actual cost.
• Not misleading the tribunal (Rule 4.01). Validate anything AI-generated before it goes in front of an adjudicator, and keep a record of how you checked it.

One part of the note has aged. In April 2024 it said no Ontario court or tribunal had issued AI guidance. That's no longer true, and the section on filing below has the update.

Five office jobs to hand over this month

None of these five needs a client's name, and none produces legal advice. That's the reason they're on the list.

1. The firm's AI policy

The Law Society recommends a written policy for any firm with employees, and it's the fastest job here. The AI Usage Policy Writer prompt asks what tools the office uses and what sensitive information you handle, then writes one page: what's encouraged, what never goes in a prompt, who checks the output. Put the Law Society's six duties in as your sensitive-information section. Our one-page AI policy template has the wording for a Canadian office if you'd rather start from a filled-in page.

2. Procedures that live in your head

Say you run a two-licensee practice in Windsor with one assistant. How a file gets opened, how limitation dates get into the calendar, what happens when a hearing notice arrives: all of it lives in one person's memory. The SOP Writer interviews you with six questions and turns the answers into a numbered procedure a new assistant can follow. No client information goes in. You're describing your process, not a file.

3. The new-client first week

The Client Onboarding Checklist Builder works backward from the first thing a client should see, usually a filed application or a demand letter sent, and lists every step from signed retainer to that day with an owner on each. The document request goes out once instead of in four emails. Clients who hear nothing in week one start calling. This fixes that.

4. Unpaid accounts

The Invoice Chaser builds a four-message sequence that starts friendly and gets firmer. Put "Client A" where the name goes and add the real name when you send. Read the last message twice before using it: a paralegal's collection letter has to stay inside the fee rules and your retainer agreement, and the prompt doesn't know either one.

5. The questions you answer every week

How long does an L1 application take? What does Small Claims cost to file? Can I be evicted in winter? The FAQ and knowledge base builder turns a pasted list of those questions into a draft FAQ page. Strip names and file details before pasting, write the answers from your own notes, and check every answer against the current rule or fee schedule before it goes on the site. It's legal information, and your name is on it.

The setup, before any file goes near it

• Turn off model training. In Claude on the Free, Pro and Max plans: Settings > Privacy > Help Improve our AI models. In ChatGPT: Settings > Data controls > Improve the model for everyone. The Law Society's note warns that many tools train on what you type, and both of these are on by default.
• Anonymize as a habit. Client A, the landlord, the property. If the task doesn't work without the real name, it's the wrong task for a general chatbot.
• Keep a log. The quick-start checklist asks for a record of prompts and inputs. A running document with the date, the task and what you checked is enough for a small office.
• One workspace per kind of work. A Claude Project for procedures, one for client communication templates. Our lesson on how to use Claude Projects covers what to upload and what to leave out.

Three jobs that stay with the licensee

• Case law. General chatbots invent citations that look real. Research in CanLII, open every case, read the paragraph you're quoting. Ontario's Superior Court now has lawyers certify that every authority in a factum is authentic, and its civil practice direction (updated March 17, 2026) tells counsel and litigants to verify citations in authoritative sources. That direction doesn't cover Small Claims Court, but the duty not to mislead the tribunal does.
• Advice and strategy. The practice note says AI should not be relied on to perform duties only a licensee can perform. Whether to file, what to claim, when to settle: those are yours.
• Intake and conflict checks. A chatbot or phone bot that screens new clients is collecting confidential information before a conflict search has run. If you're considering one, our AI receptionist cost guide covers the general purchase, and the Law Society's Practice Management Helpline is the place to ask about the conduct side.

Before you file anything AI touched

Rules differ by forum, and they've moved since 2024. The Ontario Land Tribunal's practice direction has applied to hearing events from March 30, 2026. Any document with AI-generated content must open with a declaration naming the person who reviewed and verified it. No declaration is needed when AI only suggested edits to text a person wrote. A missing or false declaration can lead to a costs award. The Federal Court has asked for a similar statement since December 20, 2023.

We haven't found an equivalent declaration rule for every Ontario tribunal a paralegal appears before, and these directions change. Check the practice directions page of the specific court or tribunal on the day you file.

Where to start

Write the one-page policy first. It takes twenty minutes and it's the thing the Law Society asks for. Then pick the procedure your assistant asks you about most and run it through the SOP Writer. For a scored view of where AI pays off across the practice, the free AI Opportunity Audit covers seven areas of the business in one sitting, and the Claude for Small Business course walks through the setup.