Opening the Flood Gates or the Access Gates? Licensing and Regulation of Paralegals for Access to Justice in Nigeria and Canada
Date
2025-02-11
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
We live in a world where, most times, the law’s promises go unfulfilled. The access to justice crisis, specifically the unaffordability and unavailability of legal services, makes it impossible for most people to access the remedies the law provides. In this thesis, I examine the problem of access to legal services in Nigeria and Canada. The central focus of this thesis is whether and how community-based paralegals in Nigeria can help improve access to legal services, mainly by providing services for legal needs that usually involve the formal justice system. I specifically seek to answer the question of whether Nigeria needs to make changes or adjustments to its community-based paralegal model to make it capable of meeting these important legal needs or whether, in addition to that model, there is a need to adopt the “independent paralegal” model some provinces operate in Canada.
To answer this question, I use Canada as a case study. I examine how the regulation of legal services in Canada through the “profe
Description
Keywords
Access to Justice, Access to Legal Services, Legal Services Gap, Paralegals, Community-based Paralegals, Independent Paralegals, Limited Licensee, Licensing, Regulation.
Citation
Degree
Master of Laws (LL.M.)
Department
Law
Program
Law