05/30/2026
Recently the CBC reported a story about a Calgary paralegal, who was successful in getting a judgment on a Court of Justice civil matter involving a contractor on behalf of a client, but apparently has yet to pass along awarded funds to his client.
This is unfortunate on many levels. First of all, the creditor should be getting their awarded funds. Secondly, this has probably ended the career of an otherwise good person, although we know nothing of the specific circumstances of this situation.
Thirdly, this has brought into question whether having non-lawyer agents in our marketplace for civil litigation is in fact a good thing.
Very first of all, is such a practice legal? In Alberta non-lawyer court agents are permitted to represent clients in the Court of Justice. In fact Rainbow Investigations is one of a number of paralegal agencies representing clients in this level of Court, and have been doing so since 2002.
Do Alberta non-lawyer court agents have to be licensed and insured? Currently, this is an unregulated area and practising court agents do not require to be licensed.
At the moment, it is not absolutely mandatory that paralegal court agents carry errors and omissions insurance. However, some court agencies, including Rainbow Investigations, carry such insurance. Rainbow Investigations was the first paralegal firm practising in the Court of Justice to carry such insurance, and has done so since 2019.
Unfortunately, not all non-lawyer court agent agents belong to any type of professional organization. Rainbow Investigations is one of the few that belong to the Alberta Professional Paralegal Association.
Why would someone use a paralegal court agency in Alberta, as opposed to a law office for a civil litigation case? The primary reason is cost. Most paralegal agencies charge clients anywhere from $100 to $150 an hour. Most law offices, for doing very similiar work in the Court of Justice, cost anywhere from 3 - 5 times as much. Many times law offices will assign very junior lawyers to Civil Division cases. These new lawyers usually have nowhere near the court experience Rainbow Investigations has.
Are paralegals in the Court of Justice as effective as lawyers? No representative, lawyer or paralegal, can absolutely guarantee every case will be successful. However Rainbow Investigations does have a track record over 24 years of being amoung the most successful paralegal agencies in Alberta. We have won cases over clients represented by law firms on numerous occasions.
Do clients have a good experience when working with Rainbow Investigations? Just see our referrals listing and we can have previous clients let you know of their experience with Rainbow Investigations.
