User:Brent.Nyznyk/sandbox/Michelle Lea Haigh

Michelle Lea Haigh

Michelle Lea Haigh, Licensed Paralegal, and owner of Precision Paralegal Services. She is the longest-serving Paralegal Bencher at the Law Society of Upper Canada (the regulating body for all 6000+ Ontario paralegals) and was re-elected for her third term in 2014. She is the only Paralegal Bencher that has served on the Paralegal Standing Committee since the inception of Paralegal Regulation in 2007. Michelle was instrumental in building the process around regulating paralegals, developing the Professional Code of Conduct, and the discipline process. From 2016-2020 Michelle sat as a Director on the board at Legal Aid Ontario where she focused on how the legal industry can utilize paralegals better, especially in under-serviced areas that create access to justice issues. Michelle represented the Law Society of Ontario from 2016-2018 on the Federation of Law Societies and is the only Paralegal who has served in the federation. In 2018, Michelle went to Ukraine to discuss the role of paralegals in Canada on behalf of the government of Canada. She is a strong advocate for Paralegal regulation across Canada and has spoken to the Law Societies of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia.

In 2020 Michelle was awarded the William J. Simpson Distinguished Paralegal Award recognizing her extraordinary commitment to her profession. Having operated Precision Paralegal Services since 1996, she has mentored countless paralegals and frequently shares her expertise through professional education programs. She has been instrumental in the significant advances made in paralegal regulation in Ontario through her leadership and contribution as a Law Society Bencher.

Michelle founded Precision Paralegal in 2008 and it has grown to become Canada's largest Small Claims Court focused paralegal firms in Canada servicing clients in Ontario and Alberta. Precision's 20 experienced paralegals have 20,000 combined hours of courtroom experience and have recovered over twenty-five million dollars for their clients.