Parole application "assistants". Is this for real or a scam?
January 8, 2019 10:14 PM   Subscribe

A family member is (*very unfortunately*) dealing with a legal situation that could possibly end with a short time in federal prison (Canada).

I've been trying to research the parole application process for them. During this research I stumbled upon services for "Parole Application Assistants / consultants", ex someone that will help to make your application more extensive / refined to (hopefully) help the Parole board determine a suitable release plan in the most timely fashion possible.

My question is this: are these services a scam? or are they actually real and are there advantages to hiring them?

--

We've already reached out to their parole officer, lawyer, the John Howard Society and none seem to be able to provide us with a clear answer regarding this.

Any thoughts appreciated!
posted by audio to Law & Government (2 answers total)
 
If the people you've checked in with don't know about this, I would say scam. If it were legit they would know. Also this is something your family member's lawyer should be handling - if I were the lawyer I wouldn't want this done by some random third party I'd never heard of, I would do it myself or have a particular person I associate with who works on these things.

Edited to add: I'm a US lawyer, not a Canadian one, but I think the attorney obligations and expectations are the same.
posted by bile and syntax at 5:43 AM on January 9, 2019 [1 favorite]


Try calling the Law Society of your province. People who help you with applications to administrative tribunals are usually lawyers or paralegals, so the law society should be able to provide some insight into whether that's a regulated field and who is eligible to provide that service.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:00 AM on January 9, 2019


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