If there were any doubts as to whether pro bono endeavours had become an integral component of the Canadian legal profession and what it offers to a broad swath of society, Lexpert's 2010 Zenith Awards should help to quell them.
Honouring leading Canadian law firms, in-house departments, academics and law students who are committing their time, skills and mentorship to a diverse and valuable range of pro bono activities, the awards highlight the extent to which this country's lawyers have committed to using their skills on behalf of a community that extends well beyond the boundaries of those who are able to pay.
But while our winners – a country-wide collection from all levels of the legal hierarchy – represent a revealing cross-section of the profession's pro bono efforts, our kudos extend to all the nominees whose efforts are no less significant, whether or not they have been honoured at the podium. Indeed, the breadth of endeavour and scope of commitment of all the nominees made the judges' task a very difficult one, with the final choices the subject of much discussion.
What emerges in the end, however, is a picture of a profession that is true to its core, even-handed and diverse in the ambit of its generosity. Among the beneficiaries of the thousands of pro bono hours contributed by lawyers are the poor, the disadvantaged, minority groups, children, environmental groups, Holocaust survivors, health-care system patients, grandparents, unrepresented litigants, athletes, artists and even developing nations such as Haiti and Liberia.
It all adds up to something meaningful that we can all feel good about — not only about ourselves and our skills, but about the experience of humanitarian and human engagement that defines who we really are.
Julius Melnitzer is a Toronto-based legal-affairs writer.
Award Category: Lifetime Achievement in Pro Bono
Project: Access to Justice for Low-Income Individuals
Winner: David W. Scott, QC
David W. Scott has built a career dedicated to the principles of professional excellence, including the recognition of pro bono service as a professional obligation and a commitment to access to justice for low-income individuals. While the space available is inadequate to capture the full scope of his achievements, his work with Pro Bono Law Ontario (PBLO) provides a meaningful snapshot of his dedication. Scott joined PBLO's board when the organization was formed in 2002, and served as chair from 2006 to 2010. Now acting as past president, he chairs a number of committees. He provides pro bono duty counsel services to indigent clients as part of PBLO's multi-award-
winning Law Help Ontario project. He is also Co-Chair of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP's National Pro Bono Committee. During his tenure, Scott's contributions have ranged from ensuring that BLG adopt a national pro bono policy that counts pro bono time as billable time, to travelling across the country to meet with other law firms and provincial pro bono programmers to discuss pro bono and professionalism, to championing PBLO's interests and ensuring that projects like Law Help Ontario can exist and expand to communities across Ontario.
Award Category: At-risk Youth and/or Youth Justice
Project: Pro Bono Law Ontario's Child Advocacy Project
Level: Platinum
Winners (Organizations): Pro Bono Law Ontario/The Advocates' Society/Justice for Children and Youth
Winners (Individuals): 300+ Ontario lawyer volunteers on the CAP roster since program inception
The Child Advocacy Project (CAP), managed by Pro Bono Law Ontario in partnership with The Advocates' Society and Justice for Children and Youth, has helped more than 600 low-income, vulnerable young people receive the public-school education to which they are entitled by law. Regrettably, young people are sometimes unfairly or unlawfully suspended, expelled or excluded from enrolling in school. Some are denied access to special education. Others endure bullying and harassment despite the existence of legal protections. However, many students with legal problems at school encounter difficulty in finding counsel. CAP seeks to address this through volunteer counsel who work to ensure fair process and to promote the legal rights of marginalized students. Volunteer lawyers receive training in education law and are then assigned to young people across Ontario who are encountering difficulties in exercising their legal rights at school. CAP volunteers help students and families understand their legal rights, negotiate solutions to conflicts with school officials, intervene on students' behalf and represent them at hearings and tribunals. CAP's clients also include students with disabilities and young people involved in the criminal justice and child welfare systems, who are often disproportionately impacted by prejudice, discrimination and zero-
tolerance policies.
Award Category: Change Agent: Disability
Project: Parkinson Society British Columbia
Level: Platinum
Winner (Firm): Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Winners (Individuals): Eleni Kassaris, Antonio Turco, Jessica Bullock, Alexandra Luchenko, Jeff Langlois (photo order top to bottom)
Since 2006, Blake, Cassels & Graydon, in partnership with the Parkinson Society British Columbia (PSBC), has provided legal advice to individuals with Parkinson's and helped develop resources to raise awareness of their legal rights. Working directly with individuals who have Parkinson's, Blakes engages in pro bono litigation matters. Discrimination is the most common issue that arises, frequently in the context of a failure to accommodate an individual in the workplace; to barriers preventing an individual from accessing public services facilities; and to pension- and benefit-plan issues. Clients referred to Blakes by PSBC's Executive Director meet with one of several Blakes lawyers, who manage the relationship at the firm. Individual lawyers canvass legal issues and available options directly with the individual, and provide summary legal advice or engage in a pro bono retainer directly, as circumstances require. On the systemic front, Blakes and the PSBC have partnered to develop resources that address issues such as discrimination and accommodation towards individuals with Parkinson's and to present workshops for individuals newly diagnosed with Parkinson's and their caregivers. Blakes also advises the PSBC directly on corporate governance, risk management and policy development.
Award Category: Change Agent: Disability
Project: Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario
Level: Gold
Winner (Firm): Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Winner (Individual): David Sherriff-Scott
David Sherriff-Scott, a partner in the Ottawa office of Borden Ladner Gervais, provides pro bono legal services for children with disabilities and their families. Sherriff-Scott advises and acts as litigation counsel for children who are defined as exceptional pupils under the Education Act, including those with autism, intellectual disabilities and behavioural disorders. He lectures to parents, sits as a parents' nominee on Special Education Appeal Boards, and appears before the Ontario Special Education Tribunal — all to ensure that children receive appropriate educational programming. In one of the most dramatic pro bono cases in which Sherriff-Scott has been involved, Jimmo v. Ontario, he represented the Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario and some individual parents in challenging a proposal by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board to eliminate $5 million for special-needs programs, and convinced the Divisional Court to restore the funding. Sherriff-Scott is also a past director of the Autism Society of Ontario and a past member of the Ottawa Catholic School Board's Special Education Advisory Committee.
Award Category: Change Agent: First Nations and/or Métis
Project: First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada/Assembly of First Nations
Level: Platinum
Winner (Firm): Stikeman Elliott LLP
Winners (Individuals): Nicholas McHaffie, Melissa Hogg, Sarah Clarke (photo order top to bottom)
Stikeman Elliott first provided pro bono legal research services to the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada when it was engaged in a complaint before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in 2007. The clients alleged that Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) underfunded child welfare services for Aboriginal children living on reserves, thereby discriminating between services provided to children living on reserve and those living off reserve. There are between 22,500 and 28,000 First Nations children in the child welfare system — three times the highest enrollment during the residential schools era. The Commission referred the case for a full hearing by the Human Rights Tribunal, but INAC sought judicial review of this decision from the Federal Court. Stikeman Elliott became pro bono lead counsel on the application. Stikeman Elliott's services included preparing research menus to support the complaint before the Commission and taking a lead role on the judicial review by drafting pleadings, factums and materials for the Federal Court, attending on motions and negotiations, and appearing at the hearing. Ultimately, Stikeman Elliott obtained a stay of proceedings, an order giving the Tribunal an opportunity to rule on the issues. The government has appealed the stay order. The eventual form of the process is therefore yet unclear, but Stikeman Elliott will see this case to its conclusion.
Award Category: Change Agent: Gender
Project: Women's Ski Jump Team
Level: Platinum
Winner (Firm): Davis LLP
Winners (Individuals): Ross Clark, QC, Jeffrey Horswill, Monika Gehlen, Morgan Burris (photo order top to bottom)
Starting in 2008, Davis represented a group of women ski jumpers fighting against their exclusion from the 2010 Olympic Games on a pro bono basis. The women claimed that they were excluded solely because of their sex, and that this violated their equality rights under the Charter. The women's claim was strongly opposed by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). The case moved on an expedited basis through the BC courts, with a summary trial in April 2009, an appeal in November 2009, and a leave application to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) in December 2009. Although the women were unsuccessful, the judicial finding that women are in fact being discriminated against is itself an important victory, generally credited with bringing about the inclusion of women's boxing in the 2012 Games. There is now also a good chance that women's ski jumping will be included in the 2014 Games. The project also involved a multi-
disciplinary public-relations campaign and political outreach to all levels of government, led on a pro bono basis by public-relations professional Deborah Folka. At the SCC level, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP acted as Davis's Ottawa agent and Torys LLP volunteered its help, both on a pro bono basis.
Award Category: Change Agent: Gender
Project: N.S. v. R. et al.
Level: Gold
Winner (Firm): Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Winners (Individuals): Bradley E. Berg, Rahat Godil (photo order top to bottom)
Blake, Cassels & Graydon is representing the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, an intervenor in a case involving an appeal by a Muslim woman (N.S.) of an order of a preliminary inquiry judge requiring her to remove her niqab (a veil covering her face with the exception of her eyes) before testifying in court. The two accused demanded at their preliminary inquiry that the judge order N.S. to remove her niqab, claiming that their inability to see all of N.S.'s face infringed their right to a fair trial. The preliminary inquiry judge found that N.S.'s objection to removing her niqab was very strong but that her religious belief was outweighed by the accused's right to a fair trial. He ordered N.S. to testify without her niqab. On appeal, Justice Frank Marrocco of the Superior Court of Justice refused to order that N.S. be permitted to testify at the preliminary inquiry while wearing her niqab, but N.S. has appealed to the Court of Appeal. CCLA's position is that the right to a fair trial does not include the right to prescribe how a witness may be dressed or to control the manner in which a witness gives evidence.
Award Category: Change Agent: Race, Culture and/or Ethnicity
Project: International Human Rights Program — University of Toronto, Faculty of Law
Level: Platinum
Winners: McCarthy Tétrault LLP/International Human Rights Program at the University of
(Firm/Organization) Toronto, Faculty of Law
Winners (Individuals): Mark Freiman, Junior Sirivar, Renu Mandhane (photo order top to bottom)
In April 1991, a pogrom drove 24 Roma families from their homes in Giurgiu County in Romania. The Bucharest District Court convicted 13 individuals of unlawful entry into a person's home and destruction of property. However, each perpetrator received only a three- to six-month suspended sentence, and the compensation awarded to the Roma – often referred to as “gypsies” throughout the proceedings – was paltry. Appeals were rejected. In August 2000, Emilian Niculae, who now lives in Canada but is a member of one of the 24 Roma families, enlisted the help of the International Human Rights Program (IHRP) at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, to seek compensation for community members. Represented pro bono by the Director of IHRP, Renu Mandhane, and McCarthy Tétrault lawyers Junior Sirivar and Mark Freiman (who is now at Lerners LLP), the group filed an application under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms with the European Court of Human Rights. In December 2008, after much legal wrangling, the Romanian government requested that the court strike the case, offering to resolve the issues raised by the application by paying damages totalling €565,000 and promising to prevent and fight discrimination and improve living conditions for the Roma.
Award Category: Change Agent: Religion
Project: Canadian Civil Liberties Association — Multani
Level: Platinum
Winner (Firm): Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Winner (Individual): Mahmud Jamal
In April 2005, Mahmud Jamal, a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt's Toronto office, was pro bono counsel to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) before the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) in Multani v. Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys. The case was brought to protect the right of Sikh schoolchildren to carry religious kirpans to school in Québec, on the basis that such expression of Sikh religious belief is protected by the Charter. The SCC agreed and overturned a unanimous Québec Court of Appeal decision to the contrary, citing the CCLA's factum approvingly. Multani has since become a leading case on the freedom of religion guarantee.
Award Category: Civil Liberties
Project: Canadian Civil Liberties Association — Defamation
Level: Platinum
Winner (Firm): Torys LLP
Winners (Individuals): Patricia Jackson, Andrew Bernstein, Jennifer Conroy (photo order top to bottom)
Torys acted for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) as intervenor in two appeals that helped define the Charter guarantee of freedom of expression in relation to the private-law tort of defamation. Historically, the tort of defamation has been a strict liability tort. While this was always somewhat anomalous at common law, it was long overdue for review in the era of the Charter, since strict liability for speaking or writing seems inherently inconsistent with s. 2(b)'s guarantee of freedom of expression. The two cases involved media outlets (the Ottawa Citizen and the Toronto Star) that had been sued by individuals who objected to certain news stories. In both cases, the media outlets had been found liable for defamation at trial. The appeal before the Supreme Court was intended to determine whether Canadian law would recognize a defence of “responsible journalism.” The Supreme Court embraced this defence, which had previously been accepted by the UK courts, for the purposes of Canadian law, and its incorporation into our jurisprudence significantly changes the nature of defamation law by enabling the defendant to demonstrate that it acted responsibly in reporting on a subject in the public interest (i.e., effectively show due diligence) in the circumstances.
Award Category: Civil Liberties
Project: BC Civil Liberties Association
Level: Gold
Winner (Firm): Lawson Lundell LLP
Winners (Individuals): Chris Sanderson, QC, Keith Bergner, Ron Skolrood (photo order top to bottom)
As part of an ongoing relationship, Lawson Lundell has represented the BC Civil Liberties Association's (BCCLA) intervention on various cases, including two matters in the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) and another in the British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA). The first SCC case, Chamberlain v. Surrey School District No. 36, involved a successful challenge to a school board's ban on books for elementary schoolchildren, prompted by parents' objections that the books expressed views on homosexuality by dealing with same-sex couples as parents. The second SCC case, Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority v. Canadian Federation of Students, successfully challenged the local Transit Authority's ban on political advertising on buses and in bus shelters. And in Victoria (City) v. Adams, the BCCA agreed that the City of Victoria's bylaw banning the erection of shelters in public parks was a violation of the Charter because it denied the homeless the right to protection against the elements.
Award Category: Corporate Law in Non-Profit Sector
Project: Habitat for Humanity Canada
Level: Platinum
Winner (Firm): Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Winners (Individuals): Michael Stevenson, Edward Miller, Carrie Aiken Bereti, Douglas Robertson,
Lauren Temple (photo order top to bottom)
Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) was founded in 1976 in Americus, Georgia. Through the use of volunteers and donations, it builds (and finances the acquisition of, on favourable terms) housing for low-income families and/or single parents. The chapters in the more developed countries, such as the United States and Canada, also undertake building projects in developing countries. HFHI now has chapters or a presence in 93 countries and has built more than 300,000 homes worldwide. The organization is currently building a new home every 10 minutes. The Canadian chapter, HFHC, was founded in 1985 and consists of more than 50,000 volunteers and 72 affiliate organizations from coast to coast. Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP began doing HFHC's legal work on a pro bono basis in 2007. To date, the firm's work for HFHC and its affiliates has encompassed a wide variety of legal matters, including corporate, income and commodity tax, employment and real estate. In 2009 alone, more than 50 partners, associates and law clerks worked on HFHC-related matters.
Award Category: Corporate Law in Non-Profit Sector
Project: Opération Enfant Soleil
Level: Gold
Winner (Firm): Langlois Kronström Desjardins, LLP
Winners (Individuals): Jean-François Gagnon, Sébastien Laprise, Guy Turner, Marie-Geneviève Masson (photo order top to bottom)
Opération Enfant Soleil is a charitable organization that raises funds to support high-quality pediatrics and social-development projects for all children in Québec. Langlois Kronström Desjardins provides Opération Enfant Soleil with up to 250 hours per year of legal services in the firm's practice areas. Since the agreement became effective in April of this year, the firm has assisted with contract reviews, succession matters and professional-liability issues.
Award Category: Education
Project: Lawyers Without Borders Canada — Mission in Haiti
Level: Gold
Winner (Firm): McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Winners (Individuals): Cindy Vaillancourt, David-Emmanuel Roberge (photo order top to bottom)
In February 2009, McCarthy Tétrault, in partnership with Lawyers Without Borders Canada (LWBC), undertook an international pro bono mission in Haiti. As environmental protection and the right to a healthy environment became urgent human-rights issues in Haiti, especially in Port-au-Prince, authorities from State University of Haiti expressed a need for an educational program on environmental law. Two of McCarthy Tétrault's environmental lawyers participated in legal education training in environmental law for the Haitian legal community. The training program helped Haitian lawyers respond adequately to requests for assistance in environmental law and allowed professors to integrate an international perspective on environmental protection into the legal curriculum. More than 150 students in the Faculty of Law and Economics at the State University of Haiti, members of the Haitian legal community and interested members of the public attended the course, many more than originally expected. The McCarthy Tétrault team worked closely with Professor Jean André Victor, an agronomist and expert in environmental law; Élie Méus, Vice-Dean of the Faculty; and Gélin Collot, Dean of the Faculty, whose goal was to organize a master's degree course in environmental law. The lawyers also blogged about their experiences in the National Post, drawing further attention to Haiti's serious environmental issues.
Award Category: Environmental
Project: Evergreen Brickworks
Level: Platinum
Winner (Firm): Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Winners (Individuals): Mena Bellofiore, Kim Harle, Peter MacGowan, Lauren Temple, Larry Winton
(photo order top to bottom)
The Don Valley brick works sat abandoned alongside Toronto's Don Valley Parkway for years before Evergreen, a charity dedicated to making cities more livable, took on its biggest project yet. After an unsolicited proposal by Evergreen to the City of Toronto and a subsequent RFP process, Evergreen was selected by the city to revitalize the derelict industrial site into a community environmental centre showcasing urban sustainability and green design. In 2004, Pro Bono Law Ontario brokered a partnership with Blakes, which committed to helping Evergreen on a pro bono basis. Blakes has since played a critical role in helping Evergreen bring the project to fruition. The firm has worked with Evergreen to conclude, among other things, a 21-year lease with the City of Toronto and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and, in 2009, a $12.5-million loan from RBC. The century-old brick works, which produced the bricks used to build many of Toronto's finest buildings, will comprise 16 heritage buildings and 16 hectares of public space. Construction has started, with a grand opening slated for September 2010. So far, more than 85 Blakes lawyers and law clerks have together worked thousands of hours to help Evergreen realize its vision. Blakes continues to assist Evergreen with the project and its other activities.
Award Category: In-house Legal Department
Project: RBC Law Group Pro Bono Committee
Level: Platinum
Winner (Organization): Royal Bank of Canada
Winner (Individual): Alison Burton, as Chair of RBC Pro Bono Committee
In 2007, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) became the first Canadian company to adopt a formal pro bono policy. RBC has about 150 lawyers worldwide as well as other staff in its Law Group, and all are encouraged to participate in pro bono work. The bank's General Counsel, David Allgood, also recently signed the ACC “Pro Bono Challenge” committing his best efforts to encourage the involvement of at least half of the Law Group's legal staff in pro bono work. The bank's program targets matters that benefit the community as a whole, such as assistance to organizations that support disadvantaged communities, cultural and environmental causes, and public education programs. Through Pro Bono Law Ontario's Volunteer Lawyers Service, the bulk of the bank's legal staff (located in Toronto) are provided weekly with a list of opportunities to assist community groups with specific legal needs. To date, the bank's legal staff members have been involved in a wide variety of work for non-profits including incorporations, governance, charitable tax status, employment and real estate issues, legal-risk assessments and policy development. RBC lawyers have also acted as duty counsel for unrepresented litigants, created precedents, prepared FAQs and supervised law students doing pro bono work.
Award Category: International Human Rights
Project: German Ghetto Work Payment Program
Level: Platinum
Winner (Firm): Baker & McKenzie LLP
Winners (Individuals): Brian Segal, Randall Schwartz (photo order top to bottom)
The German Ghetto Work Payment Program (GWPP) is an initiative of the German federal government to provide compensation to people who performed work while they were in German-controlled Jewish ghettos during the Nazi era. The program represents an effort by the German government to bridge a long-standing gap in the structure of its Holocaust reparations. There are complex restrictions on the type of compensable work performed, which is why the assistance of a lawyer is important to assist survivors in making applications. The Toronto office of Baker & McKenzie partnered with the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) and the Jewish Information Service of Toronto (JIST) to host free clinics to assist Holocaust survivors in filing claims under the GWPP. The firm has also partnered with other organizations looking to assist survivors of the Holocaust in their GWPP applications. These include the Bet Tzedek legal clinic in Los Angeles, which has put together a package of DVD and Internet materials and guides to train volunteers on how to fill out the GWPP claim forms effectively and how to address the most common issues related to the program.
Award Category: International Human Rights
Project: Kazemi v. Iran
Level: Gold
Winners (Firms): Irving Mitchell Kalichman LLP/Torys LLP
Winners (Individuals): Kurt A. Johnson, Mathieu Bouchard, John A. Terry (photo order top to bottom)
Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian-Iranian photojournalist and filmmaker, was arrested by Iranian authorities in 2003 while taking photos of protesters outside Evin Prison in Tehran. She was held incommunicado, tortured and sexually assaulted. After falling into a coma, she was transferred to a hospital, where she died. No one in Iran has been held accountable for these acts. In 2006, Kazemi's son, Stephan Hashemi, sued Iran in the Québec Superior Court. Iran's motion to dismiss the case was heard by the Superior Court in December 2009 and March 2010. Judgment is expected within the next few months and an appeal is likely whatever the outcome. John Terry of Torys acted as Hashemi's attorney from the inception of the case in 2003. After suggesting that Irving Mitchell Kalichman be retained as local counsel in Montréal to handle the litigation, Terry remained involved with the drafting of proceedings and legal arguments, and the recruitment of and liaison with expert witnesses. Kurt Johnson of Irving Mitchell Kalichman has been the lead counsel on the case since 2006. Mathieu Bouchard, who became involved in 2007, handled procedural matters, legal research and drafting, and shared the presentation of the plaintiffs' argument with Johnson in the Québec Superior Court.
Award Category: Law Firm Partnering with Grassroots Group
Project: Maytree Foundation — Pro Bono Referral Program
Level: Platinum
Winner (Firm): McMillan LLP
Winners (Individuals): Brett Harrison, Tushara Weerasooriya, Sharon Groom, Dave McKechnie,
Sheila Crummey (photo order top to bottom)
In 2009 McMillan developed a partnership with the Maytree Foundation, a private organization that promotes equity and prosperity, to provide pro bono services to Maytree's network of contacts in the local not-for-profit community. The partnership is composed of two initiatives. McMillan is launching a Pro Bono Referral Program, by which individual not-for-profit agencies in the Maytree Leadership Network are directly approved for a set number of hours of pro bono services annually. This allows organizations to obtain support for day-to-day legal issues without having to go through a separate approval process each time. The second initiative is the provision of legal seminars to Maytree's client groups on a variety of legal issues, including not-for-profit corporate law, employment law and intellectual property protection. A significant number of these sessions will be held at McMillan's offices. The presentations will be videotaped and posted on Maytree's website as a resource for those unable to attend. Eight to 10 seminars are planned for the 2010/11 season.
Award Category: Law Firm Partnering with Grassroots Group
Project: Social and Enterprise Development Innovations
Level: Gold
Winner (Firm): Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Winners (Individuals): Corina Weigl, Laura West (photo order top to bottom)
Social and Enterprise Development Innovations (SEDI) is a charitable organization that works with community groups nationwide to help low-income and economically disadvantaged people become self-sufficient through financial literacy, saving and asset building, and entrepreneurship. In connection with a class-action lawsuit against TD Bank, the Ontario Superior Court agreed to take submissions from the parties on which charitable organizations should benefit from an award of approximately $28 million. TD Bank proposed that a donation of half the award to SEDI would further its Canadian Centre for Financial Literacy and allow it to operate a new fund named the TD Financial Literacy Grant Fund over a five-year period. The court sought legal submissions from Fasken Martineau, which represented SEDI, about whether financial literacy was in fact a charitable objective and whether SEDI's objectives permitted it to operate the proposed fund. The court accepted SEDI's submissions, expanded the law in this area, and approved SEDI as an appropriate recipient of a portion of the award. As a result, the TD Financial Literacy Grant Fund has been established, putting SEDI at the forefront of charitable financial-literacy programs in Canada.
Award Category: Local Community Pro Bono
Project: Alex Pathways to Housing
Level: Platinum
Winner (Firm): Davis LLP
Winners (Individuals): Brent Rentiers, Brian West, Jonathan Brown, Graham Norris
(photo order top to bottom)
Davis LLP provides legal advice on all facets of the Pathways to Housing project, operated by the Alex Community Health Centre in Calgary. Pathways is a charitable program that gives homeless individuals an apartment of their own without requiring participation in psychiatric treatment or treatment for sobriety. Malcolm Gladwell profiled the success and novelty of this “housing first” model in New York City in his recent bestseller, What the Dog Saw. Pathways, the first project of this kind in Alberta, offers 24-hour wrap-around care for its clients, the most chronically long-term homeless individuals in the Calgary community. If successful, this innovative and relatively new approach to homelessness has the opportunity to take the most chronic homeless and difficult-to-house individuals off the street with a chance at long-term success. Since the inception of this project in July 2009, approximately 100 homeless clients have engaged in the program. The contribution by Davis includes advising on charitable structures, drafting Pathways' master lease and the leases for Pathways' headquarters, drafting wills for Pathways' clients and advising Pathways on health, privacy and employee matters. Davis will continue to provide ongoing legal advice on an as-needed basis.
Award Category: Local Community Pro Bono
Project: Public Legal Education Program and Outreach Program
Level: Gold
Winner (Organization): Community Legal Services, Faculty of Law, University of Western Ontario
Winner (Individual): Margaret Capes
For the past five years, under the direction of founder Margaret Capes, law students in the University of Western Ontario's Faculty of Law Community Legal Services (CLS) program have provided pro bono legal services to individuals who cannot afford a lawyer and do not qualify for legal aid certificates. CLS handles more than 900 files annually in the areas of public legal education, criminal law, landlord and tenant, small claims court, mediation, academic appeals, wills and powers of attorney, and immigration. The Public Legal Education Program may be the largest such undertaking at any Canadian law school, and is unique for the diverse methods it uses to educate the community. These methods include presentations by law students to social agencies and non-profit organizations on topics of interest; Law Talk articles in student newspapers at Western and Fanshawe College; and a radio show at the Western campus station. CLS also administers the Outreach Program, which, among other things, assists with law programs at a local high school; does intakes at the Western Ontario Therapeutic Community Hostel, which serves persons with mental illness; and assists the Salvation Army Centre of Hope, which serves homeless persons. CLS has reached more than 1,600 people personally in London, and countless others through its articles and radio broadcasts.
Award Category: Most Impact on Child or Children
Project: Unaccompanied Minors Project
Level: Platinum
Winner (Firm): McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Winner (Individual): Christine Lonsdale
The Unaccompanied Minors Project was born when Pro Bono Law Ontario approached McCarthy Tétrault to address the problem of unaccompanied minors arriving alone at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. These children are smuggled into the country illegally and against their will, or put on a plane by a family member to find a better life in Canada. Many have been tortured or sexually abused; others have been affected by religious or ethnic persecution. They come from all parts of the world: Eritrea, Somalia, Nigeria, Saint Lucia and Iran, to name a few. These vulnerable children need guidance and support to navigate the refugee claims system and to establish a new life in Canada. Since the project's inception in 2005, the 47 lawyers at McCarthy Tétrault who have acted as designated representatives (DRs) have handled more than 100 referrals. The lawyers meet with the children to discuss their options, help find a lawyer willing to represent them, fill out forms, and provide support to and instruct counsel. In addition, the DRs strive to be a stable, trustworthy force in the child's life, as well as solve problems creatively as they arise and advocate within the system. McCarthy Tétrault is also pursuing a working agreement with Canada Border Services Agency.
Award Category: Most Impact on Child or Children
Project: Child Advocacy Pro Bono Project
Level: Gold
Winner (Firm): Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Winners (Individuals): Bruce Churchill-Smith, QC, Nancy Golding, QC, Jennifer Lamb, Sharon Borgland, Alanna Adamic (photo order top to bottom)
In late 2007, the Child Advocacy Pro Bono Project was established to provide vulnerable children and youth in Calgary with access to free legal assistance, representation and legal education in a variety of civil-law matters. Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG) and the Children's Legal & Educational Resource Centre (CLERC) developed this joint initiative, which was brokered by Pro Bono Law Alberta. As the exclusive pro bono legal partners in the venture, BLG's lawyers provide children and youth with a broad range of legal services, including education and school-related issues, estate, employment, immigration and property matters. BLG also helps CLERC develop its own policies and procedures, such as its privacy policy, to ensure that the organization is compliant with applicable laws and regulations; conducts legal research on pertinent issues facing children and youth; has become involved in a pilot project with CLERC called Legal Outreach for Youth (LOFY), a youth legal clinic run out of a Calgary school and staffed exclusively by BLG lawyers; and provides local educational seminars and workshops that focus on legal issues affecting children and youth and helps to strengthen the role CLERC plays in the local community.
Award Category: Multi-Disciplinary Pro Bono
Project: Family Legal Health Program – Hospital for Sick Children
Level: Platinum
Winners (Firms): McMillan LLP/Torkin Manes LLP
Winners (Individuals): Justice Leonard Ricchetti, Catherine Roberts, Martin Low, Lisa Corrente, Duncan Embury (photo order top to bottom)
The Family Legal Health Project (FLHP) is a partnership among the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Pro Bono Law Ontario (PBLO), McMillan LLP and Torkin Manes LLP. Linking with SickKids' professionals, the FLHP provides legal resources that mitigate the social and economic strains that arise for children in long-term care. Cases handled by the two firms include: obtaining continuation of long-term disability benefits for the mother of a severely ill child, allowing her to remain at her daughter's bedside; convincing an employer to change its workplace practices where a child's illness was exacerbated by airborne pollutants brought home on her father's clothing; assisting a mother in obtaining death benefits following the tragic death of her daughter; successfully appealing a family's tax assessment where parents of a sick infant were denied deductions for travel and subsistence costs; acquiring a visa, after initial refusal, for the non-resident grandmother of a child to travel to Toronto; and representing a family before the OHIP Appeal Board where OHIP refused reimbursement for a child who required care in the US.
Award Category: Multi-Disciplinary Pro Bono
Project: Fondation du Dr. Julien
Level: Gold
Winner (Firm): Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Winners (Individuals): Emmanuelle Rolland, Mélanie Champagne, François Morin, Sylvie Bouvette
(photo order top to bottom)
Over 35 years of practising pediatrics, Dr. Gilles Julien has developed integrated social pediatric centres for children in impoverished communities in Québec. Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG) and its Pro Bono Committee provide legal services to all families who attend any of these clinics. BLG's professionals are available to help clients exercise their right to health-care services, education, adapted transportation, clean and safe housing, and a healthy environment. For example, BLG assisted the father of an autistic child in his contestation of an eviction from the family household, resulting in the successful relocation of the family to better housing. In another case, parents were refused a school transfer for their son after he suffered an injury in the schoolyard and the administration refused to take necessary measures to improve safety and accommodate the child. BLG helped the family win a transfer to a school where the child received the attention required to complete his school year. BLG also provides pro bono legal services to Dr. Julien's Garage à musique project, which involves the renovation and transformation of an abandoned building into a music hall to encourage children to form garage bands, instilling a culture of learning and self-betterment for at-risk youth.
Award Category: Political Pro Bono
Project: Rights of Grandchildren in the Care of Grandparents
Level: Platinum
Winner (Firm): Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP
Winners (Individuals): Douglas Stewart, Barbara Grossman, Saba Zia, Denise Williams, Angela Casey (photo order top to bottom)
This project pairs Fraser Milner Casgrain with CANGRANDS, a national grassroots grandparent-support organization. CANGRANDS advocates for the thousands of Ontario children who are under the care of their grandparents. Pro Bono Law Ontario (PBLO) enlisted FMC to help safeguard the right of these children to financial support. Many grandparent-led families rely on a provincial benefit called Temporary Care Assistance (TCA), which supplements seniors' fixed incomes that are not designed to cover children's needs. Recent changes to TCA eligibility rules have led to the arbitrary loss of benefits for dozens of families. Moreover, the rules are interpreted and applied inconsistently by municipalities across Ontario. Finally, children risk becoming wards of the state if their grandparents do not receive adequate support to care for them. To address this systemic issue, FMC represented an Oshawa grandmother at the Social Benefits Tribunal. FMC's arguments led to the first favourable decision in years, and the family's benefits were reinstated. The Tribunal found that a flawed interpretation of the rules undermined the intent of the program, unlawfully cutting off the people for whom it was created. This decision is now the cornerstone of PBLO's efforts on behalf of grandparent-led families.
Award Category: Political Pro Bono
Project: Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
Level: Gold
Winner (Firm): Hunter Litigation Chambers
Winners (Individuals): Brent Olthuis, Tam Boyar (photo order top to bottom)
Hunter Litigation Chambers' pro bono advocacy on behalf of the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) led to a BC Supreme Court ruling that a dispute over the release of certain information should not unnecessarily stall or hinder the release of related non-disputed information. British Columbia (Labour and Citizens' Services) v. British Columbia (Information and Privacy Commissioner) centres on the interpretation of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and whether a third party's challenge to the release of certain information permits the Ministry of Labour and Citizen's Services to withhold all requested information until the third party's challenge is resolved. Justice Christopher Grauer's ruling recognizes that access to information is fundamental to open and transparent government by reinforcing the importance of the timely release of information and by removing bureaucratic hurdles that the court found to be contrary to the values espoused by the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Grauer concluded that the partial-disclosure approach is consistent with the Ministry's duty to “make every reasonable effort to assist applicants and to respond without delay to each applicant openly, accurately and completely.”
Award Category: Political Pro Bono
Project: International Senior Lawyers Project
Level: Gold
Winner (Firm): Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Winner (Individual): Jim Dube
Liberia's long civil war finally ended in 2003 with Charles Taylor's ouster, but it was not until the country had its first democratically elected government in 2006 that any real progress was made to rebuilding the shattered nation, including restoring the rule of law. Blakes' efforts, channelled through a non-government organization called International Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP), have made a significant contribution to this goal. In March 2010, Jim Dube, now a partner emeritus with the firm's Restructuring & Insolvency Group, made his seventh trip to Liberia, where he worked with the country's Minister of Justice to harmonize Liberia's formal legal system with its indigenous customary legal system. This included an analysis of 150 years of Liberian jurisprudence on customary law issues, and culminated in a document circulated to the April 2010 National Conference on Enhancing Access to Justice, attended by Clan Chiefs and Paramount Chiefs from Liberia's 16 indigenous communities. Jim also prepared a written analysis of Liberia's Hinterland Regulations for the country's Law Reform Commission. Liberia's Ministry of Internal Affairs has used the Regulations to govern indigenous groups since 1949, but they are now out of date and in many respects unconstitutional.
Award Category: Pro Bono by Law School Student or Students
Project: Family Law Legal Information Project
Level: Platinum
Winner (Organization): Pro Bono Students Canada, University of New Brunswick Chapter
Winner (Individual): Kathy Moulton
Kathy Moulton, a law student at the University of New Brunswick (UNB), on her own initiative created the Family Law Legal Information Project (FLLIP) for Pro Bono Students Canada at the UNB in 2009. FLLIP provides abused women who are unable to afford a lawyer with information enabling them to navigate the family-law system. As part of the program, law student volunteers supervised by local family lawyers provide legal information free of charge to women survivors of domestic violence in Fredericton. In FLLIP's inaugural year, 2009/2010, Moulton recruited seven law student volunteers and five lawyers to provide legal information to 10 unrepresented litigants. Moulton initiated, developed and managed the program and worked with the supervising lawyer to complete conflict checks. She established a volunteer selection process and created a training program including sessions on literacy, legal information versus legal advice, the socio-economic realities of women in shelters, professionalism, and substantive family law. The students were also trained to review client-intake forms, prepare the relevant legal information for review by the lawyer supervisor, and provide the information to clients in one-on-one meetings with them. This year, Moulton plans to expand FLLIP to include clients from additional shelters, the Multicultural Association of Fredericton, and referrals from the Legal Advice Clinic.
Award Category: Pro Bono by Law School Student or Students
Project: Boyne Clarke Summer Student Program
Level: Gold
Winner (Firm): Boyne Clarke Barristers & Solicitors
In May 2001, Boyne Clarke launched its Summer Student Program to assist non-
profit organizations and to broaden the perspective of law students regarding community issues and activities. Every summer, law students accepted for articling at Boyne Clarke have the option of participating in the Summer Student Program. This opportunity enables students to work with a community-based non-profit organization, doing legal work and being exposed to the activities of that organization. The firm obtains proposals from local charitable and community organizations about specific projects available to students. Each student reviews the proposals and lists his or her preferences. All participating students are assigned a lawyer who is their liaison with the non-profit, and the students have access to other lawyers' resources at the firm. Organizations that have been selected over the years include Phoenix Youth Programs, the Metro Food Bank Society, the Halifax Refugee Clinic, Metro Community Housing Authority, LakeCity Employment Services Association, Reach Nova Scotia, the Halifax Association for Community Living, Sport Nova Scotia, reachAbility, the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia, the Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq, the Multicultural Association of Nova Scotia, the Brain Injury Association of Nova Scotia, the Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia, and Eastern Front Theatre.
Award Category: Pro Bono for Small Business
Project: Osgoode Business Clinic
Level: Platinum
Winner (Firm): Stikeman Elliott LLP
Winners (Individuals): Jason Kroft, Jillian Kovensky, Amanda Willett (photo order top to bottom)
The Osgoode Business Clinic is a partnership between Stikeman Elliott and Osgoode Hall Law School. Stikeman Elliott lawyers provide pro bono legal supervision, instruction and guidance to Osgoode students, who in turn provide basic legal assistance to small enterprises that can't afford legal services through regular market channels. Pro bono services include consultation with clinic staff to share ideas, discuss legal requirements and concepts, and explore avenues for further research. Stikeman Elliott hosts in-firm seminars at which participating students meet with their supervising lawyers and discuss any questions they might have regarding their respective client files. Supervising lawyers help define the overall projects that can be undertaken, assist with timelines and review documentation prepared by the law students. From the law students' perspective, the clinic provides practical experience in drafting, client communication, organizational and teamwork skills, and file management. Students who participate in this program assist actual clients with real legal and business concerns. Stikeman Elliott's partnership with the clinic dates to September 1997, and at any given time, approximately 20 lawyers from the firm are involved in providing guidance to participating law students.
Award Category: Pro Bono in Sports or Recreation
Project: Special Olympics Canada
Level: Platinum
Winner (Firm): Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Winners (Individuals): Martin Fingerhut, Peter Kalbfleisch (photo order top to bottom)
Blakes has provided legal advice to Special Olympics Canada on a pro bono basis for a number of years. Special Olympics Canada is dedicated to enriching the lives of Canadians with intellectual disabilities by involving them in sport. It is committed to being a change agent for social inclusion, advocating for and providing all athletes with opportunities for integration through sport. Most recently, the firm advised Special Olympics Canada on the Canada Revenue Agency's new fundraising policy, and on sponsorship, secondment and other contracts. Blakes has also assisted in negotiating a joint venture arrangement with Special Olympics International, helped prepare a charter governing the relationship between Special Olympics Canada and the provincial and territorial Special Olympics organizations, formulated bylaws, provided labour and employment advice, drafted a template employment-offer letter, counselled on the Income Tax Act and privacy-law issues, and reviewed a volunteer screening policy.
Award Category: Pro Bono in Sports or Recreation
Project: Doug Philpott Inner-City Children's Tennis Fund
Level: Gold
Winner (Firm): Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Winner (Individual): Melanie Shishler
Davies' Melanie Shishler uses her legal skills to advance the sport of tennis and promote access to tennis for disadvantaged inner-city youth. She provides pro bono legal services to, and serves as a director of, the Doug Philpott Inner-City Children's Tennis Fund, a charitable organization that promotes physical and moral well-being among inner-city youth by offering free summer tennis camps to children who might not otherwise be able to participate in the sport. During Shishler's tenure, the Philpott Fund has grown to serve 4,700 kids at 11 locations. In the past two years, Shishler has worked closely with the Board and the Executive Director to augment governance procedures, internal financial controls and committee mandates in a manner commensurate with the fund's growth. Shishler is also closely involved in reviewing and negotiating all agreements entered into by the fund. The Philpott Fund is currently planning to expand the programs offered to inner-city youth to incorporate leadership and coach training for pre-teen and teenage inner-city youths who have previously participated in the program. The aim is to build on the tennis skills acquired during the free summer camps in an effort to create community leadership skills and ideally to have some of the participants return as program instructors.
Award Category: Pro Bono in the Arts
Project: Visual Artists' Legal Clinic of Ontario
Level: Platinum
Winner (Firm): Torys LLP
Winners (Individuals): Vincent de Grandpré, Eric Boehm (photo order top to bottom)
Since 2006, Torys LLP in conjunction with CARFAC Ontario (Canadian Artists' Representation/le Front des artistes canadiens) and with founding assistance from Pro Bono Law Ontario have operated the Visual Artists' Legal Clinic of Ontario (VALCO), where Torys' lawyers provide summary legal advice to artist members of CARFAC Ontario. Since 1968, CARFAC has worked to defend cultural, economic and legal rights individually and on a collective basis, and to provide education on fair dealings with artists. From time to time, Torys also provides full pro bono representation to certain artists, be it in small-claims trials or Superior Court actions. In one recent matter, Torys acted for a well-known artist in a case involving the destruction of the artist's outdoor sculpture at a major educational institute in Ontario. Meetings with pro bono clients generally take place in person or by telephone for out-of-town artists, thereby extending VALCO's reach throughout Ontario. Since VALCO's founding, more than 30 Torys lawyers have provided pro bono legal assistance to more than 200 artists. As the average salary of a professional artist in Canada is $13,000, most of the Clinic's clients would not otherwise have been able to obtain legal representation.
Award Category: Pro Bono in the Arts
Project: Artscape Wychwood Barns
Level: Gold
Winner (Firm): McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Winners (Individuals): Cynthia MacDougall, Godyne Sibay, Tzen-Yi Goh, Tristan Musgrave, Alexis Wiseman (photo order top to bottom)
In 2003, Pro Bono Law Ontario brokered a relationship between Toronto Artscape Inc. and Artscape Non-Profit Homes Inc. and McCarthy Tétrault. The firm's lawyers provide legal services to Artscape with an emphasis on supporting its Wychwood Barns project. Artscape is a non-profit organization devoted to enhancing creativity in communities. It is a space and service provider that focuses on providing affordable housing and studio space to low-income artists. The Wychwood Barns project in Toronto involves the redevelopment of the historic Wychwood Toronto Transit Commission streetcar repair barns. Artscape has transformed the barns into a multi-tenant complex that offers affordable housing to low-income artists and their families, affordable office space to non-profit arts and environmental organizations, and creates a venue for community festivals and events. McCarthy Tétrault has been managing the complex legal issues related to the project, including conducting a governance review and legal audit; negotiating two long-term leases for the land; providing advice on land-use planning; representing Artscape at an OMB hearing to secure the zoning; negotiating and registering easement agreements; assisting with obtaining a financial grant; assisting with putting in place complex financings; drafting/reviewing sub-lease agreements; and conducting numerous contract reviews.
Award Category: Pro Bono Legal Academic
Project: Providing Academic Pro Bono
Level: Platinum
Winner (Organization): University of Toronto Faculty of Law
Winner (Individual): Kent Roach
Professor Kent Roach, the Prichard-Wilson Chair of Law and Public Policy at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law, is a leading academic expert on constitutional remedies, miscarriages of justice, comparative judicial review and comparative anti-terrorism law and policy. He has offered his services pro bono to a variety of community groups involved in cases that engage his expertise. For example, he prepared the intervening Supreme Court of Canada factums for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association in Karas v. Canada for the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association in Ward v. British Columbia and for the Criminal Lawyers' Association in Conway v. Ontario. His involvement in the Ward case is particularly significant as he was the lead lawyer on the file, responsible for both drafting the factums and making the oral arguments.
Special Distinction
Award Category: Civil Liberties
Project: Canadian Civil Liberties Association — Significant Interventions
Level: Special Distinction
Winner (Firm): McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Winners (Individuals): Jonathan C. Lisus, Christopher A. Wayland, Alexi N. Wood, Sarah Corman
McCarthy Tétrault has represented the Canadian Civil Liberties Association in nine landmark cases that engage many different Charter rights and values, including search and seizure, arbitrary detention, the right to counsel and police accountability.
Award Category: Corporate Law in Non-Profit Sector
Project: Right to Play — Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Level: Special Distinction
Winner (Firm): Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Winners (Individuals): Kate McGilvray, Antonio Turco, Stefan Timms, Dean Murray, Joyce McGuiney
Right to Play International (RTP) is an international not-for-profit organization that seeks to improve the lives of children in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the world by using the power of sport and play for development, health and peace. Since 2006, Blakes has provided RTP with a wide variety of pro bono legal services.
Award Category: Corporate Law in Non-Profit Sector
Project: Right to Play — Torys LLP
Level: Special Distinction
Winner (Firm): Torys LLP
Winners (Individuals): David Seville, Jackie Taitz, Richard Johnson, Afshan Ali, Eric Boehm
Right to Play International (RTP) is an international not-for-profit organization that seeks to improve the lives of children in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the world by using the power of sport and play for development, health and peace. Since 2006, 35 Torys lawyers, articling and summer students have provided Right to Play with a wide variety of pro bono legal services.
Award Category: Environmental
Project: Islands First
Level: Special Distinction
Winner (Firm): McMillan LLP
Winner (Individual): Marty Venalainen
In December 2009, McMillan's Marty Venalainen provided pro bono legal assistance to Islands First at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which produced the Copenhagen Accord. Islands First is a New York-based organization that assists in the development of small island states.
Award Category: Local Community Pro Bono
Project: Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park
Level: Special Distinction
Winner (Firm): Macleod Dixon LLP
Winners (Individuals): Darren D. Hueppelsheuser, Hon. Daniel P. Hays, Donald S. MacKimmie, QC,
Jolan B. Storch
Macleod Dixon has been providing multi-practice pro bono legal services to Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park for two years. The 1,300-hectare park was established to preserve and protect significant natural and cultural features, including endangered ecosystems and rare plant species, First Nations and early ranching and industrial settlements, and breathtaking landscapes.
Award Category: Local Community Pro Bono
Project: Pro Bono Legal Clinic — Lethbridge Legal Guidance
Level: Special Distinction
Winner (Organization): Lethbridge/Macleod Bar Association
Since the Pro Bono Legal Clinic was established, 50 per cent of the Lethbridge/Macleod Bar Association members – a level that may be unmatched anywhere in Canada and quite possibly elsewhere – have volunteered their pro bono services for a minimum of two evenings annually.
Award Category: Local Community Pro Bono
Project: Heenan Blaikie Pro Bono Legal Service Initiative
Level: Special Distinction
Winner (Firm): Heenan Blaikie LLP
Winners (Individuals): Ryan Teschner, Trevor Guy
In January 2010, Heenan Blaikie developed a partnership with Pro Bono Law Ontario (PBLO) and East Scarborough Storefront to create the Heenan Blaikie Pro Bono Legal Service Initiative (PLSI). PLSI involves lawyers from Heenan Blaikie's Toronto office who provide legal services on a pro bono basis to residents who frequent East Scarborough Storefront in the Kingston-Galloway area of Scarborough, Ontario.
Award Category: Pro Bono by Law School Student or Students
Project: Law Help Ontario – Low-Income Unrepresented Litigants
Level: Special Distinction
Winner (Organization): Osgoode Hall Law School
Winner (Individual): Jennifer Leitch
Law Help Ontario is a Pro Bono Law Ontario project that helps low-income, unrepresented litigants involved in civil, non-family matters to navigate the justice system more effectively and move their cases through the litigation process expeditiously.
