Child Advocacy Project - Education Law Program
Since 2002, The Advocates' Society has been helping safeguard the public education rights of low-income children and youth across Ontario. Through the Child Advocacy Project's (CAP) Education Law Program, our members provide summary advice, verbal and written intervention with school administrators, and representation at hearings and tribunals for children and youth whose legal rights at school are denied. Their success rate is well over 90%.
CAP is a volunteer-based legal service run in partnership with Pro Bono Law Ontario, The Advocates' Society (TAS) and Justice for Children and Youth (JFCY), the province's only specialty legal clinic for youth under 18.
To participate in the program, our members require no prior experience in education law, only the expert training and ongoing mentoring provided by the staff lawyers at JFCY. CAP frequently hears from families in rural and northern communities, where local legal resources are unavailable. For this reason, volunteers are sometimes asked to provide remote legal services, by telephone or Skype. The Advocates' Society endorses remote legal services because, in many cases, they are the only way to ensure that children's rights at school are upheld.
For information on volunteering for the Child Advocacy Project, visit www.childadvocacy.ca or contact Wendy Miller, Children's Projects Manager, at 416-977-4448 x230 or wendy@childadvocacy.ca.
Litigation Projects through Pro Bono Law Ontario
1. Law Help Ontario
Law Help Ontario is an award-winning project of PBLO that provides pro bono legal services to unrepresented litigants in civil, non-family matters who cannot afford to hire a lawyer and who do not qualify for Legal Aid. While many members of The Advocates' Society currently participate in the project, PBLO welcomes additional members who are interested in helping low-income, unrepresented litigants navigate the justice system. The project currently operates two court-based self-help centres in Toronto, one at the 393 University Avenue Courthouse and the other at the Toronto Small Claims Court, 47 Sheppard Avenue East. A third centre is scheduled to open at the 161 Elgin Street Courthouse in Ottawa later this year. In the future, centres may be launched in other locations across Ontario.
Volunteer duty counsel at the centres will have the opportunity to provide brief summary advice and may, on occasion, represent litigants at examinations, settlement conferences, court hearings, or other attendances related to their matters. In addition, Law Help Ontario seeks to expand these services to include specialized lawyers who can provide office-based telephone assistance to volunteer duty counsel who are assisting clients of the centres.
2. Appeals Assistance Project
The Appeals Assistance Project was launched in 2004 through a partnership of The Advocates’ Society and PBLO. The project is currently open to low-income, unrepresented litigants appearing before the Court of Appeal, Divisional Court (on appeal-related matters) and the Federal Court of Appeal, with civil matters that have a reasonable prospect of success. Volunteer services range from brief advice to full representation, including attendance at hearings. The project is aimed at intermediate to senior associates and partners but any lawyer can participate if sufficient mentorship is in place.
Along with PBLO and representatives from the Ontario Court of Justice, Superior Court of Justice and Ontario Court of Appeal, The Advocates’ Society is also working on an expansion of this project that would extend services to appellants of crown wardship no access orders made in family law courts. This highly specialized strand of the project is limited to lawyers with significant experience in child protection matters.
3. Federal Court Assistance Project
The Federal Court Assistance Project was launched in April 2010, through a partnership of The Advocates' Society and PBLO. The project provides low-income, unrepresented litigants in the Federal Court with the assistance of counsel on matters with a reasonable prospect of success. While it is expected that counsel will provide full representation in matters of interest to them, there may be scope for more limited assistance as the project develops. Lawyers at any level of practice are welcome to participate, but either sufficient Federal Court experience or mentorship must be demonstrated.
For information on volunteering for any of the PBLO litigation projects described above, please visit www.lawhelpontario.org/volunteers or contact Brian Houghton, Litigation Projects Coordinator, at 416-597-0770 x231 or brian@pblo.org
Discipline duty counsel
The Advocates' Society provides pro bono duty counsel for unrepresented solicitors at Law Society Discipline Committee Hearings.
If you are a member in good standing with the Law Society of Upper Canada for at least seven years, we invite you to volunteer.
To view or print the Volunteer Registration Form, please click here.
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