Volunteer Legal Clinic Toronto

Don Valley Community Legal Services is a merger of two large not-for-profit legal consulting firms – East Toronto Community Legal Services and Flemingdon Community Legal Services. Both legal clinics have supported clients in their communities for years. For more information about membership, please contact us at info@parkdalelegal.org. For more information about volunteering at PBLO, please visit: pblo.org/volunteer The DLS Volunteer Program is a year-round opportunity to gain professional skills and contribute to meaningful social justice work in partnership with other law students, social work students, and lawyer mentors who are fantastic mentors. Unfortunately, we can only offer a limited number of places for 1L and high school students, and we will make these offers by random draw. However, we have made a few changes to our volunteer program in recent years to improve the student experience: If you are a member of the community, you may be eligible for legal assistance at one of the clinics that try to provide quality legal services to those who would not otherwise have access to justice. Family lawyers advocating for access to justice are encouraged to volunteer at Luke`s Place Virtual Legal Clinic. Be part of an innovative summary legal advice project for survivors of violence in partnership. Do you know of an organization, group or association that supports people who need pro bono legal advice? If yes, please let us know. The Wellspring Cancer Support Foundation is seeking wills and probate attorneys to support cancer patients through the Wills Clinic, a pro bono wills clinic for low-income Wellspring members. British Columbia • ALO (Artists` Legal Outreach) • Pacific Legal Education & Outreach Society Quebec • CJAM (La Clinique juridique des artistes de Montréal) • CreatiUM — Intellectual Property Legal Clinic Manitoba • L. Kerry Vickar Business Law Clinic Ontario • ALSO (Ottawa Artists` Legal Services) • VALCO: VISUAL ARTISTS` LEGAL CLINIC OF ONTARIO Nova Scotia • ALIS (Artists Legal Information Society) Other • National Network of Legal Clinics for the Arts International – United States • Volunteers Arts lawyers If you are a former clerk who wishes to return as a volunteer social worker, Please contact your departmental lawyer to make these arrangements. Your participation in the program described above is completely separate and optional.

DLS also recruits volunteer law students for a separate external program called the Tenant Duty Counsel Assistance Project (TDCAP), which is overseen by the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario. Click here for more information. Sometimes we have room for co-op students in high school and college courses. Talk to your co-op director to make arrangements. We need volunteers for our board of directors and sometimes for special projects. Not all volunteers can be accepted. Contact the clinic to apply. The University of Toronto`s clinical model includes interdisciplinary perspectives and critical research with the opportunity to develop both excellent professional skills and a sense of social responsibility that reflects the core values of the profession. First-year students can volunteer at a clinic, and upper-year students can choose between full-time and part-time university credit programs. • Black Legal Action Centre – This service provides legal services to low-income Black people in Ontario. • China and Southeast Asia Legal Clinic – This legal clinic provides information to low-income and non-English-speaking people in China, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia As a DLS volunteer, you will learn about poverty law, access to justice, public relations, legal professionalism and ethics, client admission and the art of providing quality recommendations.

Our volunteer program includes: • Justice for Children and Youth – This service provides free legal representation to low-income youth in the Greater Toronto Area. If you are a student, clinics offer an exciting range of learning experiences that can include challenging cases, law reform and test case initiatives, as well as municipal legal education activities. Part of the mandate of the OBA Pro Bono Subcommittee is to improve information and resources for those interested in or needing to provide pro bono legal services. Our main goal is to encourage lawyers to do pro bono work and connect them with opportunities to do so. For this, we need your help. Please feel free to provide a link to your organization`s association`s or committee`s website, or provide us with a description of your project and a telephone number for review by the OBA Pro Bono Subcommittee. We are pleased to publish current and relevant pro bono legislative initiatives to share with ABO members. Please forward the information to the OBA Pro Bono Subcommittee to the following address: vdallas@oba.org.

• Family Law Education for Women (FLEW) – This service is a legal education project aimed at teaching family law to women. Since 1971, thousands of students have attended Parkdale as part of their legal studies at Osgoode Hall Law School. If you are a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School and have participated in the Osgoode Poverty Law Intensive Program, you can sign up to receive email updates and you can also become a member of our organization. • METRAC – This service provides legal information and education to women exposed to gender-based violence. • National Association of Women and the Law – This resource provides support through education, research and advocacy for women`s rights. Youth Wellness Legal Clinic 519 is looking for volunteer lawyers! Clinic volunteers spend one night a month providing free legal advice and referrals to 2SLGBTQ community members and other at-risk clients. You need to be able to commit to about three hours on a Tuesday a month. Experience in clinical and poverty law is particularly valuable, as is a variety of lived experiences. You can express your interest by emailing Justin Khan, Director, Public Interest and Legal Initiatives at jkhan@the519.org. Other clinics where students can participate as volunteers or as part of a course to obtain loans include: • Maggies + The Biking Lawyer – This partnership between Maggies and the bicycle lawyer provides free legal advice to sex workers working in the Greater Toronto Area. Tax clinics To subscribe to our mailing list, please fill out the online form.

Or to become a member, please download and complete a copy of our membership form and email it to info@parkdalelegal.org Our clinic recognizes the value of our Board of Directors, General Members and other volunteers. As a volunteer, you may be asked to help with community fairs and information tables or other valuable services. We have a community services committee that meets monthly and advises the community board. • Aboriginal Legal Services – This legal service assists Aboriginal people in various areas of law, including disability, housing, Indian Act matters, pensions, police complaints, criminal offences and human rights. Muslim Legal Services • South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario – This legal clinic provides assistance to South Asians in various areas of law, including family, criminal, consumer, human rights, wellness and the courts. The combined company Don Valley Community Legal Services continues the work of both clinics, but now under one roof. Don Valley Community Legal Services is funded by Legal Aid Ontario and managed by a local board to ensure the clinic`s work is guided by community contributions.