Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC) is a national pro bono organization with chapters at all 22 law schools across the country. Founded in 1996 at the University of Toronto, PBSC is the only national pro bono service organization anywhere in the world. Each year, about 1,500 PBSC volunteers across the country provide approximately 120,000 hours of free legal services to between 400-500 organizations, courts and tribunals across the country.
Each year, PBSC partners with hundreds of public interest organizations, legal clinics and lawyers working on pro bono files. PBSC regularly creates projects in the following areas of the law: administrative, civil, constitutional, corporate non-profit, criminal, environmental, family, human rights, immigration and refugee, and all areas of poverty law. We proudly serve diverse populations of Canadians including artists, First Nations, Francophone Canadians, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) Canadians, immigrants and refugees, low-income Canadians, seniors, women, youth and others.
Programs at PBSC U of T
- Community Placement Program: Students are matched at leading public interest organizations, agencies, legal clinics or free legal services to do law-related volunteer work.
- Family Law Project: Upper year students work hand-in-hand with in-court counsel at family law courts across the City to assist unrepresented litigants.
- Wills Project: Students assist low income individuals living with HIV/AIDS draft Wills and Power of Attorneys at the 519 Community Centre.
- PBSC-McCarthy Tétrault Public Interest Internship: Partnered with McCarthy Tétrault LLP, three first year students will work on pro bono files with associates and partners at the firm.
- PBSC at Law Help Ontario: Students gain hands-on civil litigation experience through working at Law Help Ontario, a court-based, self-help centre administered by Pro Bono Law Ontario that provides pro bono legal services to low-income litigants who need help with civil matters at the Superior Court of Justice and Small Claims Court.
- Health Professionals Appeal and Review Board Headnotes and Clerking Project
Students get a unique opportunity to work as a law clerk at the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board and draft headnotes for the Board's decision that are published by CanLii. - Medico-Legal Society of Toronto Advocacy Project
Teams of 2 students represent a complainant before the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board under both lawyer and doctor supervision. - Tax Court of Canada Advocacy Project
In partnership with the tax department of Fraser Milner Casgrain, students advocate on behalf of self-represented litigants at the Tax Court of Canada. - Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights Project
A multi-disciplinary human rights project with a broad mandate to document discrimination against sexual minorities abroad.
Summer Programs
Summer Fellowship Programs enable students to continue their commitment to public interest law through their summer employment. PBSC administers the following application-based program:
- The Family Law Project offers summer fellowships for students interested in full-time summer work on the Family Law Project.
For More Information
Visit the Pro Bono Students Canada website at: www.probonostudents.ca
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Contact Information
Natalie Lum-Tai and Meaghan Parry
Program Coordinators 2013-2014
U of T Pro Bono Students Canada
39 Queen's Park
Toronto, ON,
M5S 2C3
tel: 416-946-0397
fax: 416-946-3744
e-mail: probono.students@utoronto.ca
If you are an individual seeking legal assistance, unfortunately PBSC cannot assist you as we only match students with community groups and not individuals. Please contact your local law society and legal aid offices.
Principal Funder: The Law Foundation of Ontario
Law Firm Partner: McCarthy Tétrault LLP
National Legal Research Partners: Westlaw Canada, La référence
