Thursday, February 11, 2021 - 12:30pm to Friday, February 12, 2021 - 1:55pm
Location: 
Online Event

Movement Lawyering, Police Accountability, and Building a Law Firm

February 11, 2021
2:30 PM - 2:00 PM

REGISTRATION REQUIORED:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/movement-lawyering-police-accountability-and-building-a-law-firm-tickets-138183002079

The University of Toronto Law Union (UTLU) is thrilled to host a discussion between Adrienne Lei, a founding member of Dewart Gleason LLP, and David Shellnut, A.K.A The Biking Lawyer. The speakers will address their work in police accountability litigation, paying special attention to the tensions between legal work and grassroots activism. As founding members of law firms, both Adrienne and David have unique perspectives on building legal careers that reflect one’s values, and the unique challenges that may create. The panel continues our semester-long series of discussions on movement lawyering.

Speaker Bios

 Adrienne Lei:
Adrienne is a founding member of Dewart Gleason, and she continues to be the key partner and leading authority in several areas of practice.

Adrienne practices in all areas of law at Dewart Gleason. She represents trade unions in all types of litigation, and she has appeared as counsel in civil and commercial litigation at all levels of court in Ontario. Adrienne leads Dewart Gleason’s immigration law and construction law groups and she is key to Dewart Gleason’s police accountability practice. Adrienne has extensive trial and tribunal experience, and acted as lead counsel in the infamous G-20 police discipline proceedings on behalf of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and several personal complainants.

David Shellnut A.K.A The Biking Lawyer
David Shellnut leads a personal injury law firm specializing in bike crashes, sexual assaults, police violence and racism. The Biking Lawyer aims to help individuals and effect systemic changes.

David is a dedicated advocate for individuals who have suffered injuries and those in need. David specializes in Human Rights, Disability, Personal Injury, Anti-Racist, and Employment Law. ​

Movement Lawyering
Movement lawyering is the practice of law with the understanding that grassroots activism and organizing drives fundamental change, not isolated legal victories. Movement lawyers work to support communities fighting injustice, allowing those most harmed by overlapping forms of oppression to lead the fight for transformative change. In our movement lawyering event series, we seek to explore these questions: what is movement lawyering and why is it necessary? How should lawyers work with grassroots organizers? How can movement lawyers help communities build power? How can lawyers fail social movements, and what lessons do those failures teach us? How do legal strategies fit alongside other social change strategies? How can we bridge the disconnect between conventional legal training and the skills needed to support social movements?


We hope these conversations help students appreciate the reality of progressive legal work. By hearing from practitioners whose work reflects the principles of movement lawyering, these conversations allow law students to understand the unique issues facing lawyers whose work supports grassroots activism.