Claire Littleton doesn't begrudge the long hours she has spent poring over books and case law while studying at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.
Claire Littleton works at Parkdale Community Legal Services in Toronto.
Claire Littleton works at Parkdale Community Legal Services in Toronto.
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But for the third-year law student, it is the work she did at a legal aid clinic in one of Toronto's poorest neighbourhoods that has been the most rewarding part of her studies.
The 26-year-old worked at Osgoode Hall's Parkdale Community Legal Services for four months last year as part of her second-year curriculum. The agency, which was the first community-based legal aid clinic in Ontario when it began in 1971, provides free legal services to individuals and groups who need help in areas such as social assistance, mental health, domestic violence, immigration, landlord-and-tenant issues and workers' rights.
"I think a lot of the education we get at law school is somewhat removed from real-life experience," she says. "In class, we study cases from England in 1855 ... it can sometimes be hard to see how it applies to the real world."
Ms. Littleton, who expects to be called to the bar next year, adds: "The work at [the clinic] gives context to our studies and helps us understand the case law and legislation that we study in class as it relates to real people struggling for justice. It reminds us of why we wanted to be lawyers in the first place."
Professors and administrators at several law schools including Osgoode Hall, which offers 11 clinical education programs, say the hands-on training supervised by experienced lawyers gives students the chance to develop a variety of skills - interviewing, research, communications and analysis, and advocacy work.
Such out-of-class work, which in most cases earns credits toward a law degree, also helps students with issues of professional responsibility such as confidentiality of information and the need to respond to requests in a timely fashion. It also gives future lawyers a taste of the pro bono work that is a key aspect of the practice of law.
"It used to be that students would focus on analyzing cases by reading and learning the legal doctrine but ... legal educators have recognized that you can't understand the doctrine without understanding the context," says Janet Mosher director, clinical education and intensive programs at Osgoode Hall.
"A whole range of other skills make for a good lawyer - negotiating, counselling and, increasingly, mediation. One of the things a clinical program does is expose students to a range of different kinds of lawyering skills," she says.
Chris Tollefson, a law professor and executive director of the University of Victoria law school's 10-year-old Environmental Law Centre (ELC), says the interest in clinical experience reflects the reality that being a lawyer is a challenging career that demands a wide variety of skill sets.
"Law schools recognize the benefits of their students developing skills by doing the work hands-on," says Prof. Tollefson, who founded the ELC to give students the opportunity to provide advocacy services to clients involved in environmental litigation.
At the ELC clinic, 12 second- and third-year students each semester are trained in interviewing and counselling clients, negotiation, case development, file management, media relations and professional responsibility. Work in the clinic is a credit program and attracts about 25 per cent of UVic law students. The 30 cases handled annually by the student team involve such issues as land use, water quality, resource management, and access to information requests. Clients include community groups, conservation organizations and first nations.
UVic's law school offers two other clinical programs, including an off-site legal aid clinic that for 25 years has provided poverty and family-law services, and a six-year-old business law clinic that works with small businesses.
At the University of Toronto, the three-year-old LAWS (law in action within schools) program is one of a half-dozen clinical and extra-curricular opportunities for law students. In partnership with the Toronto District School Board, about 100 students volunteer up to 50 hours a year to be part of the LAWS effort. The future lawyers hold classroom workshops for students in grades 10 to 12 at two Toronto schools, covering areas such as the youth criminal justice system, freedom of expression and religion, and child protection. They also offer mentoring services to the teenagers to help them succeed in school and deal with peer pressure.
"The [law] students' work involves a hugely diverse community that faces a variety of issues," says Alexis Archbold, director of the LAWS program. "As a result of being exposed to a cross-section of the community in Toronto ... they learn how to communicate across cultural differences and they gain an understanding of the issues these communities face. This can only help law students as future lawyers."
Ms. Archbold says the experience also helps law students develop a pro bono work ethic.
The experience students have with LAWS and other such opportunities is beneficial when they search for full-time jobs, she adds. "Employers look for the brightest and best-rounded candidates," she says.
At Osgoode Hall, about 40 second- and third-year students each year work at the Parkdale clinic, each carrying a caseload of 12 to 15 files under the supervision of staff lawyers and community legal workers. Students spend an entire semester at the clinic and once a week are required to participate in a seminar to reflect on their work. They must also produce a major research paper at end of the semester that contributes to the work and goals of the clinic.
Shelley Gavigan, the clinic's academic director and an associate professor at Osgoode Hall, says learning at the clinic goes far beyond finding solutions for the Parkdale community's residents.
"Students are encouraged to see a problem in a broader community context ... if they see problems occurring time and time again - such as disrepair of apartments with the same landlord, or a problem with the enforcement of the law in an employment context - they are in a position to encourage the clinic to take that issue on as a law reform issue," Ms. Gavigan says.
The students also organize community meetings on issues such as tenant and workers' rights.
For Ms. Littleton, who hopes to eventually practice poverty law, work at the clinic included helping clients appear before government tribunals, filing social assistance appeals, and obtaining compensation for disabilities or for injuries suffered in violent crimes. She also referred clients to community resources such as women's shelters and medical clinics.
"The work showed me that it is possible to make a career out of poverty law in a profession that is so focused on making a lot of money most of time," she says. "Not only can you be financially successful, you find a job that is rewarding, you know you are doing good work and you sleep well at the end of the day."
ROLLING UP THEIR SLEEVES
Dalhousie University, Halifax: At Dalhousie Legal Aid, students provide supervised free legal assistance. Also, the Criminal Law Clinic assigns the students to a judge, prosecutor or defence lawyer so they can observe and participate in practice of criminal law.
McGill University, Montreal: Law school opportunities include community clinics for disadvantaged people and groups; advocacy for McGill students accused of academic or non-academic offences; working as a research assistant for a judge or a member of an administrative tribunal; and international human rights internships.
Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.: Students in the respected Correctional Law Project counsel federal prisoners who are appealing their convictions and represent them at parole and disciplinary hearings.
University of Western Ontario, London: The Community Legal Services clinic does pro bono work for Western students and local residents who cannot afford a lawyer. The Business Law Clinic provides free legal advice to small businesses and entrepreneurs.
University of British Columbia, Vancouver: Options include the Law Students' Legal Advice Program, clinics where students offer inner-city residents free legal advice; and the Innocence Project, which investigates cases of wrongful conviction.
Randy Ray
