Laura Hawes (3L) and Shannon Fenrich (2L) are the 2011 UBC Law Pro Bono Students Canada Coordinators.
Hey 1L’ers it’s your friendly Pro Bono Students Canada Coordinators here!!
By now you’re probably in the midst of preparing for the craziest three years of your life. While the importance of preparation can’t be over-rated, remember to use the rest of the summer as a time to relax and enjoy your last few months of freedom.
So what exactly is ‘pro bono’? Pro bono work is when a lawyer (or law student) provides legal services for free. These services are hugely important to the community as they ensure every person has access to our justice system and legal information readily available to them.
Pro Bono Students Canada is a student run organization that aims to help public interest organizations provide pro bono services to vulnerable members of our community. We do this by matching law students with a wide range of public interest organizations. Student volunteers (you) then provide these organizations with a variety of legal services including research, creating public legal education documents, running legal workshops, client intake and dispute resolution preparation. The result of this structure is a win-win-win situation, organizations benefit from the valuable work students provide, students gain research skills, networking opportunities, and the opportunity for one on one feedback from a supervising lawyer, and members of the community get access to high quality legal services they could not otherwise afford.
By joining UBC-PBSC not only do you get great hands on legal experience, the opportunity to meet members of the Vancouver legal community, and support vulnerable members of our community, but you are becoming part of a national movement. PBSC is a national organization with chapters in every Canadian law school, all promoting the mutual goals of social justice and access to our legal system.
We have been busy all summer working on some exciting projects that you can get involved in! A few of this year’s projects are:
· Researching human rights issues with Justice for Girls
· Working with Direct Democracy Now to incorporate and work on any CRA challenges that come up
· Assisting advocates and clients in preparing evidence for hearings with St. Paul’s Advocacy
If you have any questions feel free to email Laura and Shannon at pbsc.ubc@gmail.com. You can also check out our website www.ubcpbsc.com.
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