The ‘law crystallizes in stages’: Jean-Christophe Bédard-Rubin
Nexus/Fall 2022
By Nina Haikara
What does the next 40 years hold for the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms?
2025
Features
"Features" post category.
U of T’s community legal clinic, Downtown Legal Services, celebrates 50 years
October 2022
by Nina Haikara
Over 50 years ago, students from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law received summer project funding from a federal program then-named, Opportunities for Youth.
The family unit
Nexus/Spring 2022
by Michael McKiernan
Six years on from her law school graduation, Faria Soutter (JD 2016) feels like she has never really left the Downtown Legal Services (DLS) family division.
The family lawyer, who practises with Toronto firm Beaton Burke Young LLP, is transported back to the Fasken Building at 655 Spadina Ave. every time she starts a family case in court on behalf of a client.
‘Very grateful,’ say Downtown Legal Services clients
Nexus/Spring 2022
by Nina Haikara
Theirs is a dream to live in Canada. Their reality today was made possible with the support of students and staff lawyers at Downtown Legal Services (DLS).
Luisa, sought humanitarian and compassionate grounds for her father, Armando, and Madinah, a applicant under the category of protected person.
A place to call home
Nexus/Spring 2022
by Nina Haikara
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the importance of housing as a fundamental human right under international law. Cities in Europe have advocated for a housing first policy, providing long-term housing of homeless individuals, as a necessary first step in eradicating homelessness.
Advocating for workers’ rights
Nexus/Spring 2022
by Paul Fraumeni
When Sukhmani Virdi (JD 2020) was a student in the Employment Law program at the Faculty of Law’s Downtown Legal Services (DLS), she learned a lot. But there was one lesson that really struck home.
A DLS client disclosed to Virdi that she was a survivor of sexual violence. She had filed charges and participated in the legal proceedings against the accused. When he was found not guilty, the woman told Virdi she had felt the legal system had not supported her. She felt extremely let down.
Crime and representation
Nexus/Spring 2022
by Paul Fraumeni
When Emily Hill was in high school in the western Toronto suburb of Etobicoke, she knew she had a growing passion for the law, especially criminal law.
U of T’s Student Legal Aid Society
Nexus/Spring 2022
by Nina Haikara
Described by Dean Emeritus (1972-1979) Martin Friedland (LLB 1958) as “a dedicated group that help improve the law school on a number of fronts,” the Student Legal Aid Society* (SLAS) was a student-led initiative that ignited a clinical education program at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.
The Future of Law is here
By Nina Haikara
“In the past few years, many law firms have started to adopt tech, such as using artificial intelligence software to help with discovery and research,” says Anthony Niblett, Canada
Epstein Cole LLP joins Pro Bono Students Canada as founding partner of new Family Justice Centre
by Nicole Landa, Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) intern
Empowerment, accessibility and expanding the reach of access to legal aid are the core values of the new Family Justice Centre (FJC), established at Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC) in partnership with Epstein Cole L