2018 – 2019 Project List
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
2018 – 2019 PROJECT LIST The following is a list of PBSC Projects for the 2018 – 2019 Academic Year. All PBSC Projects have been carefully selected to ensure they provide a valuaBle legal experience to students. Please refer to the Application Form for application instructions, available on our weBsite: roBsonhall.com/proBono PLEASE NOTE: Occasionally projects fall through due to changes in capacity of the organization partner, or availability of a volunteer lawyer supervisor. This is beyond the control of the PBSC Program Coordinators. Age & Opportunity: Power of Attorney Project Area of Law: Elder Law Type of Project: Legal Research and Writing & PuBlic Presenta- tion # of Students: 2-3 Students, All Years QualifiCations: N/A A & O: Support Services for Older Adults (A & O) is a not-for-profit social service agency that offers life-enhancing programs and services to older adults 55+ living in the province of ManitoBa. A & O’s programs and services support and enhance the physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual lives of older persons and actively promote participation in all aspects of community life. DesCription: Students will assist in creating a plain language document and potential presentation/weBinar that will highlight for Older Adults what a Power of Attorney document is. This can include: • What are my rights when I have a POA? • How do I make changes to a POA? • Where do I go to complete a POA? • Can I change my POA? Skills you will develop: Legal research, the ability to summarize and communicate legal concepts using plain language, public speaking. 2 A WoMan’s PlaCe Legal Clinic: Family Law and Domestic Violence Area of Law: Family Type of Project: Clinical, some Legal Research and Education # of Students: 1-2 Students, 2L or 3L QualifiCations: Must be taking Family Law A WoMan’s PlaCe provides counseling, supports, and legal serviCes to woMen who are in or have reCently left abusive relation- ships. DesCription: In addition to those high-risk women we represent, we provide a legal drop-in clinic for women who do not meet our mandate for representation. This clinic allows them to come in and receive information on family law, and help them complete legal aid appli- cations for outside counsel where appropriate. The project will have 1-2 students attend for 3 hours a week in order to help provide information to women on family law issues and other legal issues related to domestic violence. Before attending appointments, they will be provided with intake forms out- lining the background of the women and what sort of information they are looking for, allowing students the opportunity to re- search or familiarize themselves with the relevant legal principles. Where necessary, the students will discuss the information they intend to provide with the supervising lawyer, prior to meeting with the woman. The students will then meet with the women, usually for 45 minute sessions. During the sessions they will provide information (not counsel or advice) and seek any additional information from her, as instructed by counsel. Students fill out legal aid applica- tions and occasionally work with an interpreter with certain clients. After the meeting, students will debrief with the supervising lawyer to review information given and to provide feedBack for students to use in further client meetings and follow ups. Students will do some legal research and have the opportunity to present at “Lecture Learns” on the topic of family law and do- mestic violence. During times when clients miss appointments, students will have the opportunity to sit in on a support group where they will observe clients and gain a deeper understanding of client issues. Students may have the opportunity to attend Masters Court as joB shadowing. TiMe coMMitMent: 3 hours a week Tuesdays or Fridays. Additional InforMation/RequireMents: Students must have completed or be registered for Family Law. Must have daytime availability: please inClude your schedule in your application. The successful applicants for this volunteer opportunity will be non-judgmental and empathetic. A background in social work, woman’s studies, or experience working with vulneraBle individuals is an asset. Due to the needs of the population served by A Woman’s Place, preference will be given to female applicants when working directly with clients. Skills You Will Gain: Experience working with vulneraBle individuals and explaining legal concepts in plain language. IMPORTANT: you must subMit your fall AND winter schedules along with your application. If they are not subMitted, your ap- pliCation will be considered inCoMplete. 3 Canadian Civil Liberties AssoCiation: RightsWatch Area of Law: Civil LiBerties, Type of Project: Legal Research and Writing Human Rights # of Students: 1 Student, All Years QualifiCations: Asset: Constitutional, passion for civil liberties DesCription: Rights Watch is an on-line platform dedicated to promoting awareness and dialogue aBout rights and freedoms in Canada. See: http://rightswatch.ca. PBSC volunteers on the CCLA/PBSC Rights Watch project have the opportunity to produce original and timely content and analysis, and engage with leading experts and other law students dedicated to promoting civil liBerties. There are three distinct aspects of the Rights Watch project: 1) Students’ primary responsiBility will Be to monitor an assigned area (e.g., courts in Ontario; legislature in Quebec; US Su- preme Court, etc.) in order to identify and analyze legislative and/or court developments related to civil liberties. Based on their research and analysis, the students will produce Blog posts for the Rights Watch weBpage. Note that: a. Students will Be trained on technical aspects of using the Blogging software and receive training from experienced counsel on the legal pitfalls of Blogging. b. Monitoring should Be done on a weekly Basis. CCLA provides a comprehensive monitoring guide with tips for ensur- ing they stay up-to-date on their assigned area. Monitoring may include researching recent Canadian court deci- sions, reaching out to civil society players in the community, and following local media. Where the project supervisor so advises, some students will monitor developments at the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the UN Human Rights Commission. Some students could also Be asked to monitor courts in the U.S., UK, and some other foreign jurisdictions to report on significant developments there with relevance to the Canadian perspective (e.g., surveillance). c. Students are encouraged to engage with their supervisor if they are having trouble identifying interesting issues to write aBout. Supervisors may also assign specific topics from time to time. d. Students are requested to post to the blog onCe a week. Posts can Be Brief (approx. 200-400 words) and include links to relevant source material (cases, legislation, news articles, etc.). Posts should be written in accessible lan- guage and provide commentary on the relevance of the issue. e. Students are encouraged to comment on each other’s Blog posts to promote dialogue on civil liBerties issues. f. Students do not have to agree with, or reflect, CCLA’s stance on issues to participate in this project, however every blog post must Contain a disClaimer stating: This blog post was written by a CCLA-PBSC RightsWatch student. Opin- ions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCLA or PBSC. g. Students are encouraged to share and post their articles on other platforms. These may include: sharing with their alumni association, and sharing or posting on their personal/chapter/law school social media accounts. When post- ing an article in long form on a platform outside of the CCLA Rights Watch blog, students must include the following message: “This article was originally puBlished on the Canadian Civil LiBerties Association’s Rights Watch weBsite and was written By a volunteer PBSC student. PBSC and CCLA cannot provide legal advice, and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect their views. To see the original posting or other articles related to Canadian civil liberties, please visit http://rightswatch.ca/.” 2) CCLA will organize four civil liberties “intensives” over the course of the academic year — weBinar style sessions where the students can will learn aBout timely civil liBerties issues and advocacy strategies. During these online sessions, students will have exclusive access to leading practitioners on different civil liberties topics. Each session is approximately one hour in length. Students are required to attend at least three of the four sessions over the course of the year. Efforts will Be made to accommodate students’ schedules. 3) In order to promote widespread understanding of and engagement with civil liberties issues in Canada, students will post to social media (i.e., twitter, Instagram, FaceBook) aBout the monitoring, research and analysis they are doing. The original Blog posts produced by the students will be promoted through social media and the students may engage with commenters. Stu- dents are requested to post to soCial Media onCe or twiCe per week to contriBute to dynamic and interactive engagement on right issues. Requirements: Students selected for this project must participate in an online training session to be held at 3:00 pm 4 EST on Wednesday OCtober 3 or 12:00 p.M. EST on Thursday OCtober 4. (students are required to attend one of the- se two sessions). The training session will last approximately 2 hours. This training will Be held in conjunction with training for another CCLA-PBSC project (Talk Rights). Asset: Student that is self-motivated, engaged with current events and/or politics, enjoys writing and has some experience doing so in an online environment. Creative Manitoba: Contract Law and Intellectual Property Area of Law: Contract Law, Intellectual Type of Project: Legal Research and Writing & PuBlic Presenta- Property Law. tion # of Students: 2-3 Students, All Years QualifiCations: Asset: Interest in Contact law, or experience in the arts.