By Heather Gardiner
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Making ma e profession is seeing a cultu ess to justice work.
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Law students
Yeoman Liang,
University College London
Faculty of Laws;
Sandeep Sandhu,
Panjab University Department
of Laws; and UBC law students
Cordelia Ayers; and
Carolin Puettjer are
getting hands-on
experience at the
Access Pro Bono Society
of British Columbia.
C A N A D I A N Law yer 4 students
Fall 2013
Angela Fama
T
here was a time when most lawyers probably wouldn't
have dreamed of offering their services for free. But
now the justice system is increasingly out of reach for
many low- to mid-income people, soon-to-be lawyers
are learning about the importance of access to justice
early on. They are told one way to help with the problem is by volunteering their legal skills, and so are encouraged to get involved in their communities and
give back early in their careers.
Some law schools are taking this even further by
requiring students to complete a certain number of
public interest hours in order to graduate. Osgoode
Hall Law School implemented a 40-hour requirement in 2006 and is the only law school in Canada to
require students to do community legal work in order to get their law degrees. Osgoode dean Lorne
Sossin says the requirement has been wholly embraced by faculty and students. "It has been a real
success story in the sense that because it's a broad
public interest base, students can fulfil it in many different ways," he says. "It's growing each year with
new placements and new opportunities."
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