Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/642579
"Many people go to law school full of ideals and wanting to feel like they're having an impact on society and making society better," says Paul Schabas, a senior partner at Blakes. "It's something you have to try to hang onto." His young associate Laura Dougan is learning that first hand. "He's always encouraging me and other young lawyers to remember why we came into the profession," she says. Schabas has set a dizzyingly high bar. Currently chair of the Law Foundation of Ontario, a director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and an elected Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada, he's had a hand in a seemingly bottomless pot of pro bono organizations and access to justice initiatives in Canada and internationally. Dougan has already collaborated with him, in addition to pursuing her own pro bono causes which include Pro Bono Law Ontario's duty counsel program and the Equality Effect's Malawi project. "You make it a priority if it's important to you," she says. "Every day I look at Paul and I say if he can do it - and he's very busy - I can do it." Among the many pro bono cases Schabas has taken on in his 30 years of practice, he says he is proudest of the years-long challenge to Section 43 of the Criminal Code - known as the spanking law - which he undertook with the legal aid clinic Justice for Children and Youth. "I spent thousands of hours on it," Schabas says. Although the Supreme Court ultimately upheld it, "I think we still kind of won the war. We put the issue on the front pages of the papers across the country. I felt like I was acting for the children of Canada." With the Liberal government now suggesting it will move to repeal the law, Schabas says he feels especially gratified. Which is ultimately why he devotes so much of his time to causes he believes in, and urges lawyers like Dougan to do the same. "Look for opportunities to take on the pro bono cases that are outside your mainstream practice," Schabas advises. "They're the ones that will be the most rewarding and that you'll learn the most from." Laura Dougan and Paul Schabas FLIP YOUR WIG 9