Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/642579
Ask Lucas Lung what pro bono cases make him most proud, and you may be surprised. The list doesn't include the time, as a young lawyer, he represented a low income housing co-op in Collingwood, taking on Simcoe County all the way to appeal and securing victory for his 110 low-income clients. Neither does it include his participation in a landmark immigration sponsorship ruling at the Supreme Court of Canada a few years back. It makes for an impressive and eye-catching resume, but not one this soft-spoken litigator is quick to trumpet. "I don't immediately think of the higher profile cases as the ones that stand out," says Lung, who as a partner at Lerners LLP currently devotes about ten percent of his practice to pro bono work, but in some years has donated as much as forty percent. He also works with junior lawyers at the firm to develop their own pro bono cases. Here's what he does think of: The Chinese boy from Panama, who arrived in Canada as an unrepresented minor claiming refugee status. Lung was a first year lawyer and it was a challenging case. "A young kid, 14 or 15 years old. Big smile, big hair," he remembers. "I was appointed to represent him. He got to stay. I was really happy about that result." Several years later, when Lung won the Arleen Goss Young Advocates' award, the young man wrote that meeting Lung was a highlight of his life. "I think it's those cases," he says. "An individual or a couple I helped along the way. I helped a really nice couple who was being bullied. I've still got the bottle of wine they gave me. No one was going to hear about those cases, but those are the ones that stay with me." Lucas E. Lung FLIP YOUR WIG 25