Media Releases

Growing the next generation of pro bono lawyers

May 26, 2010

TORONTO, ON — Three keynote lec­tures will take place at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to May 28 ‑30, 2010 as part of a nation­al train­ing con­fer­ence for the 50 law stu­dents across Cana­da who run Pro Bono Stu­dents Cana­da (PBSC), the only nation­al pro bono ser­vice orga­ni­za­tion in the world. PBSC pro­vides legal ser­vices with­out charge to orga­ni­za­tions and indi­vid­u­als in need across Cana­da.

• Junior Siri­var is a part­ner at McCarthy Tétrault in Toron­to. He recent­ly obtained an order from the Euro­pean Court of Human Rights regard­ing rights vio­la­tions of Roma­ni­ans under the Euro­pean Con­ven­tion on Human Rights. He will speak about the com­plex­i­ties of inter­na­tion­al pro bono lawyer­ing and his pro bono prac­tice on Bay St.

• Michèle More­au is the inau­gur­al Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of Pro Bono Québec, the newest provin­cial pro bono ser­vice orga­ni­za­tion to have been formed. Her lec­ture will dis­cuss the chal­lenges of cre­at­ing a pro bono cul­ture in Québec.

• Cyn­thia Petersen is a part­ner at Sack Gold­blatt Mitchell in Toron­to. She has rep­re­sent­ed clients in almost every sin­gle les­bian and gay rights case to have been lit­i­gat­ed before the Supreme Court of Cana­da, includ­ing Egan, Vriend, M. v. H., Lit­tle Sis­ters and the Same-Sex Mar­riage Ref­er­ence. Her lec­ture will review the chal­lenges and rewards of pro bono legal prac­tice.

EVENT DETAILS

NOTE: This con­fer­ence is now full and is no longer accept­ing reg­is­tra­tions from the pub­lic.

WHAT: Lead­ing lawyers lec­ture on pro bono lawyer­ing in dif­fer­ent con­texts and cul­tures in Cana­da to the next gen­er­a­tion of pro bono lawyers

WHEN: Fri­day May 28 at 7:30 p.m. (Siri­var),
Sat­ur­day, May 29 at 7:30 p.m. (More­au) and
Sun­day May 30 at 7:30 p.m. (Petersen)

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For more infor­ma­tion, please con­tact:

Nik­ki Ger­sh­bain
Nation­al Direc­tor
Pro Bono Stu­dents Cana­da
416–946-0519
or nikki.gershbain@probonostudents.ca

www.probonostudents.ca
http://www.mccarthy.ca/lawyer_detail.aspx?id=4889
http://www.sgmlaw.com/en/lawyers/detail.cfm?lawyerid=17
http://www.probonoquebec.ca/en