This is a joint project between Osgoode Hall Law School, the University of Toronto, and Lincoln Alexander
Project Type: Legal Research and Writing; Public Legal Education
Fields of Law: This project is general and may touch upon various areas of law, depending on the needs of the partner organizations
Positions Available: 3 students (1 from each school)
About the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers (FACL)
FACL is a diverse coalition of Asian Canadian legal professionals who promote equity, justice, and opportunity for Asian Canadian legal professional and the broader community. FACL fosters advocacy, community involvement, legal scholarship and professional development.
Project Details
The Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers (FACL) has developed a community outreach program to identify and address knowledge gaps related to various legal fields for Asian community members. The aim of the program is to partner with community organizations to create and provide public legal education in the form of presentations, workshops, webinars, recorded videos, social media/blog posts and plain language resources. This project involves continuing to develop the materials for the presentations, including power-point presentations and creating accompanying pamphlets for community members to take away in various topics. Additionally, this project involves outreach activities to develop new projects with organizations in the GTA. This includes researching and reaching out to organizations that would benefit from access to public legal education tools such as wills and estate webinars, among others. Students will work with these organizations to learn to understand their needs and develop presentations and projects that will help address the needs of the community from a legal standpoint. Students will also work with FACL on a pilot project geared toward Asian and migrant sex workers. This project will focus on access to justice issues as well as the specific vulnerabilities these women face. This project is in collaboration with the FACL Women’s Committee.
Role of Student Volunteer(s)
Students will conduct legal research on assigned areas of law to create public legal education tools (i.e. videos, presentations, pamphlets, etc.). Students will also assist in developing strategies that will assist in the provision of the public legal education materials to community members, and brainstorm new innovative ways of reaching Asian communities. Students will also conduct community outreach by compiling a list of organizations in the GTA who need access to legal education to serve their targeted communities. Students will begin by reaching out to existing partner organizations to assess their needs, as well as conduct google searches of new potential organizations that could benefit from FACL’s resources. Students will explain what FACL is, the types of public legal education they offer (i.e. webinars, presentations, etc.) and add them to a list to be provided to the lawyer supervisor.
If time permits, in regard to the pilot project on Asian and migrant sex workers, students will be tasked with conducting research about the vulnerabilities these women face.
Is A Work Plan Required For This Position?
No.
If yes, the student(s) must reach out to the lawyer supervisor, draft a work plan, and submit it by email to the Program Coordinator and the lawyer supervisor by November 1st at the latest. Please note that workplans are required for all legal research and writing projects.
What Type Of Training Will the Organization Provide?
Note: All first year PBSC volunteers and all volunteers working on research projects must also attend a PBSC/Thomson Reuters legal research strategies workshop.
General orientation with FACL and on-demand training depending on the deliverables assigned.
How Many Hours Per Week Will the Student Volunteer(s) Be Expected to Volunteer?
3-5 hours/week.
Will The Student(s) Be Expected To Show Up For Regular Shifts Each Week?
The schedule is flexible but depending on the task assigned, the students will be expected to consult with the Lawyer Supervisor/Partner Organization to establish a due date.
Is Workspace Provided For the Student Volunteer(s)?
No, project tasks are completed remotely. However, a hybrid model may be implemented if FACL has the capacity to do so.
Requirements and Expectations
Given the population served by FACL, there is a preference for students who speak Asian languages Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, or Cantonese.