Community legal clinic system helps anchor access to justice sector: Law Foundation of Ontario CEO
The Law Foundation of Ontario has announced the approval of a $1.1 million grant for the clinic learning and training program of the Association of Community Legal Clinics of Ontario (ACLCO), which represents the province’s 71 community legal clinics.
“One of The Law Foundation of Ontario’s strategic priorities is to collaborate and build knowledge to strengthen the access to justice sector,” said Lisa Cirillo, the foundation’s chief executive officer, in a news release. “ACLCO and the community legal clinic system are anchors of this sector.”
“To provide the best quality and relevant legal services, we must ensure clinics have access to high-quality and continuous learning opportunities,” added Lenny Abramowicz, ACLCO executive director. “The Clinic Learning and Training Program will make a real difference to the way that community legal clinics are run, governed, and managed.”
The nonprofit organization’s clinic learning and training program offers training opportunities for around 2,000 staff members, law students, articling students, and volunteer board members within the legal clinic system, according to the foundation’s news release.
This training spans substantive poverty law and board and management development practices, as well as subjects like governance, fiscal management, human resources, and evaluation. Staff members developed, reviewed, and delivered the program curriculum.
The clinic learning and training program also covers practice area groups, regional and provincial meetings, and networking, mentoring, and peer-support opportunities.
“Community legal clinics are distinct among legal aid service providers,” Abramowicz said in the foundation’s news release. “Based on past successes, we know that a dedicated and specialized learning program is vital for our member clinics to best meet client and community needs, and to operate proficiently, efficiently, and sustainably.”
“We are pleased to be in a position to support the clinics’ ability to most effectively govern and manage their operations and to deliver the highest quality legal services, especially for some of the most marginalized communities across Ontario,” Cirillo added.
The clinics supported by ACLCO are independent, nonprofit agencies with their own community-elected boards of directors, according to the foundation’s news release. These clinics offer poverty law services to the province’s low-income communities.
These services include legal representation before courts and tribunals, brief services, legal advice and assistance, law reform, community development, public legal education, and referrals.
According to information from ACLCO’s website, the nonprofit organization aims to advocate for Ontario’s legal clinics, improve the legal welfare of the communities the clinics serve, and promote unity, understanding, and the expansion of the province’s legal clinic system.
