Program to provide financial aid for both students and advocacy organizations
Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP has partnered with law schools to fund and launch summer internships for students interested in interning with organizations focused on access to justice and social responsibility.
The first- and second-year law students were chosen by their respective schools’ career offices, with preference to those in need financially and/or those who are first-generation lawyers, the firm said in a statement. Aside from helping students, the move will also benefit advocacy organizations that otherwise would be unable to afford having a summer intern.
“Through these internships focused on advocacy training and public interest, Lenczner Slaght hopes to extend its reach – helping students to hone their advocacy skills and for public interest organizations to benefit from their assistance. ‘Where the best get better’ is not just for Bay Street,” said Shara Roy, partner and co-leader of the firm’s student program.
Lenczner Slaght will be supporting the following students’ internships in 2019:
Tersha DeKoning (Queen’s Law) at Innocence Canada
DeKoning is working to support Innocence Canada in its mandate to 1) identify, advocate for, aid, and exonerate innocent individuals wrongly convicted of a crime they did not commit and 2) prevent wrongful convictions through legal reform and education.
Zahra Attir (Queen’s Law) at Community Advocacy and Legal Centre
Attir is interning with an independent community-based legal clinic funded by Legal Aid Ontario. She will be supporting clinic staff to help solve the unique legal problems faced by people living on a low income or in poverty.
Quinn Brown (Queen’s Law) at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Brown is interning full time with UNHCR to facilitate advocacy and conduct legal and policy research.
Adam Award (Queen’s Law) at Centre for Law and Democracy
Award is supporting CLD’s work to promote, protect and develop human rights, which serve as the foundation for democracy. These include the rights to freedom of expression, to vote and participate in governance, to access information, and to freedom of assembly and association.
Angel Leung (UT Law) Industrial Accident Victims’ Group of Ontario
Leung is working at a clinic that offers free legal services to injured workers and their families funded by Legal Aid Ontario. She will be conducting research exploring how human rights complaints under the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Charter can be brought for workers with significant pre-existing barriers to the labour market, and developing practical options and strategies for use in the litigation of these issues.
Justyne Leslie (Schulich School of Law) at Dartmouth Provincial Court, Nova Scotia Supreme Court (Family & General Division) and Nova Scotia Court of Appeal
Leslie is spending a few weeks at each courthouse conducting legal research, drafting opinions and case summaries, preparing trial memos, performing legal analysis, briefing the judges on legal issues, and reviewing and making recommendations on motions. She will also work on a research project for Justice Anne Derrick on cultural impact assessments in the sentencing of African-Canadians.
Melissa Bowen (Osgoode Hall Law School) at Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation
Bowen is working at a not-for-profit charity that defends housing rights and human rights by educating individuals and communities, advancing progressive and inclusive housing law and policy, and providing legal information and services to marginalized Ontarians.
