Law Commons^™

How To Increase Migrant Resilience In Canada: What The Legal System Can Do To Help, Po Kwan Tara Chan

Major Papers

Immigration is important to Canada. Migrants replenish our declining population, help drive our economy, and contribute to our labour market. By 2036, almost half of the Canadian population will be either first-generation or second-generation immigrants. While the migrant experience varies, it is recognized to be deeply challenging. Among these barriers is often the need to engage with the complex legal system during and after the settlement process.

This paper uses the literature to better understand the benefits of migrants in Canada, concept of resilience, benefits of diversity in the workplace, and how law firms can leverage diversity to perform better. …

Access To Justice Meets Opportunity: Reverse Auction Ventures As A Possible Solution To The Unaffordability Of Personal Plight Legal Services And Oversupply Of Lawyers, Shawn P. Quigg

Major Papers

Individuals who experience personal plight legal issues face several barriers to justice. Low- and medium-income earners are especially disadvantaged, given the high financial, temporal, and emotional costs associated with accessing justice. Simultaneously, law schools are graduating more law students than jobs available. The imbalance leaves many young lawyers, with mounting debt, no means with which to pay off the debt. The purpose of this study is to assess the viability of a legal services reverse auction platform as a solution to the access to justice and lawyer oversupply problems.

The feasibility study examines the characteristics of the business models of …

Clinical And Experiential Learning In Canadian Law Schools: Current Perspectives, Gemma Smyth, Samantha Hale, Neil Gold

Law Publications

What are some of the challenges and possibilities animating modern Canadian clinical and experiential learning in law? This question was the starting point for our research, which examined two sets of data. In the first part of this project, we analyzed available information on existing clinical and experiential learning programs in Canadian law schools. This data revealed a growing quantity and variety of programs across the country. We then held qualitative interviews with deans, professors, and clinicians across Canada regarding their views of clinical and experiential learning. While the interviews suggested that many of the same financial and curricular challenges …

Evaluating Systemic Advocacy: A Primer & Tools For Evaluating Systemic Advocacy In Ontario's Legal Clinics, Gemma Smyth

Law Publications

No abstract provided.

Male, Pale, And Stale? Diversity In Lawyers' Regulatory Leadership, Noel Semple

Law Publications

When lawyers elect the leaders of their self-regulatory organizations, what sort of people do they vote for? How do the selection processes for elite lawyer sub-groups affect the diversity and efficacy of those groups? This article quantitatively assesses the demographic and professional diversity of leadership in the Law Society of Upper Canada.

After many years of underrepresentation, in 2015 visible minority members and women were elected in numbers proportionate to their shares of Ontario lawyers. Regression analysis suggests that being non-white was not a disadvantage in the 2015 election, and being female actually conferred an advantage in attracting lawyers’ votes. …