Don Valley Community Legal Services (DVCLS): Friday Morning Immigration Intake

Project Type: Client services (court forms, shadowing, mock hearings, intake, legal clinic, etc.)

Fields of Law: Immigration Law

Positions Available: 1

This is a joint project in which University of Toronto students may work with students from Lincoln Alexander Law School (TMU) and Osgoode Hall Law School (York University).

About Don Valley Community Legal Services (DVCLS):

Don Valley Community Legal Services (DVCLS) is a community legal resource centre. The Clinic serves persons of modest income in their catchment area on an individual, case-by-case basis. The Clinic also serves the community generally by providing outreach, legal education and community organizing to agencies, individuals and other groups in the community.

Project Details:

DVCLS’ immigration team provides summary advice and legal representation for various immigration problems. The team works with clients from their catchment area, as well as referrals from West Scarborough Community Legal Services.

In this project, the law student will be responsible for contacting clients via DVCLS’s Zoom Phone app to record their information and a statement of their legal issue(s). The student will then log this information into DVCLS’ statistical case management program. Students will conduct research into clients’ issues and files. The student will also shadow the lawyer supervisor, who will emphasize the legal issues and the relevant facts of each case and draw attention to any facts which may be missing.

Will the student(s) be expected to show up for regular shifts each week, or is the schedule flexible?

Students will be expected to show up for a regular shift each week (Friday morning from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM) at DVCLS’s office. Eventually, students may be able to complete intake work from home, if this is approved by DVCLS.

COVID-19 Note:

Students assigned to intake projects (like this project) will be asked to complete their intake (phone) work from the clinic, to benefit from the support of DVCLS’ intake workers.

Student volunteers who come into the clinic will need to comply with the clinic’s requirements: they must be masked, must be vaccinated (or display a negative rapid test), and must not have had any COVID symptoms.

Requirements and Expectations:

Students must be able to learn a computer statistical program (case management).