Don Valley Community Legal Services (DVCLS): Thursday Afternoon Affidavit Intake

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

Fields of Law: Administrative Law and Poverty 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:

An affidavit is a written document that contains facts that someone swears under oath or affirms are true (source). DVCLS helps clients prepare affidavits and other documents for government, financial, or legal purposes. These include income verification affidavits, daycare subsidy affidavits, notarial true copies, and more.

In this project, students will help the clinic staff worker deal with the clients who have appointments for affidavits or notarial true copies:

  • Students will ensure clients have brought an ID document.
  • Students will shadow the client-lawyer meetings, which include an interview.
  • Eventually, students will be able to take a more active role under lawyer supervision. Students may be able to conduct the interview independently and draft the affidavit using a template which is then reviewed by a DVCLS lawyer.
  • Additional work, such as copying ID documents, copying the completed documents, etc., will take no more than 10% of the students’ time. 

 

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 (Thursday from 1:30-4:30 PM) at DVCLS’s office in Leaside Park. Students can switch shifts between themselves. If a student cannot make their scheduled shift, they must inform the lawyer supervisor.

 

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.

 

Requirements and Expectations:

Students should have strong interpersonal skills.