Justice for Children & Youth (JFCY) Clinic and Legal Research Project

Project Type: 

• Research (memoranda used for internal purposes only)
• Client services (court forms, shadowing, mock hearings, intake, legal clinic, etc.)

Fields of Law: Poverty, Housing, Human Rights, Constitutional, Immigration and Refugee, Administrative, Family, Criminal

Positions Available: 1

About Justice for Children & Youth (JFCY):

Justice for Children and Youth strives to protect and advance the legal rights and dignity of children and youth. Justice for Children and Youth provides legal advice, representation and assistance to young people under the age of eighteen and unstably housed adults up until the age of 25.

Project Details:

Students  will  work  remotely  with  their  assigned  lawyer  supervisor  to  assist  them  with  their  caseload. Typical tasks include with legal research, client follow up and letter writing. Although each student may get the opportunity to sit in on an intake meeting between a client and their supervisor, students will predominately be engaging in research-based work on a broad range of topics.

Examples of potential research topics may include child welfare, human rights claims, privacy matters, immigration matters, criminal law, education law, or administrative law matters. All students are closely supervised and are given regular feedback on task performance. Each student will submit their research directly to their supervisor.

Pursuant to organizational and institutional regulations, students may be able to volunteer in the clinic during the winter term.

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

Students will be required to commit to a four-hour shift where work will be completed remotely. Ideally shifts will be on a weekday from 9:30am-1:30pm or 1:00-5:00pm depending on the class schedules of the student volunteers. 

Requirements and Expectations:

Bilingualism is an asset. While not prerequisites, criminal law, family law, administrative law and poverty law knowledge help.

First-year (1L) students cannot volunteer for this project. 

Other relevant qualities:

• Legal Writing Interest
• Interest in gaining skills with client interviews
• Experience working with youth is an asset
• Experience working within an anti-oppression framework is an asset

Students are expected to work within a social justice, anti-oppression and children’s rights framework. Justice for Children and Youth is an inclusive and safe space. Students should be interested in legal research and have strong memo writing skills.