Justice for Children and Youth: Clinic and Legal Research Project (3 positions)

Area of law: Poverty Law -- Housing Law -- Human Rights Law -- Constitutional Law -- Immigration and Refugee Law -- Administrative Law -- Family Law -- Criminal Law -- Education Law

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 18 and unstably housed adults up until the age of 25. To learn more about JFCY, check out their website here: https://jfcy.org

In this project, students will work remotely with their assigned lawyer supervisor to assist them with their caseload which can include client-directed work and law reform work. Typical tasks include 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. 

Time Commitment

Students will be expected to volunteer 4-5 hours per week. 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 9:30 am - 1:30 pm or 1:00 - 5:00 pm depending on the class schedules of the student volunteers. 

Required Training

In addition to the PBSC mandatory training, the JFCY staff will provide a 1-hour virtual orientation for the student and provide reading materials which include information on the type of work that JFCY does. Additional training can be requested by the student. The student will be working closely with the supervising lawyer for the duration of the project, so there is plenty of time for ongoing training and mentorship. 

Number of Students and Prerequisites

  • How many students? 
    • Three student volunteers (students will be working with students from Osgoode Hall Law School and Lincoln Alexander School of Law)
  • Can first year law students volunteer? 
    • No - only upper years can volunteer on this project. 
  • Should you be bilingual?
    • No, but the ability to speak different languages would be an asset. 
  • Any other expectations for this project? 
    • ​​There are no prerequisites but criminal law, family law, administrative law and poverty law knowledge helps. Students should have an interest in legal writing and in gaining skills with client interviews. Experience working with youth and 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.