Lawyer / Review Counsel (Primarily Civil and Administrative Litigation)

Community Legal Services (Western University)

Permanent, full-time

Community Legal Services is Western University’s Student Legal Aid Clinic (SLSO) located within the Faculty of Law. Our mandate is to provide excellent legal service to low income clients, as well as an experience based clinical educational program for Western Law students. Under the direct supervision and mentorship of Review Counsel, students provide legal assistance to low income persons in the city of London. Our work includes individual case files, community outreach, advocacy projects, public legal education and teaching.

We are seeking an energetic, enthusiastic lawyer with sound judgment, and excellent interpersonal skills, to join the clinic as a Review Counsel. The clinic currently provides legal service in the areas of criminal law, provincial offences, family law, tenants’ rights (LTB), and civil disputes (Small Claims Court) and university affairs (including academic misconduct and grading appeals). This position will provide mentorship to and supervision of students primarily in the area of civil and administrative law and university affairs. The ideal candidate for this position will be able to supervise students in three or more of the following areas: tenants’ rights at the Landlord Tenant Board, Small Claims court disputes under $35,000, drafting of wills / powers of attorney, university affairs hearings, employment law, human rights, and/or immigration law.

This position requires a lawyer with a minimum of 5 years of experience at the bar.

Review Counsel may also be called upon to teach portions of the Clinic Course(s) and lead group discussions with students. To that end, we seek individuals who enjoy being in the classroom and have a passion for teaching and mentoring students.

Review Counsel’s responsibilities include:

Comprehensive and detailed supervision / mentoring of law students in the areas of written and oral advocacy, client management, file management, legal analysis, legal research, legal drafting, legal problem solving, negotiations and professional ethics;
Supervision of students in the delivery of legal services;
Provision of legal services directly to clients when necessary including appearing before the court;
Development, implementation and supervision of public legal education, community outreach and advocacy projects (as assigned by the Clinic Director);
Assisting the Director with delivery and evaluation of the Clinic course or other teaching assignments as assigned;

Qualifications:

JD or LLB degree;
Membership in the Law Society of Ontario (licenced to practise law in Ontario);
Minimum of 5 years of experience at the bar with experience in multiple areas of law as noted above;
A demonstrated ability in serving low-income clients and persons with disabilities in a respectful and sensitive manner;
Demonstrated cultural competencies;
Excellent attention to detail and proven time management skills;
Interest and experience in areas of social justice;
Proven ability to supervise and mentor students;
Familiarity with Legal Aid Ontario, its mandate and structure.

This full-time permanent position within Western’s Professional Managerial Association (PMA) working group.

Questions about this position can be directed to Michele Pegg at mpegg3@uwo.ca.

Applications can be submitted through the following link:

Careers (uwo.ca)

JOB ID 32050

The deadline for applications is August 10, 2023.

We appreciate your interest; however, only those selected for an interview will be notified.