This optional full semester program introduces students to lawyering skills in a community clinic setting.

The concept of access to justice assumes human dimensions at Legal Assistance of Windsor (L.A.W.). Established in 1974 by the Faculty of Law among the first wave of storefront community legal clinics, L.A.W. continues to fill a vital role today in legal education and community service under the auspices of the Ontario Legal Aid Plan and the University of Windsor.

At L.A.W., the goal of enhancing access to legal and social services in the disadvantaged communities of Windsor and Essex County is twinned with the objective of introducing law and social work students to their professional responsibilities in a clinical setting.

Following an intensive orientation program, second and third year law students provide client services in areas such as social welfare, landlord and tenant, workers' compensation, immigration, and consumer and human rights law under the supervision of staff lawyers.

Because legal problems are often interrelated with social problems, an interdisciplinary approach combining the expertise of the legal and social work professions is taken. Social work staff engage in social casework and supervise senior students of the School of Social Work on field placement. Community development activities designed to address chronic problems presented on a case-by-case basis are planned and carried out in conjunction with clinic legal staff and other community-based organizations. Social work and law students work together on files involving both legal and social problems, with the objective of addressing the multifaceted needs of the low income community while working within a more comprehensive, effective approach to problem resolution than is generally available in traditional legal settings.

Students enrolled in the Clinical Law Program during the fall and winter semesters receive 15 course credits. A portion of these credits is assessed on a "pass/fail" basis, and the remainder are evaluated in the four-credit Clinical Advocacy course. Students who wish to receive less than 11 credits on a "pass/fail" basis must receive permission from the Director of Clinical Law and the Academic Program Committee prior to the commencement of the academic term. Half-time students are eligible to apply for placement.

Students who wish to apply for a placement during academic term must apply by letter and resume to the Director of Clinical Law for an interview during the winter term preceding the term requested. In exceptional circumstances, students will be admitted late, but students are encouraged to indicate their interest as early as possible.

The Clinical Law Program is not a duplication of the articling experience or the Bar Admission Course. It is designed and structured to provide insight and experience not offered by traditional legal education.

Alumni of L.A.W. now work in many and varied settings. They may be found in small town practices, big Bay Street firms, legal publishing, community legal clinics, band councils and prepaid legal services, to name a few. Many agree that the "real-life" experience they gained at the clinic helped to shape their career aspirations in some way.

The opportunity to learn more about the legal process, while helping people directly affected by it, is unique to clinical legal education. It is an intense experience, involving self and peer-evaluation in a context which is both practical and reflective.

Developing an awareness of the often insurmountable problems of those living in poverty is another part of the clinical law experience. Whether justice­or even due process­is available, is central to discussions about access to justice. Working in the Clinical Law Program is more than a variation on the theme­it gives the phrase a context.

Careful Selection of Courses: Law students intending to apply for a full term at Legal Assistance of Windsor are advised to give careful thought to their course planning early in their law school career. It is possible to select all basic courses required in preparation for the Law Society of Upper Canada Bar Admission Course and also attend the Clinical Law Program for a full semester, if students exercise due care in the selection of their optional courses. Students are invited to consult with the director and staff lawyers at Legal Assistance of Windsor for the purpose of discussing any aspect of the Clinical Law Program or for assistance with curriculum planning.

CLINICAL STAFF

Director:

Rose L. Voyvodic, LL.B. (Windsor), of Osgoode Hall, Barrister-at-Law, Special Lecturer in Clinical Advocacy, Immigration Law and Procedure, and Legal Professions.

Legal Staff:

Carol A. McDermott, B.A. (Waterloo), M.L.S. (Western), LL.B. (Windsor), of Osgoode Hall, Barrister-at-Law, staff lawyer.

Marion Overholt, B.A., LL.B. (Windsor), of Osgoode Hall, Barrister-at-Law, staff lawyer.

Social Work Staff:

Mary Medcalf, B.S.W., M.S.W. (Windsor), co-ordinator of programs.

Shelley Piquet, B.S.W. (Windsor), staff social worker.

Clerkship Program To The Supreme Court Of The Northwest Territories

Each year, two students have the opportunity to Clerk to the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. The clerkship, open to second and third-year students, is treated as a supervised research project and the successful students will gain experience in court research and memoranda writing. The length of the clerkship is coincidental with the fall or winter semester at the Faculty of Law. Successful applicants are selected on the basis of three factors: general academic performance in law, legal research and writing skills, and special interest and/or aptitude relating to the particular program. Additional information is available from the associate dean's office.

Community Legal Aid

Community Legal Aid (C.L.A.) provides free legal advice and representation to students and members of the community who cannot afford a lawyer. The C.L.A. office, located at 354 Sunset Avenue, is run and staffed by law students working under the supervision of a practicing lawyer, and is funded by full-time undergraduate students of the University of Windsor and the Ontario Legal Aid Plan.

C.L.A. has jurisdiction in various areas of law, including highway traffic offenses, miscellaneous provincial offenses, landlord and tenant matters, minor criminal offenses, change of name requests, civil matters, non-profit incorporations, worker's law, social work and student problems such as O.S.A.P. disputes and student appeals.

Student volunteers are provided with the opportunity to apply the legal knowedge taught in their classes and to acquire practical skills. The experience can be a valuable part of a legal education, as well as an opportunity to serve the community of Windsor.

The C.L.A. office may be contacted at 253-4232, extension 3904, or 253-7150 and is open Monday through Thursday, 10-4:30 p.m. (subject to variation). Appointments are preferred and appreciated.

The Windsor Review Of Legal And Social Issues

The Windsor Review of Legal and Social Issues was established at the Faculty of Law in the fall of 1987.

The aims and objectives of the review are as follows:

a) To examine legal issues that affect the community as a whole;

b) To pursue the study of law as a vehicle for social change;

c) To study law from a multi-disciplinary perspective;

d) To promote analytical and empirical approaches to the study of law.

The review is a bilingual refereed publication which publishes once a year. It is directed at academics, legal practitioners and community leaders concerned with legal issues which affect Canadians.

The editorial staff is composed of second and third-year students. In addition, students from all years of law study serve as editorial assistants. As well, faculty members assist in an advisory capacity.

The Windsor Review of Legal and Social Issues is open to new ideas and enthusiastic volunteers. The Editorial Board determines the theme of each volume; corresponds with the potential contributors; conducts fund raising activities to finance the review and obtains and maintains the review's subscription list.

The review is open to all Windsor law students and can prove to be a worthwhile and unique experience. In addition, the review provides a forum for Windsor students to publish articles, comments or book reviews or law students whose articles are published by the review, will be considered for the J.S.D. Tory Writing Awards.

Windsor Yearbook Of Access To Justice

In the spring of 1979, the University of Windsor law faculty deliberated on the possibility of establishing an academic journal. The first volume of the Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice was published in the spring of 1981. Subsequent volumes have been and will be published each year.

The Access to Justice Yearbook publishes manuscripts which concentrate on either issues of access to justice or justice itself. It is unique in that it is an interdisciplinary journal drawing on scholars from such disciplines as sociology, psychology, criminology, anthropology and philosophy as well as from law. It is also unique in that it extends the scope of inquiry beyond mere analysis of law to include philosophical discussion of normative points. The editors have succeeded in attracting contributions from scholars from Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Continental Europe, South America, Australia and New Zealand.

The theme of Access to Justice is seen as a concern with the creation, effectuation and realization of legal standards rather than the explication of them. It is not restricted to rules of procedure. The theme spans a fairly broad range of topics such as what is adequate "access," what is "justice," what factors in the formulation of and the audience for substantive rules constrain its effectuation, what factors constrain "law enforcers" from achieving goals, whose goals, what are the roles of specific remedial programs such as public defenders, public legal education or prepaid legal services, and what impact does limited versus broad access have upon substantive rules? These are some of the topics which the Access to Justice Yearbook considers. The Editorial Board is drawn from the Faculty of Law at the university. All manuscripts are independently refereed.

Law & Development

Law and Development is a special interest of several members of the faculty, especially in relation to Third World development and to jurisprudence or legal theory generally. An annual symposium on "Law and Development" with special reference to emerging and developing nations has been held at the Faculty of Law since 1971. The symposium held in April 1988 focused on Funding Agencies for International Development.

Regular participants are eminent scholars, lawyers, politicians, economists and anthropologists from the United States, Europe and Canada, as well as from the Third World countries. The symposium held in the fall of 1990 was concerned with disarmament, demilitarization and development. By wide agreement, these well-known symposia have been very important for the production of papers, for the general exchange of ideas and as teaching vehicles. The themes in the annual conferences tie very closely with the law school's interest in access to justice.

In addition, members of the faculty have published in areas of legal theory and law and development. These topics, especially Law and Development, are more thoroughly established in the University of Windsor's law school than in any other law school in Ontario. The Journal of Third World Legal Studies was established at the faculty in 1983 and, more recently, the Centre for Law in Aid of Development (CLAD) was established. The activities of the centre include the development of faculty and student exchanges and the promotion of joint research with Third World institutions.

Canadian-American Research Centre

The Canadian-American Research Centre (CARC) is an organized research program established in May 1991, and affiliated with the Faculty of Law at Windsor.

The Centre encourages, facilitates and undertakes multi-disciplinary research with colleagues from the University of Windsor and a number of American universities as well as colleagues from the private sector in Canada and the United States. The research projects concern issues relevant to Canadian-American relations, such as international trade, environment and the delivery of legal and quasi-legal services.

Legal Profession Research Program

The Legal Profession Research Program was created in May 1986 as a forum for colleagues interested in pursuing empirical and multi-disciplinary research in the areas of access to legal education and to the legal system.

A wide ranging research agenda was formulated consistent with Windsor Law's Access to Justice Theme and including the following: prepaid legal services; legal education and training; impact of contemporary forces on the practice of law; consumer legal needs; paralegal; lawyering skills; professional obligations and duties; and future models of practice.

Special Lectures

The Access to Justice Lecture Series

Each year a leading scholar is invited to deliver an original lecture on the theme of "Access to Justice." The lecturer then reworks his or her paper for the purpose of publication in the Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice.

The George M. Duck Lecture Series

A trust fund was established by a donation in memory of George M. Duck in order to institute an annual series of public lectures on the theme "Law in a Changing Society." Annually an eminent scholar will be invited to present the lecture. It is intended that the lectures will be published following their presentation.

Windsor/Wayne Law Forum

The faculties of law from the University of Windsor and Wayne State University in Michigan hold an annual lecture series known as the Windsor/ Wayne Law Forum. Two professors, one from each institution, examine a given topic from a Canadian and American perspective. The public is invited to attend these forums. Some of the topics in the series have been: The Role of the Judiciary in a Democratic Society; Unions, Employees and the Concept of Fair Representation; and An Introduction to and a Few Perspectives on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Bernard Cohn Memorial Lecture in Criminal Law

A trust has been established by the friends and family of Bernard Cohn, Q.C. to institute an annual series of public lectures on the theme of "Criminal Law and Procedure." Each year an eminent judge, practitioner or scholar will be invited to present the lectures.

Paul Martin Professorship in International Law

The Paul Martin Endowed Professorship was named for the Hon. Paul Martin who represented the Windsor area in Ottawa for over 33 years earning distinction in international affairs. The professorship was funded by corporate, private and government contributions to a campaign launched at the University of Windsor in 1982.

The inaugural professor was Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Sir Shridath Ramphal. The second lecturer was Professor Edward McWhinney, Q.C., of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. The current Paul Martin Professorship is held by the Honourable Howard Pawley, former premier of Manitoba.

Questions or comments should be directed to uwlaw@uwindsor.ca