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Our Structure and Mandate
The Clinic is a Student Legal Aid Services Society, meaning that it is
connected to a law school, provides legal services through law students,
and was created and incorporated under the authority of section 21 of the Legal
Aid Services Act, S.O. 1998, c. 26. The Dean of the Common Law Section
of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa is ultimately
responsible for the supervision of the Clinic. As the Clinic's principal
funder, Legal Aid Ontario stipulates policies and procedures with which
the Clinic must comply. The Dean may delegate to the Executive Director
the ability to directly work with Legal Aid Ontario in implementing these
policies and procedures.
To assist in the governance of the Clinic, the Dean has established the
Legal Aid Committee, which approves all policy decisions and all major
financial decisions made within the Clinic, including approving the annual
funding application made by the Clinic to Legal Aid Ontario. The Legal Aid
Committee consists of faculty members of the Common Law Section of the
Faculty of Law, members of the Steering Committee and a student member of
the Law Students Association.
The day-to-day operations of the Clinic are supervised by the Executive
Director, who is appointed by the Dean in consultation with the Steering
Committee and the Legal Aid Committee. The Executive Director is
responsible for the overall management and administration of the Clinic,
including all financial, administrative, and personnel matters. The
Executive Director is also responsible for the overall supervision of all
caseworkers, student Division Leaders, Review Counsel, and other Clinic
personnel, and for ensuring that the Clinic provides quality legal
services in accordance with applicable standards of professional conduct
and competence, as established for example by Legal Aid Ontario's
Quality Service Office.
Working with the Executive Director of the Clinic are Review Counsel,
who are full-time staff lawyers responsible for ensuring that the Clinic
provides quality legal services to its clients. Review Counsel directly
supervise the law students working as caseworkers at the Clinic. All work
on a client file is performed by the law student assigned to the file, and
while each caseworker is responsible for diligently managing and taking
action on each file, a caseworker's Review Counsel is responsible for
decisions made regarding the file. The role of Review Counsel is to offer
support and guidance with a caseworker's file work -- not to give
caseworkers the answers to the client's problems, but to help students
work through the process to find the answers.
Law students also contribute to the governance of the Clinic by sitting
on the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee is composed of four law
students, one Review Counsel, and the Executive Director. The Steering
Committee is responsible for initiating and developing policies and
priorities for the Clinic, which then go on to the Legal Aid Committee for
approval. As well, Steering Committee members address issues such as the
annual budget, Clinic policies, members' concerns, daily activities at the
Clinic, first year volunteers, hiring of summer students, and other staff.
The Steering Committee members must also represent the Clinic (or delegate
another student to represent the Clinic) at various meetings and
conferences.
The primary role of Steering Committee members is to attend and
actively participate in Steering Committee meetings. Meetings are
typically scheduled every two weeks and each meeting typically lasts about
an hour. Attendance at meetings is highly important. Quorum for the
Steering Committee is three students plus one Review Counsel or Executive
Director or, in case of emergency, two students plus one Review Counsel or
Executive Director. The Steering Committee can create ad hoc committees as
the need arises. In particular, the Steering Committee may wish to strike
a committee each summer to organize the first year volunteer program and a
summer hiring committee. Clinic members who are not members of the
Steering Committee may be invited to participate in these ad hoc
committees.
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