A little bit about the PPD
The French Law Practice Program of uOttawa is part of the Law Society of Ontario's licensing process. Taught in French only, the PPD consist of a four-month intensive hands-on training followed by a four-month placement in a legal workplace.
The PPD offers candidates unique networking and mentoring opportunities by allowing them to work closely with experienced lawyers and eminent conference speakers. It also allows candidates to participate in a number of continuing professional development activities.
Since its beginning, the PPD continues to promote access to justice in French through its four core values: Community involvement, exemplary professionalism, language rights and accountability to the community.
What our candidates have worked on in 2018-2019.
The last months were full in experiences, where candidates showcased their strength and ability. In addition to the 10 areas of law including practice management, candidates participated to various projects in the community.
One example is the Free Legal Information Clinic, held in Cornwall, Ontario, during the Access to Justice Week. Candidates met more than 75 citizens and provided information on different legal issues.
The candidates also worked on a project where they studied and analyzed an access-to-justice issue in a legal field. Teams worked with the Association of French Speaking Lawyers of Ontario (AJEFO), the Department of Justice Canada and Bid Settle/OnRègle to propose and present a solution in a pitch format—a brief 5-minute presentation following a study of each problem presented to them
These two examples illustrate how candidates have developed their legal competencies and also worked on other across-the-board skills. They also took the opportunity to strengthen their professional network.
And the winners are…
To celebrate the determination and devotion of candidates, the PPD proudly presented these awards to their recipients during the ceremony held on May 15:
- The Legal Excellence Award, presented to Alexanne Stewart who showed excellence in all of her work at the PPD.
- The Future of the Profession Award, presented to Aghil Ebrahimi who demonstrated high-level of professionalism, a strong sense of ethics and the noble ideals of the profession.
- The Community Involvement Award, presented to Cédric Bourgeois for his involvement in the legal community. Cédric also received a grant of $300 from Colonel-Maître Michel Drapeau.
- The Diversity and Inclusion Award, presented to Mamiratra Hantelys who has distinguished herself by her professionalism, her sense of ethics and her inclusive team spirit. She also received a grant of $300 from Gowling WLG law firm and presented my Mr Rod Escayola
- The Access to Justice in French Advocate Award, presented to Augustin Mwambali for his initiatives to promote access to justice in French.
- The Leadership Award (Project management), presented to Marc-Antoine Guay to highlight his professionalism, his sense of initiative and his positive attitude while working on a special PPD project.
- The Promising Future Award, chosen every year by the PPD’s candidate to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of one of their peer, was awarded to Arlette Manzi who demonstrated an incredible team spirit, high standard of professionalism, leadership and dynamism.
During the ceremony, the PPD candidates had the chance to hear Alexandra Waite, Interim general director of the AJEFO as well as Ted Mann, president of the County of Carleton Law Society inspiring words. Both congratulated candidates for their hard work. Christiane Saad, executive director and Audrey LaBrie, assistant director at the PPD, both took the stand to acknowledge the exemplary discipline of the 2018–2019 cohort. They also thanked each member of the legal community whom, year after year, continues to support the PPD.