Information for Organizations
** The Deadline for 2011-2012 Project Proposal Submissions has now passed. If you are interested in setting up a project for the 2012-2013 PBSC Season, please contact the PBSC Program Coordinator. **
- Forms
- How PBSC Can Help Your Organization
- What Types of Organizations Qualify for PBSC Assistance
- What Organizations Can Expect from PBSC
- What PBSC Students Can Do
- What PBSC Students Cannot Do
- What is Required of Member Organizations
- How to Get Involved with PBSC
Forms
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a reference guide for organizations that provides information on what organizations can expect from PBSC volunteers, what PBSC expects from organizations, and what constitutes an appropriate PBSC project | |
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completion of this form is required for organizations to obtain PBSC assistance. This form must be submitted to the PBSC Program Coordinator by Wednesday, August 10, 2011 for a placement to be arranged in the 2011-2012 program year | |
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this form must be reviewed, signed, and submitted before students can be placed with your organization | |
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this form must be reviewed, signed and submitted before students can be placed with your organization by a qualified lawyer. If your organization does not have access to a lawyer, please indicate this on the Project Proposal Form and PBSC will endeavour to secure one on your organization's behalf |
How PBSC Can Help Your Organization
Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC) is a national pro bono student organization with a mandate to provide legal services without charge to organizations and individuals in need across Canada. The Calgary Chapter of PBSC is housed at the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary and is comprised of law students who are eager to employ the skills they learn in the classroom towards furthering the public interest. To this end, PBSC matches law student volunteers with community organizations, firms, courts and tribunals under the supervision of qualified lawyers.
Organizations can benefit from PBSC by having a volunteer law student from the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary assist them by doing legal or policy research and writing, producing educational materials or preparing workshops or doing other work which utilizes the student's legal training. Through PBSC, many public interest organizations are able to gain access to highly motivated and committed law student volunteers. PBSC has access to a vast array of students with a multitude of different backgrounds and experiences, and matches students with organizations based on area of interest and expertise.
What Types of Organizations Qualify for PBSC Assitance
To qualify for participation, an organization must be an incorporated, non-profit organization that offers public interest programs to the community or deals with issues of public interest in some other capacity. PBSC Students may also work with lawyers that are doing pro bono work. Students can also work with various government agencies that are doing public interest work. If you are unsure that you may meet these requirements, please contact the PBSC Program Coordinator who will be happy to assist in determining whether PBSC can help your organization.
What Organizations Can Expect from PBSC
Once a project is approved, PBSC will commit to providing your organization with one or more qualified law students who will provide you with approximately 3-5 hours of legal services without charge during the PBSC Program Year. Our Chapter runs a five-month program. That is to say, student volunteers are available to work on projects during the months of October, November, January, February, and March. An overview of the program year is included below
- September: Volunteer law students are recruited, matched with projects and provided with training
- October: Students begin substantive work on PBSC projects
- November: Students continue to work on PBSC projects
- December: PBSC operations are suspended for the winter examination period and winter break
- January: Students resume work on projects
- February: Students continue work on projects
- March: Students conclude the project
- April: PBSC closed for spring examination period and transition to next operating cycle
- May-August: PBSC program and projects are developed for the upcoming school year
Every effort is made to match students with appropriate skills, interests and experience to a particular placement. However, because student interest and availability may vary, there is no guarantee that each organization will be matched with the exact number of students requested each term. All PBSC students undergo a training session and are required to sign a student agreement showing that they understand the professional responsibilities associated with taking on a PBSC placement.
All our students must have their work supervised by a qualified lawyer supervisor. If your organization is unable to provide a lawyer supervisor, PBSC will endeavour to a volunteer lawyer on your organization’s behalf.
Our Chapter will also commit to monitoring your students’ progress and addressing and problems or concerns that should arise in a timely fashion. We will ensure that your student will complete the project as set out in the timeline or notify PBSC promptly of any concerns or delays they encounter.
What PBSC Students Can Do
PBSC deliverables vary depending on the needs of your organization and/or the project you require assistance with. Our students can:
- research pending legislation, legal issues or current policy questions;
- pro-actively monitor pending legislation, legal issues or current policy questions;
- draft policies or manuals for organizations;
- develop and deliver public legal education workshops and seminars to low and middle-income individuals; and
- help provide legal information to the clients of partner organizations.
What PBSC Students Cannot Do
The law student volunteers are not qualified as lawyers, do not have professional liability insurance and are restricted from providing legal advice or otherwise holding themselves out as lawyers or legal professionals. While we require that your organization’s project be legal in nature, students cannot give legal advice, and may only provide legal information to your organization or to those your organization assists. (Legal advice is a legal opinion or interpretation about specific facts or problems, while legal information merely provides a general sense of the state of the law.) PBSC volunteers are not expected to incur any expenses in relation to materials created or distributed as part of their placement.
What is Required of Member Organizations
An organization wishing to be matched with a law student volunteer is required to provide the student with substantive work and supervision over the duration of the placement. All organizations must provide an Onsite Supervisor. This Onsite Supervisor must check on the student(s) progress throughout the placement so that potential issues will be discovered before they turn into problems. If a problem does arise, the organization must ensure that the Onsite Supervisor contacts the PBSC Coordinator.
For a project to run, a Lawyer Supervisor is required to supervise any legal work that the student volunteer provides. The role of the insured Lawyer Supervisor is to answer questions of a legal nature, as well as to review the student(s) work product periodically over the course of the project, and at least once upon final completion. If you do not have a lawyer working for your organization, we can help you find a qualified lawyer supervisor. The Onsite Supervisor role and the Lawyer Supervisor role can be fulfilled by the same individual.
Finally, the organization must make efforts to integrate the student(s) into the organization, and provide an appropriate work space, resources and other applicable materials where necessary.
How to Get Involved with PBSC
If your organization meets the qualifications above, please submit a Project Proposal Form to the PBSC Calgary Program Coordinator. The deadline for submitting Project Proposals for the 2011-2012 program year is Wednesday, August 10, 2011. Organizations may submit multiple project proposals depending on the number of legal problems with which they require assistance. Please remember that projects have to be substantially legal in nature to qualify for a PBSC placement. The project description is the most important part of the application process as it is used to inform students about the type of work that will be expected from them and helps PBSC in the matching process.
Once a project proposal is approved by PBSC and students are placed with the organization, the organization must also complete a Organization Agreement Form. If your organization is providing a supervising lawyer, the lawyer will also need to submit a Lawyer Agreement Form.