58 LEXPERT MAGAZINE
|
APRIL/MAY 2017
| IN-HOUSE ADVISOR: SIGNATURE PRO BONO |
and work. We also wanted to focus on chil-
dren, as this approach is consistent with the
President's Choice Children's Charity."
Start-Up Youth is known as a "signature
project." In other words, it was created
from the ground up to reflect the values of
the organization, says Lynn Burns, Execu-
tive Director of Pro Bono Ontario (PBO).
She says, to her knowledge, this is the first
such "from scratch" law department proj-
ect in Canada.
In-house counsel have a long and valu-
able history of providing pro bono services
in Canada, for example, as duty counsel in
courts. But she's hoping the Weston Group
Legal program may signal the start of an
emerging trend as law departments look to
deliver "signature pro bono" in a targeted
and organized way.
CROSS-COUNTRY VOLUNTEERS
e program draws from the expertise of
legal departments across the spectrum of
Weston Group Legal: George Weston Ltd.,
PC Financial, Loblaw Cos. Ltd., Shoppers
Drug Mart, Choice Properties Ltd. and
Weston Foods. "We thought there would
be maybe 15 per cent involvement from
our legal departments across the country,"
says Cerise Latibeaudiere, Project Man-
ager Weston Group Legal Pro Bono Law
Program, and Director, Legal Counsel, PC
Financial. "But since we rolled out the idea
of the program to Weston Group Legal,
we've hit over 50 per cent volunteering to
participate in one way or another." In part,
this is due to the steady support from senior
management, she says. "e team is grate-
ful for this opportunity and for the chance
to give back in a meaningful way."
e project is just getting off the ground.
At press time, volunteers from Weston
Group Legal have held only one mentoring
session at each of the two Toronto schools.
Still, the intensive work undertaken since
2015 to get the project off the ground has
involved many volunteers — producing
the required materials, researching, writ-
ing and designing guidebooks, and prepar-
ing course materials for in-class seminars.
Each component of the program requires
students to complete exercises and encour-
ages questions around the topic and how it
relates to them and their ambitions.
"We designed the project in such a way
that people could participate at whatever
level or amount of time they felt that they
could give. And we made it clear that no
contribution to the project is too small,"
says Frisina, "whether it's a Toronto-based
lawyer interacting with students in the
classroom or a lawyer in Edmonton doing
creative for a guidebook."
THERESA DUCKETT
BMO GROUP
We looked at the
community need, at the
engagement level of our
employees and our corporate
values, and they were
all aligned.
ILLUSTRATION
BY
DAVID
SENIOR
