56 LEXPERT MAGAZINE
|
APRIL/MAY 2017
IN-HOUSE ADVISOR
Law departments have begun to change
the way they do pro bono. Beyond merely
supporting worthy causes, companies
are now organizing "signature" initiatives
and rolling them out company-wide
BY BEV CLINE ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID SENIOR
Standing
BEHIND THE GOOD
STARTING A BUSINESS is always fraught with challenges — and
hopefully a decent modicum of satisfaction, too — but try to imagine what
that feels like for a teenager embarking on what is his or her first foray into
entrepreneurship. at's the situation at the Toronto District School Board's
"Oasis Skateboard Factory," a west-end alternative school program that is part
of Oasis Alternative Secondary School, where students can earn high-school
credits by creating their own brand and running a skateboard business.
It's here where the ability to tap into the wisdom of mentors — learning
the ropes about potential business and legal pitfalls — can work wonders. No
surprise, then, that students at the school are eager to tap into the collective
expertise of volunteers from the Weston Group Legal, through the pro bono
Start-Up Youth program. e program, which features guidebook materials
and in-class seminars, aims to assist students in areas such as entrepreneurship,
business law, financial literacy and communications in a business environment.
e program is unique in Canada — the brainchild of Pro Bono Ontario
and Weston Group Legal, which in 2015 met to devise a brand new project
that, at its heart, mirrors the organization's values. Salvatore Frisina, Execu-
tive Chairman Weston Group Legal Pro Bono Law Program and Senior Vice
President, Legal Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, PC Financial, says
the company "wanted to create a project that's true to the Loblaw corporate
social responsibility motto of giving back to the communities where we live
