PBSC

 

Information for Organizations

 The Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC) project is a division of Student Legal Services, which is the largest student group at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Law. PBSC volunteers are all law students at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law. Under the supervision of a practicing lawyer working on a pro bono basis, three or four students provide free legal assistane to a non-profit organization. 

 

As law students, PBSC volunteers are unable to provide legal advice, only legal information. As a general rule, we can research legal issues that are relevant to an organization or the population they assist; we can produce reports of law, policies, and procedures; and we can review your policies, contracts, and bylaws. However, we cannot draft legal documents or hlep you make any legal decisions; that work would have to be done by a practicing lawyer.

 

 Some examples of past projects include:

·A research project on dangerous offender legislation in Canada and other jurisdictions, considering the advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches;

·An information sheet for self-represented litigants on the new rules of court; and

·A report on obtaining charitable status and the implications of doing so.

  

To be eligible for the services of PBSC, an organization must be (a) a non-profit organization, (b) substantially serving, directly or indirectly, the local low-income comunity, and (c) unable to afford the assistance of a lawyer.

 

If your organization has a need for any legal information or research, please contact Katie Rowe, the 2011 PBSC Coordinator, at 780.492.8287 or pbsc@ualberta.ca for further information about the PBSC program.