If you’re a Kingston-area resident in need of legal assistance, please visit the Queen’s Legal Aid site.
The oldest and largest of the Queen’s clinic programs, Queen’s Legal Aid (QLA) has been a vital part of the Faculty of Law’s service to the community for decades. Working closely with Legal Aid Ontario, QLA provides a wide range of legal services to low-income area residents and students of Queen’s University.
Students will gain real-world experience through a vast range of legal tasks and challenges as part of the QLA team.
For each client, you will thoroughly research their case and provide a clear explanation of your legal opinion and their options. You might work on criminal offences where jail is not likely upon conviction; disputes over working conditions; wages or employment insurance entitlement; disability appeals or Ontario Works problems; provincial offences of a relatively serious nature; Small Claims Court matters; or tenants’ rights issues.
At QLA, you will develop a wealth of experience relating to advocacy, interviewing and counselling, file management, legal ethics, legal research and writing, negotiation and settlement, office procedures, professional responsibility and solicitor/client relationships.
You may even assist clients in court or at a tribunal hearing.
Students with QLA work for academic credit or as volunteers; there are also remunerated summer employment positions, a position for an articling student when funding allows, and three non-financial awards for Clinic work: the McDougall-Watson Memorial Award, the Dan Soberman Award, and the Robinson-Ryan Award.