(This story is the third in a five-part series celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Queen’s Law Clinics in downtown Kingston.)

Contributing to the economic growth and the social well-being of your community while in law school may seem an ambitious goal. But it’s a reality for student caseworkers in the Queen’s Business Law Clinic (QBLC) who help southeastern Ontario entrepreneurs, small businesses, charities, social enterprises and not-for-profit organizations with their legal issues.

“I am impressed with the enthusiasm, diligence, professionalism and commitment displayed by the student caseworkers in their interactions with clinic clients,” says QBLC Director Tomi Adebiyi, who joined the clinic in January 2019. “Over the past year, I have received appreciative emails from clients who have been recipients of the top-notch legal services rendered by the student caseworkers. 

“It has become clear to me that the QBLC student caseworkers come into the clinic with a burning desire to learn as much as they can about business law practice while rendering a valuable service to the Kingston business community,” she adds. 

As in each of the previous two years, 24 QBLC students are gaining hands-on experience working on a caseload of about 150 files for clients who would otherwise have difficulty affording legal counsel. 

Five years ago, before co-locating with the other four Queen’s Law Clinics in downtown Kingston, there were only 16 students working in a small space in the law school. 

Brody Appotive, Law’17, was one of those students. “The move to the downtown office shifted the clinic towards having a true law firm vibe,” he recalls. “No longer were we all cramped into one basement office, but we now had a reception area, client offices, boardrooms, a coffee machine… it was great! Walking into the downtown clinic every day gave us a real perspective on how our careers would look and working in that type of environment motivated us to be professional, to take our work seriously, and to deliver exceptional service to our clients.”

At the time, Christian Hurley had just taken over as Director of both the QBLC and Queen’s Elder Law Clinics. “To me, the office at 303 Bagot Street was a physical manifestation of Queen’s Law’s commitment to experiential learning,” says Hurley, who went on to become the Director of Legal Education with the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador. “The new office was something that both staff and students could be very proud of and enhanced our ability to provide a high-quality educational experience to students and top-level legal services to the clinics’ clients.”

It’s Hurley and Review Counsel Bob Milnes, Law’69, who Appotive credits for playing large mentorship roles. “They encouraged me to take on more challenging assignments while serving as a back-bone if I came across any difficulties or needed a second opinion,” says Appotive, now an associate with Torys in Toronto. 

“The clinic exposed me to the foundational aspects of corporate law – incorporation and corporate governance, legal drafting, and file management – skills I still use today in the early days of my ‘real’ legal career,” he says. 

His QBLC highlight was working with the Land O’Lakes Rescue Animal Petting Farm, a non-profit in Cloyne, Ontario, seeking to provide permanent homes and rehabilitation for animals and to teach children about them. “Our mandate was to obtain charitable status for the farm as it faced trying financial times,” he recalls. “The story caught on and my work with the farm was featured in an article in the Ottawa Citizen.”

Appotive was also impressed by many of the student entrepreneurs who received assistance by the QBLC as they tried to launch their new business ideas. “Some companies we incorporated and got off the ground are still in operations today,” he says.

Under the leadership of Morgan Jarvis, Law’10, QBLC Director, 2017-2019, the clinic became more involved with intellectual property issues and serving innovators. 

By working on files involving such issues as trademarks, copyright and privacy, Serin Cho, Law’20, says, “the QBLC helped me realize that I enjoy researching cutting-edge regulatory law, which played a large factor in my decision to article with the Department of Justice.”

She also credits the QBLC for teaching essential intangible skills outside of the classroom. “The QBLC introduces caseworkers to the importance of professional responsibility; maintaining a high ethical standard in all client communications and interactions. Since caseworkers manage several clients and files at once, we were encouraged to take initiative and be independent. We also learned to recognize when to ask for help and to reciprocate when someone else needs it. The QBLC’s collaborative atmosphere teaches students to be team players.”

For Cho, the best part of working with the clinic was the unique opportunity to work on business law files in the name of public interest. “As a pro bono clinic, you help not-for-profits and small businesses take their first steps,” she says. “Many QBLC clients are passionate about improving the local community. It’s rewarding to see their various projects grow, knowing that the QBLC was a part of their success.” 

Current caseworker Mary Alfredsson, Law’21, appreciates how learning the business of law will be helpful in her future career. “This experience has given me a head start on climbing the steep learning curve that I will face when I begin to work in a law firm,” she says. “I have been practising managing client relationships, dealing with a task when I am unfamiliar with the area of law, docketing my time and keeping client file notes up to date, balancing and prioritizing my clients, and more. I still have so much to learn, but the clinic has been extremely helpful in allowing me to start learning before I even set foot in a law firm.”   

What does Alfredsson find most rewarding about the QBLC experience? “I find it fulfilling to go through the whole process of learning what your client needs help with, researching that and putting it into legal terms, creating a review-counsel-approved document – whether a memo or the actual final agreement – and finally sending out a finished product that is going to help my client.” 

Read the stories on the Family Law Clinic and the Elder Law Clinic. 
Check out the Queen’s Law website over the next two weeks for stories on the Prison Law Clinic and Queen’s Legal Aid. 

The Queen’s Law Clinics gratefully acknowledge the support of Legal Aid Ontario, the Law Foundation of Ontario, Pro Bono Students Canada, the Class of Law’81, the United Way of KFL&A, and alumni and industry sponsors. 

By Lisa Graham