Expand experiential learning opportunities for students. Improve services to clients. Generate synergies through collaboration. These three goals were the driving force behind Queen’s Law converging its five clinics – including a brand new one in family law – in one central location back in January 2015. This month marks the fifth anniversary of the Queen’s Law Clinics in downtown Kingston, and there are many reasons to celebrate.
Today, there are more than 200 students (a 50 per cent increase) and nine full-time lawyers who work in a professional office that takes up the top floor of the LaSalle Mews, a prominent downtown office building. By sharing resources for a half-decade now, the clinics serve a greater number of clients and do it better. Students have regular and easy access to each other – as do their supervising lawyers – so they share ideas, help one another problem-solve and assist clients with issues involving more than one clinic.
“With this move, we went from being five smaller, individual operations that were mainly located in the Queen’s Law building to being one of the largest and busiest law offices in Kingston,” says Karla McGrath, LLM’13, Executive Director of the Queen’s Law Clinics. “The value of bringing the five clinics together here is truly beyond measure.”
Each clinic, through its directors, students and alumni, has its own story to tell.
This story, the first of a five-part series, traces the path of the Queen’s Family Law Clinic (QFLC) from its humble beginnings to becoming the latest jewel in the crown of the school’s experiential offerings. The newest in the quintet of co-located clinics, the QFLC made its move in the middle of its first year of operation.
Preparing students to be confident and capable family lawyers
When Karla McGrath, then a 15-year, Kingston-based family law practitioner, joined Queen’s Law in the summer of 2014 to develop and lead its new Family Law Clinic, she had her work cut out for her. “We had a handful of intrepid students with lots of great ideas, but for the first couple of months we were borrowing available space on campus and, for the most part, working out of my black wheelie briefcase,” she recalls.
When the new office space was still under construction but “habitable” in mid-November 2014, she and her team of student caseworkers became the first to move into the Lasalle Mews. “Our only source of Internet was my cell phone, but we made it work,” she says.
Once the renovations were completed, and the lawyers, staff and students of the other four clinics moved into the office in January 2015, “the true impact of the co-location effort became apparent,” she says. “We had a modern and efficient professional legal operation that clearly expressed to the clients and to the students something that the lawyers already knew – that they we are here to do important work and we are here to do it well.”
Brittany Chaput, Law’15, a member of the initial cadre of QFLC student caseworkers, remembers “feeling excited and a sense of relief” because of the huge demand for services and limited resources. “We were really able to expand the number of clients that we could assist and the level of services that we were able to provide to our clients with the move to downtown Kingston. Having that access to resources was so important to serving the Kingston community.”
Now the Supervisory Duty Counsel at Legal Aid Ontario in North Bay, Chaput assists unrepresented individuals with family law issues and manages a panel of per diem duty counsel who assist clients in court and at Family Law Information Centres. She credits the QFLC for providing her with “invaluable hands-on experience” to kickstart her career.
“Karla guided me in every step of the family law process from the initial client interview, to preparation of the retainer agreement, to the drafting of court materials, guiding the client with serving and filing materials, and all the other steps in between (including, and arguably most importantly, managing the client's expectations),” she says. “I have become a confident and capable family lawyer as a direct result of my experience at the QFLC, which has also prepared me specifically for the unique challenges that are associated with being a full-time family law duty counsel.”
Working alongside QFLC Director McGrath is what Chaput considers the highlight of her experience. “Karla is one of the most proficient, knowledgeable and client-focused family lawyers that I have met,” says Chaput. “Every day, I continue to draw on my experiences from working with her. Being able to assist a client through what may be one of the most challenging experiences in his or her life was very rewarding as a QFLC student caseworker and it still is as a family law professional.”
Over the past five years, the QFLC has increased the number of caseworker positions for which students earn academic credit from 8 to 12, developed a volunteer program and established an important year-round presence within the family justice community. Some students who have already participated in the clinic programs are invited back to mentor incoming students thereby giving the incoming students additional resources and the returning students the opportunity to engage the work in a new capacity. A manual started by 2014-15 students and contributed to by credit and summer students that have followed, has become “a valuable and growing resource,” says McGrath. “Each year’s students leave behind some of the knowledge they have learned for the benefit of the students who come after them.”
QFLC students make public legal education presentations throughout the community, including at conferences and through Legal Aid Ontario’s online continuing legal education programs for lawyers. “All this and more happened and continues to happen while we have worked on nearly 1,000 matters serving clients who otherwise would have limited or no access to legal assistance and therefore would be denied access to family justice,” says McGrath. “It’s really quite breathtaking.”
Richard Glennie, Law’19, is among the most recent Queen’s Law grads who’ve participated in the QFLC. This year he is articling with Martha McCarthy & Company LLP, a family litigation firm in Toronto. “The QFLC prepared me in every way for my articling position,” he says. “From drafting pleadings and initiating process to client management, Karla and Linda (Smith, Law’92, a 20-plus year Kingston lawyer who joined the Clinics as Review Counsel for both the QFLC and Queen’s Legal Aid in 2017) gave me the tools that have allowed me to excel.
It was the client interaction at the QFLC that he says taught him how to support people during their incredibly difficult times. “Karla and Linda taught me that being a good family lawyer does not mean divorcing yourself from emotion. The empathy that they imparted has been something that I’ve carried with me.”
Current QFLC caseworker Courtney Edwards, Law’21, finds the practice skills she is developing will put her in good stead for her future legal career. She regularly corresponds with clients, lawyers and government agencies, which hones her writing skills. Working directly with her clients is another experience she appreciates for teaching her “the skills necessary for working with people and advocating for marginalized and disadvantaged individuals.” And that’s not all.
“Working in a clinic provides students with hands-on experience navigating the court system,” she says. “That will be immensely helpful as I join the workforce. I already feel comfortable going to court for my client, and I understand the family law system outside a purely academic perspective.”
Seeing the impact that the QLFC’s work has on Kingston community members is what Edwards finds most rewarding so far. “Our clients are economically disadvantaged and often vulnerable individuals, so being able to help them is an amazing feeling,” she says, noting a client she has worked with since she was a volunteer in first year. The client, who has cognitive impairments and struggles with communication, recently wrote her a poem to thank her for the work she had done for him. “To see that level of appreciation has been the best part of law school thus far for me.”
Check out the Queen’s Law website later this month for stories on the Elder Law Clinic, Business Law Clinic, 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