Lenczner Slaght has a strong commitment to pro bono work and community service. It is one concrete way to give back to the community.

Our Commitments

Our lawyers are actively engaged in pro bono matters on both a case-by-case basis (including at the Supreme Court of Canada), as well as through the firm’s pro bono initiatives and partnerships. We encourage our lawyers, as well as articling and summer students, to become engaged in our pro bono matters. We regularly provide opportunities to get involved, along with mentorship and training.

Canadian Lawyer has named Lenczner Slaght as one of Canada’s 5-Star Pro Bono Firms two years in a row, which recognizes law firms that provide invaluable access to justice nationwide.

Our Partnerships

Examples of our current and past pro bono partnerships include:

• Participating in the Pro Bono Referral Project administered by the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR), providing pro bono representation for CCHR’s clients experiencing housing precarity or dealing with human rights related issues related to accommodation.
• Volunteering our time at Pro Bono Ontario’s Free Legal Advice Hotline, which specifically help low income and unrepresented litigants with civil, non-family matters in Toronto and Ottawa, and as duty counsel through programs like the Divisional Court Duty Counsel Program. In 2023, we renewed our pledge to donate funds over three years to support Pro Bono Ontario’s important work in serving vulnerable Ontarians by increasing access to justice.
• Working with Legal Aid Ontario’s (LAO) Clinic Resource Office to develop and deliver hands-on, skills-based training programs for the lawyers and paralegals working in Legal Aid’s Community Legal Clinic system, on tailored advocacy topics relevant to their important work in communities across Ontario.
• Partnering with the Refugee Law Office over several years to provide pro bono assistance in bringing emergency applications to stay removal orders in the Federal Court.
• Partnering with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association in advocating for better protections and conditions for individuals in Toronto who need safe shelter.

Our Additional Pro Bono Work

Examples of additional pro bono work includes:

• Representing the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and a coalition of public interest organizations to bring a constitutional challenge to the conditions in Toronto’s shelter and respite system in the context of COVID-19.
• Representing indigenous elder Douglas Cardinal in proceedings to restrict the use of the Cleveland baseball team’s name and “Chief Wahoo” logo on human rights grounds.
• Representing a racialized factory worker whose employer attempted to dismiss him for cause. Judgment for wrongful dismissal upheld on appeal.
• Representing the applicant, an ad hoc group of community and advocacy members, against the Canadian Hearing Society for oppression, relating to alleged lack of transparency and governance abuses.
• Representing the plaintiffs in a successful jury trial against a school board in connection with an allegation that a failure by the school board to properly supervise led to a student being sexually assaulted.
• Representing the interveners Authors Alliance and Professor Ariel Katz in York University v Access Copyright, an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada addressing the issue of fair dealing and the question of whether tariffs set by the Copyright Board are mandatory.
• Representing an accused facing criminal charges of assault of a police officer and possession of a controlled substance. Evidence was excluded and an acquittal was entered on all counts on the basis of multiple Charter breaches and adverse findings of credibility concerning the police officer.
• Representing athletes involved in disputes with their National Sports Organization, including, for example, disciplinary findings, team selection, and carding.
• Representing two individuals on appeal from a summary judgment order holding them liable for the debts of a company pursuant to a personal guarantee. Summary judgment was overturned on appeal. The Court dismissed the plaintiff’s claim under the guarantee.
• Representing a respondent plaintiff in an appeal from a judgment obtained in the Small Claims Court concerning a purchase of a defective vehicle.
• Representing the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario and the Colour of Poverty/Colour of Change Network as intervenors before the Supreme Court of Canada seeking to uphold a decision of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario finding discrimination on the basis of citizenship.