University of Manitoba Community Law Centre Relocating
03/03/2021
A new Pilot Project with the UMCLC will commence on March 8th. LAM wishes to acknowledge the work put in by Robin Dwarka, Michael Swait, Gayle Zacharias and Scott Balneaves in coordinating these efforts which has been significant. Please see the Dean’s announcement below:
For as long as anyone can remember, the University of Manitoba Community Legal Clinic has been located in the basement of Robson Hall. Thousands of our students have either volunteered or worked in the clinic and its been a tremendous asset for the law school program. It was also very convenient for students, at least in terms of office hours.
Most of the clients and all of the courts, however, are located either downtown or in the central geography of the city, or in about a dozen surrounding communities, and we’ve struggled to serve that client community from the Fort Garry campus.
As a pilot project with Legal Aid Manitoba, we will be relocating the UMCLC downtown to the Legal Aid offices at 287 Broadway Ave, effective March 8, 2021. This will put our students in a much better position to have access to both the courts and to senior Legal Aid practitioners. It will also be much more convenient for our clients, and the hope is that this move will create better accessibility for those who require legal assistance.
I want to acknowledge Acting Director Bruce Gammon at Legal Aid and our clinical Supervisor Michael Walker for facilitating this pilot project. The faculty of law is grateful to Legal Aid for the support it provides to our students as they gain important practical experience as part of their formal legal education.
