Executive Committee Members 2025/2026
Jennifer is the Supervising Lawyer Downtown Legal Services at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Jennifer attended Osgoode Hall Law School where she was a student at Parkdale Community Legal Services and Wilson Mooting Champion. Following her call to the bar in 2008, Jennifer practiced labor law at arbitration tribunals for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union before joining DLS in 2016 to start the Employment Law Division. She and her students regularly represent clients before boards, tribunals and Small Claims Court and deliver public legal education sessions to community groups and University of Toronto students. Prior to becoming President, Jennifer served as Secretary and Treasurer of ACCLE.
Ted has been the Executive Director of the Thomson Rivers University Community Legal Clinic said May 2017. Prior to that he had been the founding Supervising Lawyer since 2016. Ted is also a sessional instructor in the TRU Faculty of Law currently teaching Employment Law and Insurance Law. He has previously taught Labor Law, Privacy Law, Community Lawyering and Fundamental Legal Skills. Ted is also an assistant coach with the TRU women’s basketball team and was previously an assistant coach with the men’s basketball team from 2015 to 2023.
Chris is the Director of The Law Centre, a student legal clinic run through the University of Victoria. Previously, Chris was a Supervising Lawyers for the Law Students’ Legal Advice Program (LSLAP) and a Supervising Lawyer and Academic Director for the Indigenous Community Legal Clinic (ICLC) at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Chris has volunteered with the Community Legal Assistance Society’s Mental Health Law Program and Access Pro Bono. Chris currently volunteers with Pro Bono Students’ Canada and the Victoria Native Friendship Centre. Chris has been part of ACCLE for over 10 years.
Hajar joined LAW in February 2024 as a staff lawyer in public and social benefits. She is a graduate of Windsor Law and before becoming a staff lawyer, worked in real estate and corporate law. She came to Legal Assistance of Windsor (LAW) after working as the staff lawyer for Muslim Legal Support Center (MLSC).
Benjamin Ries | Member-at-large
Benjamin is the Executive Director of South Etobicoke Community Legal Services, a (non-student) poverty law clinic in Toronto, Ontario that regularly hosts articling students, summer law students, and externship students. A past president of ACCLE, Ben was previously the supervising lawyer for housing law at Downtown Legal Services with the University of Toronto. Ben serves on the Provincial Learning Advisory Committee for the Association of Community Legal Clinics of Ontario and remains committed to clinical legal education not only for its normative centrality to accredited Canadian legal education, but also for its relationship to recruitment, mentorship, and continuing professional development within the clinical movement and social justice lawyering.
Tori Lee-Jenkins | Member-at-large
Tori joined Legal Assistance of Windsor (LAW) in March 2021 as a summary advice lawyer for landlord and tenant matters, and in June 2021 began working as a staff lawyer for landlord and tenant matters. Tori is a graduate of Windsor Law and before becoming a staff lawyer, practiced in criminal law and ran her own legal practice. She provides representation and student supervision in housing law at the clinic and assists in development of community public education initiatives.
Anne Thibault | Member-at-large
Anne is a lawyer and coordinator at the Outaouais Interdisciplinary Social Law Clinic (CIDSO) at the University of Ottawa since it’s foundation in 2020. She is also currently completing her master’s degree in housing law at the University of Ottawa. During her years in private practice, she specialized in youth and administrative law. Prior to developing the CIDSO, she coordinated the activities of the Mile End Legal Clinic in Montreal. She is also the recipient of the 2023 Ferguson Award from the Association for Canadian Clinical Legal Education (ACLE) for Social de l’Outaouais. Her contribution to access to justice and clinical teaching in law.
Peter is a staff lawyer at Dalhousie Legal Aid Service in Halifax, having served in that role for over 6 years with a focus on family, administrative and poverty law. Peter is trained in Collaborative Family Law and has experience dealing with custody, child support, spousal support, property division, adoption, separation agreements, cohabitation agreements, marriage contracts, common law relationships, child and adult protection.