News

We are excited to announce that Anne Thibault is the recipient of the Ferguson award in recognition of her accomplishments as Team Coordinator of the Outaouais Interdisciplinary Social Law Clinic CIDSO through the University of Ottawa which works on systemic issues in collaboration with other professions.

Anne is a stellar collaborator, lawyer, and mentor. Anne is very dedicated to student training. In addition to transmitting her knowledge through direct supervision of their activities, she also gives students the opportunity to develop projects within the clinic and take steps to ensure their well-being when the work at CIDSO is challenging. Students at the clinic consistently report that their experience at the clinic, and in particular Anne’s supervision, has been professionally enriching and transformative. For the law students, working with Anne allows them to discover another conception of law than the one they learn in class.

In addition, Steve Perks is the recipient of this year’s Cirillo Award in recognition of his long career supporting clinical legal education at the the Law Centre at the University of Victoria but also in supervising and coaching co-op students at the Vancouver Island Human Rights Coalition, UVic Law’s chapter of Pro Bono Students Canada and mooting teams entered in the Canadian Client Consultation Competition.

Students at the Law Centre rave about Steve. He is a great teacher, mentor and advocate, who speaks so positively about the work and his students, it is truly inspiring.

ACCLE’s Annual General Meeting will be on zoom. Click here for link. Password for joining meeting should have been sent via email. It is not too late to become a member! See membership details on website for how to join. We look forward to seeing everyone next Wednesday.

When three of ACCLE’s longest-serving Board members retired from the Board last year, ACCLE announced the creation of three awards in their honour – the Ferguson, Cirillo and Buhler Awards.  We are accepting applications for nominees for all three awards. The successful nominees will be announced at the 2021 Worldwide Online Conference (“Turning Challenges into Opportunities: Justice Education in the Time of Crises”) jointly held with the Global Alliance for Justice Education and International Journal of Clinical Legal.

 

Ferguson Award :  This award, named in honour of Doug Ferguson, founder and long-time ACCLE Board member and Director of Community Legal Services at Western Law, will be given to one or more members of a clinical project or program that promotes access to justice and clinical law within a law school setting. The award can be given to the leader of a team, or to a portion of or all its members. The award can be given to a “pop-up” clinic or a long-standing clinic. In order to quality as a “clinic”, the project must work to directly advance the interests of clients or client groups.

Applications for this award should include:

– Names of the nominee(s) and the clinic/ clinical project

– Description of project

– Summary of the project’s achievements

– 2 statements of support

 

Cirillo Award:  This award, named in honour of Lisa Cirillo, long-time ACCLE Board member and Director of Downtown Legal Services, will go to an individual clinician who has made a significant contribution to the life of their legal clinic.

Applications for this award should include:

– Name of the nominee

– Description of the nominee’s work

– Examples of the nominee’s work (where applicable)

– 2 statements of support

 

Buhler Award: This award, named in honour of Sarah Buhler, long-time ACCLE Board member and Professor at the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan, will go to a professor, clinical professor, or other individual whose work intersects academic and clinical approaches to clinical and experiential legal education.

Applications for this award should include:

– Name of the nominee

– Description of the nominee’s work

– Examples of the nominee’s work

– 2 statements of support

 

Self-nominations are welcome. All submissions, including those that are incomplete, will be considered. All nomination packages should be submitted as a single pdf file, addressed to Chantelle Johnson chantelle_j@classiclaw.ca, before noon on May 7 2021.

Dear ACCLE members,

The inaugural 2020 ACCLE Award recipients have been announced:

1)    The Buhler Award: Named in honour of Sarah Buhler, long-time ACCLE Board member and Professor at the College of Law University of Saskatchewan.  This award is presented to a professor whose work intersects academic and clinical approaches to clinical and experiential legal education.

The inaugural recipient of this award is Gemma Smyth– Associate Dean at the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor.  Ms. Smyth is receiving this award in recognition of her commitment to researching the practice of clinical legal education across the country, in addition to her long-time commitment to ACCLE.

2)    The Cirillo Award: Named in honour of Lisa Cirillo, long-time ACCLE Board member and Director of Downtown Legal Services in Toronto.  This award is presented to an individual clinician who has made a significant contribution to the life of their clinic.

The inaugural recipient of this award is Chantelle Johnson– Executive Director of the Community Legal Assistance Services for Saskatoon Inner City (“CLASSIC”).  Ms. Johnson is receiving this award in recognition of her tireless work both educating/mentoring law students and assisting the marginalized members of her community.

3)    The Ferguson Award: Named in honour of Doug Ferguson, founder and long-time ACCLE Board member and former Director of the Community Legal Services at Western Law.  This award is presented to member/ group involved in a clinical project or program that promotes access to justice and clinical law within a law school setting.

The inaugural recipient of this award is Kathy Ferriera– Director of the Queen’s Prison Law Clinic.  Ms. Ferreira is receiving this award in recognition of her work shaping the Correctional Law Project into a large-scale expansive operation under which students assist prisoners with issues pertaining to correctional law, administrative law and human rights law.

ACCLE is proud to recognize these members for their significant contributions to Canadian clinical legal education.  Big congratulations to all of this year’s winners!  Please consider nominating your colleagues for these awards in 2021.

Dear ACCLE Members,

In light of concerns caused by the spread of COVID-19, and at the advisement of the ACCLE conference committee, we are postponing our annual conference, originally scheduled for June 2020. It is our intention at this time to hold the conference in the late Fall (likely late October), and we will confirm the new dates as soon as possible.

Thank you for your understanding.


Our Twitter