Law students get real world experience

Dalhousie law students Andrew Davis and Jessica Tellez look over the day’s schedule before meeting with clients seeking information about Canada’s immigration and refugee laws. Credit: Casey Dorrell

For most law students, it will be more than four years from the day they step into the classroom to the day they see their first clients.

Third-year Dalhousie law students Andrew Robb and Andrew Davis jumped the queue - they've been meeting clients weekly for years.

They, along with a handful of students, are at the Metropolitan Immigration Settlement Association, a Halifax centre that offers services to new immigrants ranging from English language lessons to help finding jobs.

A handful of students are placed with the centre every year through Pro-Bono Students Canada. Established in 1996, it's a voluntary program that lets students apply some of the skills they learn in class.

"By participating in this program, a lot of students really start to realize how important it is to contribute to the community," says Jessica Chapman, a Dalhousie pro-bono co-ordinator.

The immigration centre program is the only Dalhousie pro-bono placement that's entirely student-run. For a few hours every Friday, students meet with immigrants and refugees, helping them navigate the complex paperwork required by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

"The hope is that if we start training people in first year, by the time we graduate they'll be in a position to carry on," Robb explains.

Yee Htun, one of this year's four new volunteers, is a third-year student who came to Canada from Myanmar in 1994 as a government-sponsored refugee.

"I'm not even assigned here. I've just always wanted to work in immigration," Htun laughed while waiting to start her first day.

"It's a lot of work," says Davis, who has worked with the immigration centre throughout his time at law school.

"Maybe more emotionally consuming than time-consuming. But also very rewarding, since you're dealing with real people and real issues and you're not just researching something."

The law students are not able to give legal advice, only information. But most refugees can't afford even the most basic legal services and Davis is left struggling to draw a line between counselling and providing information.

"When you have someone who doesn't have the financial resources to go elsewhere and doesn't know what their rights are it's hard, in giving information, not to tell them what to do."

Properly filling out immigration forms is not as simple as it sounds. It means sharing intimate and often troubling details of clients' lives. Most are here alone, struggling to find jobs. And many will never be able to bring over their families, even with the students' help.

"I get a huge number of people coming to me to ask me to assist them because the paperwork is just not as simple as the immigration authorities would have people believe," explains Lee Cohen, a Halifax immigration lawyer.

Still, working with the immigration centre has been one of the top reviewed pro-bono placements since the clinic started in 2003. It's having clients and getting to know them that makes the difference, Davis explains.

"You meet people who are really interesting and you can learn a lot from them. People who have gone through so much difficulty. It's rewarding knowing that you're helping."

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