Our newest Access to Justice All-Star is nominated by Chief Justice Derek Green of the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court. Katrina is a Research Lawyer with the Court, where she provides research support to the judges of the Court of Appeal. Katrina attended a workshop for members of the Newfoundland judiciary conducted by NSRLP in June 2014, and at the end of the day introduced herself to Julie. “If you have research that I can help with, I am eager to get involved and to contribute.”
For the last 6 months, in addition to her “day job”, Katrina has worked on a series of NSRLP research projects, providing invaluable assistance to Julie including writing, editing and research. NSRLP has benefitted in numerous ways from her expertise. Katrina worked extensively with Julie on developing “Settlement Smarts for SRLs” (offering information and assistance for SRLs on mediation, settlement conferences and private negotiations), and is now helping to update the NSRLP Annotated Bibliography on SRLs and Access to Justice issues.
Katrina is exceptionally conscientious and committed, always delivering on the tasks she has undertaken over the last 6 months, despite many other demands on her time. Katrina is strongly motivated by her interest in and commitment to access to justice issues. She hopes to become a legal academic, or to work on a policy issues in the development of justice services. Katrina describes herself as “immensely impressed by those SRLs who choose to go ahead (alone). As much as I can support/help them, I would like to.”
Chief Justice Derek Green says about Katrina: “I am very pleased to be able to nominate Katrina Trask for the Access to Justice All-Stars Award. All-Stars by definition are exceptional and stand out for their contribution. Katrina certainly fits that description. She has been doing exceptional work as Legal Research Counsel at the Court of Appeal for the past year, but in addition to her commitment to her work she has been prepared to devote considerable time and effort to other causes relating to access to justice that she passionately believes in. She is someone who believes she can make a difference by giving back on a volunteer basis to projects that can improve the lives of others, particularly those who have difficulty navigating our complex, costly and time-consuming legal system. Although she does not seek the limelight, Katrina is certainly deserving of recognition for her contribution.”