The NSRLP will hold “Bring a Self-Represented Litigant to School Day” at Windsor Law on March 14th. The purpose of the event is to build awareness among law students of the challenges that self-represented litigants (SRLs) face and the impact of SRLs on the justice system. Similar to last year’s event, a group of invited local SRLs will visit Windsor Law for the day and join law students for classes. They will be welcomed to the law school by Dean Chris Waters, and then accompanied by assigned law student “buddies” to classes that professors have opened up to them.
At lunchtime, there will be a two-part panel discussion open to students and faculty. The first part of the session will hear from SRLs who will share their personal stories navigating the Canadian justice system, and in some cases, the work they are now doing to help other SRLs. The second panel will feature three lawyers who offer legal services designed for the primarily self-represented – for example, less costly so-called “unbundled legal services” in which the lawyer “coaches” the SRL to largely present their case themselves.
This event brings SRLs together with law students with the hope of providing future lawyers with a better understanding of the challenges faced by self-represented litigants, the crisis in affordable legal services, and what this means for access to justice in Canada.
This year, “Bringa SRL to School Day” is also taking place in two other Canadian Law Schools, Osgoode Hall and Ottawa University – facilitated by NSRLP.
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