A second major project comes to fruition this week. Heather Hui-Litwin, a Toronto-based lawyer, has been working with a number of dedicated volunteers on a committee since spring 2014 to organize a series of free legal seminars for people either considering or already handling their own legal matters. Law at the Library is a series of seminars to be held at Toronto-area public libraries. The complete list of seminars, venues and speakers is at http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/programs-and-classes/featured/law-at-the-library.jsp
Heather was a former self-represented litigant and a client. She is now called to the Bar. This gives her a special perspective on how to assist non-lawyers in understanding legal concepts. “I feel that legal education should not be reserved to legal service providers but should be made available to the public. The Toronto Public Library is a great environment to host these seminars. The Chair of the Toronto Public Library at the time, Mike Foderick, was enthusiastic about the idea of a free legal seminar series. “We created a committee, which has now grown to 14 members, and so the program was born!”
Heather also hopes that the seminar series will allow people to meet lawyers in person, and give them a sense of comfort about whom they might hire to assist them in the future. “Finding the right lawyer is very stressful – I know that I wanted to get to know them first, rather than to hire them straight out of the Yellow Pages, or through the LSUC referral hub. A forum such as this also gives attendees an opportunity to “connect” with the speaker.”