ARCTIC OBITER

12 | ARCTIC OBITER
SECTION NEWS
Young Lawyers Annual Meeting
by Shirley Walsh, Chair, CBA-NT Young Lawyers Section
On November 7th and 8th, I attended the Canadian Bar
Association’s Young Lawyers’ Annual Directorate Meeting
in Ottawa, Ontario. This meeting is held every year and
brings together Young Lawyer Section Chairs from all over
the country. It is a great opportunity to discuss how the
younger and more junior members of our profession can, as
a large group, contribute to our legal community and the
community as a whole. It’s also beneficial as the section
chairs can share success stories on events and initiatives
from their jurisdictions, which may also be valuable for other
Young Lawyer Sections.
Some of the most interesting initiatives discussed at the
meeting were:
Nepal Pals
The Young Lawyer Pro Bono Initiative
Oratory Competition.
Podcasts and Pathway to Partnership Toolkit
NEPAL PALS
In August, National Executive member Loreley Berra
attended the Nepal Bar Association (NBA) Young Lawyers
Continuing Legal Education Workshop in Kathmandu as
part of the CBA International Development Committee’s
Nepal Democratic Development project. The objective of the
Democratic Development project is to support Nepal in its
movement towards democracy by strengthening the capacity
of the Nepal Bar Association (NBA) to assist all Nepalis to
exercise their democratic and human rights and to advocate
for laws that protect these rights in a manner that reflects the
culture, traditions and preferences of all Nepalese citizens.
During Loreley’s visit, many Nepali lawyers expressed their
interest in being paired with a
Canadian lawyer for correspondence
and mentoring. As a result YL-CBA has launched a new
initiative called Nepal Pals. There is a long list of lawyers in
Nepal who are seeking a "legal buddy" in Canada. The
dialogue and relationships that emerge from this initiative
are sure to be rewarding for both parties. If you are
interested in being matched with a lawyer in Nepal, please
contact me at swalsh@davis.ca and advise of your area of
interest and whether you are interested in targeting a
specific age range.
YOUNG LAWYER PRO BONO
At the November 2007 Directorate meeting, participants
spent part of the Saturday morning and all of the afternoon
in a facilitated exercise to identify priority actions for the
Young Lawyers executive to undertake. One of the priority
actions identified was to establish a national pro bono
program to improve access to justice. Over the last two
years the Young Lawyer National Executive has been
working on this program, identifying challenges and ways to
enhance the program.
In October 2009, Halifax and Saskatoon held a ‚Pro Bono
Call-In Day‛ as part of National Pro Bono week. Halifax
partnered with the Legal Information Society to use their
phone lines and offices. A disclaimer was given on all
advertising and an initial screening was done on all callers to
ensure that conflict rules were met as much as possible. The
team of 10 volunteer lawyers received 34 calls in the 4 hour
event. The calls addressed all areas of law and the event was
very well received by the public. Saskatchewan similarly
partnered with Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan and the Public
Legal Education Association and received over 100 calls in
CBA-BC INVITES NORTHERN MEMBERS TO JOIN SECTIONS
The British Columbia Branch of the CBA welcomes CBA members in the Northwest Territories to
their Sections. Information on the 72 available sections, including the Women Lawyers Forum, is
available on the CBA-BC website: cba.org/bc