FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE from Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC)
Fundraising campaign will boost access to the Ontario family courts and make up a $400,000 shortfall
Toronto, ON – Epstein Cole LLP, Canada’s premier family law firm, together with firm founder Philip M. Epstein Q.C., have made a combined gift of $150,000 to the Pro Bono Students Canada Campaign for Family Justice. The Campaign for Family Justice will save and expand Pro Bono Students Canada’s Family Law Project, a vital court service that is at risk of closure. The Campaign’s fundraising goal of $650,000 will preserve the program and allow it to expand to additional Ontario courts.
Thanks to the efforts of Epstein Cole LLP, the Campaign’s Law Firm Champion, and Mr. Epstein, Campaign Chair, the Campaign for Family Justice has raised $320,000 to date. “As a family lawyer,” says Mr. Epstein, “I know too well a relationship breakdown can be one of the most difficult times in a person’s life, particularly when there are children involved. For poor and low-income Ontarians who can’t afford a lawyer, the stress is often unbearable.”
PBSC trains law students to support low-to-middle-income earners who do not qualify for legal aid. Students assist clients in filling out their court forms and helping them navigate the complex court system. The Family Law Project operates in seven Ontario Courthouses. It is widely considered to be a vital resource for people in a time of crisis, while enhancing the administration of an overburdened family court system. The project has the added benefit of introducing law students to family law, and instilling the pro bono ethic in the next generation of lawyers. Last year, 110 Ontario students fanned out across Ontario to assist almost 2,000 low-income clients.
Nikki Gershbain, National Director of PBSC, says Epstein Cole’s support has been a lifeline for the much-needed program. “Due to funding cuts, PBSC is facing a shortfall of $400,000 over the next three years. When I met with Philip Epstein and told him that the Family Law Project was at risk of being scaled back or even cut entirely, he immediately offered to help. Epstein Cole LLP and Philip Epstein have shown incredible leadership, and PBSC is now almost half-way toward our goal.”
Access to the family law system has reached a crisis point in recent years, with 80 percent of Ontario family court litigants unable to afford a lawyer. Everyone from the Chief Justice of Canada to the Canadian Bar Association has assailed this statistic, and has called for radical changes.
Justice Harvey Brownstone, an outspoken judicial proponent of a more accessible family justice system, has been working with PBSC student volunteers for 17 years. He says: “Our Court at 47 Sheppard Avenue in Toronto, the largest and busiest family court in Canada, would literally not be able to function without the PBSC student volunteers. Everything should be done to save this vital program.”
Richard Greene, Managing Partner of Epstein Cole LLP, says: “Epstein Cole is proud to be partnering with PBSC and to be giving back to the community. Our hope is that our contribution will ease the hardship for thousands of Ontarians in need, assist the courts, and help train the next generation of family lawyers.”
The Campaign for Family Justice has recruited a committee of leading family law professionals to join Mr. Epstein and PBSC in fundraising among the family law bar in Ontario. The Campaign will culminate in a major event, planned for October 2014.
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Read Nikki Gershbain's oped in The Toronto Star.
About Pro Bono Students Canada
Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC) is an award-winning national law student organization. PBSC works with law schools and the bar to deliver high-quality legal services to vulnerable individuals and non-profit organizations. Our mandate is to train future lawyers, increase access to justice, and promote a culture of pro bono. Each year, through our program, about 1600 law students contribute over 140,000 hours of free legal services. For more information, go to www.probonostudents.ca. PBSC was founded and continues to be housed at the University of Toronto, and all gifts made are tax-deductible and will go directly to PBSC.
About Epstein Cole LLP
Epstein Cole LLP is the leading and largest family law firm in Ontario, serving individuals in the midst of separation, divorce and those planning to get married where there is a need for definitive and sensitive legal advice on complex matrimonial matters, including spousal support, child support, parenting and property division. The firm was founded in 1978, and has 26 lawyers with a total staff of approximately 68, working in downtown Toronto. For more information, go to http://www.epsteincole.com/.
For more information, please contact
Nikki Gershbain, National Director
Pro Bono Students Canada, Phone: 416-946-0519
nikki.gershbain@probonostudents.ca
www.probonostudents.ca
