Volunteer with CLASSIC

April 22, 2020

This is part of a series of blog posts celebrating National Volunteer Week. For more information on volunteer opportunities, please visit our website.

Community Legal Assistance Services for Saskatoon Inner City Inc. (CLASSIC) provides free, professional and confidential legal services for low-income members of our community who otherwise cannot afford legal advice or representation. CLASSIC works toward social justice with low-income, marginalized Saskatchewan residents, with a commitment to Indigenous peoples, through a legal clinic that is guided by the needs of the community. This engages law and inter-disciplinary students through experiential learning, providing insights into the cultural and social reality of law and fosters an ethic of social justice.

CLASSIC runs 2 program areas – services for clients and training for students.

1. Through the Walk-in Advocacy Clinic (WAC) CLASSIC provides full legal representation in over 20 areas of law.  Application for services take place on Monday and Wednesday afternoons except where CLASSIC’s services are suspended between student training groups (3 times per year). Prisoners or individuals who are unable to attend the office (i.e. If they are in the hospital) can apply for services by phoning the office. Phone applications are open for individuals with prison disciplinary matters during all office hours. Clients accepted through the WAC will work with law students through CLASSIC’s Intensive Clinical Program under the supervision of a practicing lawyer. CLASSIC currently has 3 supervising lawyers on staff. 

Volunteer opportunities for lawyers through the Walk-in Advocacy Clinic:

• CLASSIC is looking for volunteer lawyers to take on prison disciplinary matters where we have a conflict, are unable to attend because of the location (i.e. location besides Saskatoon) or where we are at capacity.  

• Due to COVID-19, CLASSIC cannot offer the Intensive Clinical Program to law students for the summer; as such, CLASSIC is looking for volunteer lawyers to attend the office on Monday and/or Wednesday afternoons to assist us with taking client applications. 

• From time to time, CLASSIC accepts volunteer lawyers to work on client files and supervise students on files (if they wish to). This is a large commitment and volunteers must commit at least one full day to CLASSIC per week, and to a specified length of volunteer service. In these situations, CLASSIC is not able to provide volunteer lawyers with a legal assistant and we have limited work/computer space at our office depending on the number of students. 

• Through the Legal Advice Clinic (LAC) CLASSIC provides free summary legal advice to individuals who are self-represented and cannot be assisted by CLASSIC with full legal representation. Volunteer lawyers from the community come to CLASSIC to provide these summary advice sessions through scheduled clinics.  Summary legal advice is provided in 3 areas of law: criminal, family, and civil matters. 

Volunteer opportunities for lawyers through the Legal Advice Clinic:

• CLASSIC is currently seeking volunteer lawyers to provide legal advice on family law matters. Volunteers must be able to commit at least one 3-hour period per month. We have enough volunteers for criminal and civil matters at this time.
• Important note – due to COVID-19, CLASSIC is moving towards providing the LAC via phone appointment only. At this time, lawyers will not have access to CLASSIC’s office or student volunteers to take notes. Once we return to a more normal schedule, the regular clinics will be arranged through CLASSIC’s office again.

CLASSIC often receives questions about one-off volunteer opportunities. Due to the nature of our services, we are unable to accommodate one-time volunteer requests.