Toronto Metropolitan University's Independent Student Newspaper Since 1967

All Communities

Where to access free legal services on campus

By Lidia Abraha

If you’ve found yourself seeking legal advice, you’re in luck. Ryerson students can request legal guidance from various services on campus that cover a wide range of matters relating to the law.

The RSU’s Lawyer

Bill Reid has been working with Canadian student unions for almost 20 years.

Reid and his team assist students with a wide array of legal issues, such as landlord and tenant conflicts, debt problems, immigration and accident cases as well as other government matters.

Reid is on campus every Tuesday and Friday for appointments, which can be booked through the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) website. There is no cost or additional fees for his services.

Monthly Night Clinic 

The legal clinic offers free legal advice relating to business, contract, employment and labour law.

The Monthly Night Clinic is open once a month and offers advice to full-time and part-time Ryerson students, Chang School learners and anyone involved with Ryerson’s learning zones.

“Unfortunately, legal representation is not very accessible to students due to its high associated costs,” said the clinic’s director Pnina Alon-Shenker.

Even though representation in court is out of the clinic’s scope, they provide advice on how to deal with matters such as being laid off, being sued or injured due to someone else’s negligence.

To make an appointment, you need to email the clinic in advance and also be prepared to provide the necessary documents.

Law & Business Clinic

This clinic focuses on providing assistance to clients seeking answers and guidance to legal matters related to entrepreneurship.

Clients are selected during the summer and will be represented throughout the school year by law and business major students while being supervised by department staff, faculty members and lawyers from the various firms.

Rick Moscone is a lawyer at the Law & Business Clinic who primarily deals with start-up companies from various Ryerson zones. One of his most interesting cases involved a start-up company that had four founders, but as the corporation began to develop, only one remained.

“It was a good real-life example for the students about the life-cycle of a lot of start-up businesses. We typically only hear about the glamorous successful start-up stories.  But this example is probably more common in real life,” said Moscone.

With files from Alanna Rizza

Leave a Reply