TRN304Y1

TRN304Y1: Law and Social Issues – The Legal Practice of Social Justice

Course Description

This course is taught by leading legal practitioners in social justice. The goal is to expose students directly to work in the law that has social impact. Each instructor will lead 4 to 6 weeks of the course in their area of expertise. We discuss both legal issues of social significance, and how the instructors—as practitioners in various areas of legal work, such as at NGOs, Community Legal Clinic, and firms—approach important issues. Issues might include: justice and access advocacy, Gladue principles, eviction, rent-control, racial profiling, the bail crisis, prison reform and police records, among others. ES&L Program Director Prof. John Duncan provides support for the course.

Assessment: early 2pp research proposal on selected topic (~15%); <10min presentation on topic (~15%); end-of-term essay on topic (~15pp, ~35%); 4 take-homes, one for each instructor’s section (~4pp each, ~5% each); class participation (~15%).

For 2024-2025, the course instructors (their full bios are further down this page) will be:

Abby Deshman Abby Deshman is a lawyer who has focused her career on protecting constitutional rights and democratic freedoms. After graduating from University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 2008 she spent over a decade working for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, first as the Director of the Fundamental Freedoms Program, and later as the Director of the Criminal Justice Program. While at CCLA, Abby led the organization’s litigation, advocacy and public policy analysis with respect to a wide range of issue areas including freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, freedom of religion, police powers and oversight, and the criminal justice system. She teaches several courses at the University of Toronto and has also served as a Corrections Advisor on the Ontario government’s Independent Review of Ontario Corrections and as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services. She is currently a lawyer with St. Lawrence Barristers, a civil litigation law firm with expertise in constitutional and human rights law.

Yodit Edemariam Yodit Edemariam is a lawyer and the Director of Legal Services at the Rexdale Community Legal Clinic (RCLC) in Toronto. RCLC provides free services to North Etobicoke community members living on low incomes in the areas of housing and eviction prevention, income maintenance, employment, and immigration. The Clinic also engages in law reform advocacy, community development, and public legal education. Yodit has been with RCLC since 2010, the year she was called to the bar. Prior to that, she articled at Parkdale Community Legal Services and was a placement and summer student at Legal Assistance of Windsor. She has a particular interest in eviction cases based on allegations of illegal activity and impairment of safety.

Akosua Matthews Akosua (Ah-­ko-sue-ah) Matthews is an associate at Kastner Lam LLP, leading the firm’s state accountability work. Her practice includes civil litigation, public law, human rights claims, coroner’s inquests, and advising on policy and legislative matters. Akosua is a Rhodes Scholar and graduate of the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto. Akosua completed her articles with the Ministry of the Attorney General at Crown Law Office Civil and was called to the Law Society of Ontario in 2014. Akosua holds a BA (Hons) from the University of Manitoba, where she was the Gold Medalist in Philosophy, and an MPhil in Comparative Social Policy from the University of Oxford. Prior to Kastner Lam LLP, Akosua was a litigation associate practicing primarily state accountability law at Falconers LLP on behalf of individuals, families and First Nations governments.