Review Counsel

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Competition Number: J0325-0918

Position Title: Review Counsel

Position Number (Final): 00506146

Employee Group: Research, Grant & Contract

Job Category: Other Professionals

Department or Area: Faculty of Law

Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada (On-site)

Salary: $77,563.00 - $110,580.00/Year

Hours per Week: 35

Job Type: Permanent (Continuing)

Shift: 7 Monday - Friday

Number Of Positions: 1

Date Posted: April 11, 2025

Closing Date: May 11, 2025

Additional Information

The salary range for this position is currently under ongoing review.

About Queen's University

Queen’s University is the Canadian research intensive university with a transformative student learning experience. Here the employment experience is as diverse as it is interesting. We have opportunities in multiple areas of globally recognized research, faculty administration, engineering & construction, athletics & recreation, power generation, corporate shared services, and many more.

We are committed to employment equity and diversity in the workplace and welcome applications from individuals from equity seeking groups such as women, racialized/visible minorities, Indigenous/Aboriginal peoples, persons with a disability, persons who identify in the LGBTQ+ community and others who reflect the diversity of Canadian society.

Job Summary

The Faculty of Law seeks a dynamic lawyer with experience in administrative litigation and dealing with social justice issues who is committed to serving clients within the Kingston community. The incumbent will have a passion for mentoring and positively contributing to the learning environment for students.

Reporting to the Director of Queen’s Legal Aid, Review Counsel is responsible for the delivery of clinical legal education to Queen’s Law students and the provision of professional services to clients, including participating in community education and development.

Queen’s Legal Aid (QLA) is part of the Queen’s Law Clinics (QLC), which are year-round legal clinics providing legal services and clinical education programming. Law students at the QLC provide legal services and information without charge to low-income individuals involved in the justice system. As a clinical education program, the QLC provides experiential learning opportunities to more than a hundred law students each year.

Review Counsel is governed by the Law Society of Ontario, the regulatory body for all Ontario-based lawyers, and must personally practice in compliance with the Law Society Act, the Legal Aid Services Act, 2020 and the Solicitors Act, as well as the provincial Rules of Professional Conduct. In coordination with the Director, QLA, Review Counsel has responsibility for clinic compliance with these same statutes and rules.

Job Description

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Represent clients before courts and tribunals including before all levels of court in Ontario.
• Assume complete professional responsibility for all aspects of clients’ legal files in matters including criminal law, Small Claims Court and employment law matters, as well as litigation before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Landlord & Tenant Board, and the Social Benefits Tribunal.
• Supervise and teach law students in an experiential legal education environment in accordance with professional standards. This includes preparing students for their duties, reviewing file work, providing performance appraisals, developing client management skills and other support as needed.
• Counsel students personally and professionally to ensure the quality of clinic services, including teaching, guiding legal research, scrutinizing legal writing, drafting legal opinions, and professional correspondence, monitoring client and file management techniques, ensuring adherence to deadlines and undertakings, and assisting students with their appearances before courts and tribunals, including attending trials and hearings, when required.
• Secure client work for QLA, promote QLA to students and future clients through presentations to various organizations providing supports for members of the community.
• Monitor professional services delivered by QLA, including adherence to all applicable statutes and rules, and the timely delivery of competent professional legal services to all of QLA’s clients.
• Maintain direct carriage of QLA files, including conducting trials or hearings.
• In coordination with the Director, QLA, oversee clinic operational and administrative matters, including compliance with guidelines, policies and procedures, analyzing data and deciding the scope and nature of QLA activities.
• Develop curriculum and required materials, teach courses, and engage law students in classroom discussions.
• Provide input and support to the Director, QLA on course program delivery and activities as required.
• Maintain expertise in the areas law relevant to QLA, including residential tenancies law, social benefits appeals, criminal and provincial offences, civil matters in the Small Claims Court, employment issues, and human rights matters, including researching case law and related statutes and regulations relevant to these areas of legal practice.
• Participate in continuing legal education programs and personal professional development to develop and maintain skills in pedagogy relating to clinical legal education.
• Ensure the provision of community legal education, law reform activities and legal support to clients and client groups as required, including:
• Produce materials for community education in the form of pamphlets, articles, manuals, self-help kits and digital resources;
• Participate in the development and organization of outreach programmes for specific groups.
• Act as a resource person in various community organizations.
• Prepare legal briefs and other law reform activities.
• Prepare a program of educational seminars designed for the client community, giving speeches, workshops, and other educational activities.
• Lobby and advocate for law reform in cooperation with other clinics and groups.
• Participate in inter-clinic activities as appropriate.
• Make recommendations to the Director, QLA regarding the selection of credit students and volunteers as well as the employment of summer student caseworkers, including hiring and dismissal decisions.
• Provide work direction, and technical/functional guidance to staff and student caseworkers. Coordinate and monitor workflow.
• Review assignments and provide feedback on work to employees and student caseworkers.
• Provide input on student work performance to the Director, QLA.
• Escalate unresolved performance and/or disciplinary matters to the Director, QLA.
• Contribute to evaluations and performance appraisals of student caseworkers enrolled in LAW 590: Queen’s Legal Aid - Clinical Litigation Practice, LAW 592: Queen’s Legal Aid – Advanced Casework and LAW 594: Queen’s Legal Aid – Student Leadership and of QLA staff.
• Undertake other duties as assigned by the Director, QLA in support of QLA or the QLC.
  
  

Required Qualifications

• J.D. or LL.B.
• Called to the Bar and a member of good standing in the Law Society of Ontario.
• Three to five years of legal experience with demonstrable knowledge of fundamental legal skills.
• Legal practice experience in areas relevant to QLA, including residential tenancies law, social benefits appeals, criminal and provincial offences, civil matters in the Small Claims Court, employment issues, and human rights matters.
• Familiarity with community resources available to QLA clients.
• Teaching experience and knowledge of clinical/experiential learning techniques are assets.
• Supervisory experience and knowledge of clinical/experiential learning techniques are assets.
• Post-secondary teaching experience is considered an asset.
• Administrative experience, including personnel and office management is considered an asset.
  
  

Special Skills

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, and presentation skills.
• Exceptional professional judgment, common sense and flexibility.
• Awareness of ethical and professional standards required for proper delivery of legal services.
• Superior capacity to work on complex tasks and meet deadlines despite many interruptions.
• Exceptional supervisory skills.
• High sensitivity to the needs and demands of consumers and providers of professional legal services, especially where the latter are students.
• Cultural proficiency to work well with, respond effectively to and be supportive in cross-cultural settings, demonstrating sensitivity and awareness.
• Excellent attention to detail, coupled with capacity to conceptualize, think creatively and strategically.
• Ability to analyze quickly and to respond in crisis situations.
• Analytical and interpretive skills, the ability to synthesize information from a wide variety of sources and devise plans and workable solutions for dealing with a wide range of problems.
• Demonstrated capacity for diplomacy, tact and discretion, along with ability to maintain confidentiality.
  
  

Decision Making

• Provide consideration of operational decisions, policies and procedures for QLA, on both a day-to-day and a longer-term planning basis.
• Select appropriate clients for QLA (assisting in establishing broad guidelines and deciding upon applications from individual applicants).
• Decide appropriate referral information, when applicants are rejected as QLA clients.
• Determine legal services required by clients and decide whether it is appropriate for the requested services to be provided by a student caseworker.
• Provide initial direction to student caseworkers followed by close supervision of all research, correspondence and representation.
• Identify and respond to needs for emergency legal services, either personally or through delegation to student caseworkers.
• Decide on content and instructional strategy of training programs for student caseworkers.
• Determine if student caseworkers may require specific counselling or guidance and decide how to offer this discreetly and effectively.
• Determine content of responses to complaints from clients, student caseworkers or others.
• Manage multiple, complex, simultaneous tasks; juggle priorities to meet changing, often competing deadlines.
• Allocate a continuous, stable and challenging workload for student caseworkers.
• Assess the suitability of job candidates and recommend the most appropriate person for hire.
• Determine priorities and make decisions about the assignment of work to staff and student caseworkers to achieve optimum efficiencies and productivity.
• Monitor and assess output and the quality of employees’ work and recommend need for formal training or development plans to management and identify possible staff performance and/or disciplinary issues.
  
  

Employment Equity and Accessibility Statement

The University invites applications from all qualified individuals. Queen’s is committed to employment equity and diversity in the workplace and welcomes applications from women, visible minorities, Aboriginal Peoples, persons with disabilities, and persons of any sexual orientation or gender identity. In accordance with Canadian Immigration requirements, priority will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

The University provides support in its recruitment processes to all applicants who require accommodation due to a protected ground under the Ontario Human Rights Code, including those with disabilities. Candidates requiring accommodation during the recruitment process are asked to contact Human Resources at hradmin@queensu.ca.

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