ADVISORY BOARD
Jutta Brunnée
Chair
Jutta Brunnée is Dean and James M. Tory Dean’s Chair at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto. Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of Public International Law, International Environmental Law and International Legal Theory, and she is published extensively in each. Her work has been awarded the American Society of International Law’s Certificate of Merit twice (in 2011 and 2018), both “in a specialized area of international law” and “for preeminent contribution to creative scholarship”, respectively. From 1998-99, Dean Brunnée was the “Scholar-in-Residence” in the Legal Bureau of the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, advising, inter alia, on matters under the Biodiversity and Climate Change Conventions. She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2013, and Associate of the Institut de Droit International in 2017. Dean Brunnée's current research agenda explores the role of international legality and legal practices in mediating between stability and change in international law.
Eleonora Dimitrova
Member
Eleonora Dimitrova graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 2010 with a combined JD/MA in International Relations. After her admission to the Ontario Bar, Eleonora worked for Lawyers for Human Rights, an independent human rights organisation with a 40-year track record of human rights activism and public interest litigation in South Africa. She practiced in the areas of human rights, refugee protection and access to justice in their Durban office. Following her return to Canada, Eleonora joined Law in Action Within Schools (LAWS), the Faculty's award-winning education engagement and support program for high school students facing barriers to postsecondary access. Since becoming the Executive Director of LAWS in 2018, Eleonora has led several initiatives that have significantly expanded the program’s reach and impact. In 2022, Eleonora was appointed as Interim Assistant Dean, J.D. Program.
Robert Leckey
Member
Robert Leckey teaches and researches in family law, constitutional law, and comparative law at the McGill Faculty of Law, where since 2016 he has been Dean and Samuel Gale Professor. A former clerk for Justice Michel Bastarache at the Supreme Court of Canada, he is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and the Barreau du Québec. During his doctoral studies, Robert was a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation scholar. He has authored several books on marital rights. As former president of Egale Canada and former chair of its Legal Issues Committee, Robert participates regularly in continuing education for lawyers and judges.
Ngai Pindell
Member
Dean Pindell received his A.B. (Economics) in 1993 from Duke University and his J.D. in 1996 from Harvard Law School. Following graduation, he practiced community development law in Baltimore, MD, followed by a fellowship and visiting assistant professorship at the University of Baltimore School of Law Community Development Clinic. He joined the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in 2000 as an Assistant Professor and earned promotion to Professor in 2008. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of property law, wills and trusts, affordable housing, community development, and local government law. At UNLV, Dean Pindell has held a number of academic administrative roles, most recently as Vice Provost and Special Advisor to the Executive Vice President and Provost from January to July 2019. He also served as Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs (2016-2018), and as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and then Vice Dean in the Boyd School of Law (2012-2016).
Mary Condon
Member
Mary Condon is Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, where she teaches Securities Regulation and Advanced Securities. In 2008, Mary was appointed by the provincial government to be Commissioner and Board Member of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), where she sat until 2016. In 2018, she was appointed a member of the board of the Capital Markets Authority Implementation Organization (CMAIO), an interim body set up to assist with the establishment of a Capital Markets Regulatory Authority for co-operating jurisdictions in Canada. Mary has co-authored several texts on topics related to securities regulation and pensions policy, and is regularly invited to speak on these topics both nationally and internationally. She was named one of the top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada (Public Sector Category) by Women’s Executive Network in 2018.
Tasha Lorenzen-Ewing
Member
Tasha Lorenzen-Ewing (she/her) graduated from Thompson Rivers University in 2021. During law school she was a Pro Bono Students Canada Program Coordinator for two years, which allowed her to stay connected to and engaged in public interest work and access to justice initiatives. In addition to PBSC, in her third year at law school, Tasha was President of the TRU Black Law Students' Association and worked alongside other equity seeking groups to advocate for progress in the TRU Faculty of Law. For this and other work, Tasha received the Law Foundation Public Interest Award. Prior to law school, Tasha earned her Masters in Gerontology and worked with seniors in the non-profit sector, where her passion for public interest work grew. Tasha is currently on the Executive of the BC Chapter of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers and a member of the BC Canadian Bar Association’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Community and Elder Law Sections. Tasha currently works in family law and continues to seek out opportunities to engage in and make public interest and access to justice initiatives a cornerstone of her work.
Richard Jochelson
Member
Richard Jochelson is the Dean of Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba. He holds a Ph.D. in Law from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, a Master of Laws from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Calgary Faculty of Law (Gold Medal), and a Bachelor of Science in Zoology (with Distinction), also from the University of Calgary. He served his articling year as a clerk at the Alberta Court of Appeal and Court of Queen’s Bench, before working at one of Canada’s largest law firms. He taught criminal law for 10 years at the University of Winnipeg prior to joining the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Law.
Chloé Beaudet-Centomo
Member
Chloé holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Philosophy, a Bachelor's degree in Civil Law, a Juris Doctor in Common Law and a Master's degree in Indigenous Law from the Université ode Montreal. She is a lawyer and Assistant Director of Justice Pro Bono, where she works on the development of new initiatives to further access to justice and coordinates the organization’s pro bono legal clinic program in Nunavik. She has chaired the Board of Directors of her alma mater's Foundation for the past few years, and is involved in various institutions in the legal community.
Monique Auffrey
Member
Monique Auffrey MSW, brings community social-justice experience to the advisory board as a social worker and social profit leader. She has lead some of Canada’s top 100 organizations (Charity Intelligence) in Calgary as well as Halifax. Her work has primarily focused on addressing housing and homelessness, domestic and intimate partner violence and addictions. She was appointed to the Alberta Family Violence Death Review Committee by the Government of Alberta in 2017 for a 4-year term and sits as an advisory member of the Global Institute of Social Work (GISW) and the Commonwealth Organization for Social Work (COSW).
Winner of several awards including; Women of Inspiration Catalyst for Change by the Universal Women’s Network (2020), Eileen McGowan Kelly Award, International Federation of Social Work (2006), The Raoul Leger Memorial Humanitarian Award, Dalhousie University (2003) and the Dr. P. Anthony Johnstone Human Rights Award, Dalhousie University (2003).
Former board member of Point Pleasant Child Care, Propellus, Pathways to Education Canada and a former chair of the Social Justice Committee of the Nova Scotia Association of Social Work.
OUR STORY
PBSC was established in 1996 at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. At the time, it was the first and only pro bono organization in Canada. The founding objective of PBSC was to combine education and public interest volunteer work, with the goal of ensuring that each new generation of lawyers would enter the profession committed to pro bono philosophy and practice. The visionary support of the Faculty and the Law Foundation of Ontario was instrumental in launching PBSC into a leading, nation-wide movement.