ADVISORY BOARD
Christopher Essert
Chair
Dean Christopher Essert was appointed Dean of the Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law effective February 1, 2026. He holds a BA from McGill University, a JD from the University of Toronto, and an LLM and JSD from Yale Law School. He previously served as a law clerk to
Justice Michel Bastarache at the Supreme Court of Canada and completed his articles at Paliare Roland LLP. Since joining U of T in 2018, Dean Essert has served as Associate Dean of the JD Program (2020– 2025) and has held visiting academic appointments at both UCLA School of Law and Auckland Law School. Before coming to U of T, he was a faculty member at the Queen’s University Faculty of Law. Dean Essert also teaches and researches private law, property and tort theory, and legal and political philosophy.
Brittany Twiss
Member
Brittany Twiss (she/her) is the Assistant Dean, JD Program at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. She is a graduate of the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law (J.D. 2011) and Queen's University (BA.H. 2008). After finishing law school, she articled and practiced family law at a boutique litigation firm in Toronto. In 2013, Brittany was appointed Executive Director of Level, a Canadian charitable organization, where she spent five years developing justice education and human rights programming with and for Indigenous peoples. She joined the law school in 2019 as National Director of Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC).
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.
Joey Quan
Member
Joey Quan is a graduate of the University of Calgary, Faculty of Law, where she served as a Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC) Program Coordinator for a year and a half. She first became involved with PBSC during her first year of law school and has continued to contribute to the organization in various capacities throughout her legal education and beyond as a Board Member.
Prior to law school, Joey earned a Bachelor of Arts in Law and Society, and Sociology, an experience which fostered her passion for facilitating access to justice. She subsequently worked as a legal assistant in various areas of law which shaped her decision to further pursue her legal career. Throughout law school, Joey also prioritized volunteering, including with Student Legal Assistance and Inn from the Cold.
Joey is currently completing her articles at Calgary Legal Guidance, a non-profit organization that supports individuals who face barriers to accessing legal services. This work has allowed her to continue building on her commitment to advance access to justice.
Freya Kodar
Member
Freya Kodar is the Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria (UVic Law) and served as Associate Dean, Administration and Research from 2016-2021. She is a graduate of UVic Law’s co-op program and shared the William R. McIntyre Medal for academic excellence, community service and student leadership over the course of the LLB program. She holds a Master of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University and a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University. She co-chairs UVic’s Accessibility Committee and is a Trustee of the university’s Long Term Disability Trust. Her research focuses on income and financial security across the life course. She researches and teaches in the areas of consumer law and policy, pension law and policy, debtor and creditor relations, disability and the law, and feminist analysis of the law. Before pursuing graduate studies, she articled and practised law with two legal aid clinics in British Columbia.
Anne-Marie Santorineos
Member
Holder of bachelor’s degrees in law and communication science, Anne-Marie Santorineos is currently the executive director of Justice Pro Bono. She was an editorial coordinator at SOQUIJ and was the director of the JuridiQC project. She began her career as a lawyer at the Tribunal des droits de la personne du Québec (human rights tribunal).
Anne-Marie wrote her master’s thesis on access to justice in human rights matters. She is often asked to comment on the reality of the most vulnerable members of our society in the justice system. She has also taken part in various research projects, on topics like the freedom of religion, reasonable accommodation and the right to equality.
Érik Labelle Eastaugh
Member
Érik Labelle Eastaugh, BA, LL.L, LL.B (Ottawa), MSt, D.Phil (Oxon.) is Dean and Associate Professor at the Université de Moncton's Faculty of Law. From 2017 to 2023, he was Director of the International Observatory of Language Rights at the Université de Moncton. From 2009 to 2010, he clerked for Justice Marshall Rothstein at the Supreme Court of Canada. Érik's research is focused on public law and human rights, including language rights and the rights of cultural minorities. He has argued a number of significant public law cases before the courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada, and has appeared as an expert witness on language rights before both the Senate and the House of Commons of Canada. He is a member (ex officio) of the governing council of the Law Society of New Brunswick and a member of the New Brunswick Advisory Committee on Access to Justice.
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.
Trevor Farrow
Member
Trevor C.W. Farrow, AB (Princeton), BA/MA (Oxford), LLB (Dalhousie), LLM (Harvard), PhD (Alberta), is the Dean and a Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. He is the Chair of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice and was the founding Academic Director of the Winkler Institute for Dispute Resolution and former Director of the York Centre for Public Policy and Law. Professor Farrow is internationally recognized as a leading scholar on access to justice, legal process and the profession. His scholarship is widely published in Canada and internationally. He has taught and lectured at universities across Canada and around the world. Professor Farrow has received teaching awards from Harvard University and Osgoode Hall Law School. Professor Farrow was formerly a litigation lawyer in Toronto.
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.