Our goal is to offer friendly, client-centred services that are designed to provide our clients with practical solutions.
Downtown Legal Services is both a community legal clinic and a clinical education program, operated by the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto. Our free services are provided by law students, who work under the close supervision of our expert staff lawyers. Approximately 140 law students work at the clinic every year, enabling us to serve over two thousand people. Our goal is to offer friendly, client-centred services that are designed to provide our clients with practical solutions. At the same time, our clinical education programs allow students to learn in an intellectually lively environment, where they can acquire the professional skills and insight to become successful lawyers.
We have a satellite clinic at Evangel Mission where our students go to provide services in community locations that offer other supports such as food, shelter, and health care. We also offer drop-in appointments for University of Toronto students at 230 College Street for housing and employment inquiries. Visit us in Room 246 in the Student Commons for more information. The winter 2025 schedule is: HOUSING: Mondays, 12-2 PM (January 13 – March 31) EMPLOYMENT: Once a month on Tuesday 12-2pm (January 7, February 4, March 4, and April 1)Location:
DLS is located at 655 Spadina Avenue, three blocks south of Spadina Station. (Please note that the clinic is on Spadina Avenue not Spadina Road.)
Staff Directory:
- Prasanna Balasundaram, Director
- Sukhpreet Sangha, Supervising Lawyer
- Emily Shepard, Supervising Lawyer
- Philippa Geddie, Supervising Lawyer
- Seema Kawar, Supervising Lawyer
- Richard Teicher, Supervising Lawyer
- Jennifer Hild, Client and Administrative Services Coordinator
- Asiya Hirji, Supervising Lawyer
- Munira Mohamed, Student and Administrative Services Coordinator