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When Catherine Goulet needs to talk to a lawyer, she simply picks up the phone and calls Gordon Baird, a partner at the blue chip firm of McCarthy Tetrault. While that's not unusual in the corporate world, it is strange for a community association involving Canada's oldest and largest public housing complex to have that kind of access to a top-notch Bay Street firm and not even pay for the legal advice.

Ms. Goulet is executive director of the Regent Park Neighbourhood Initiative, one of the biggest urban renewal projects ever in Canada and McCarthy is providing pro bono, or free legal services, to the group. It's all thanks to the efforts of Lynn Burns and Pro Bono Law Ontario, a non-profit group that mixes and matches law firms with interesting projects.

Normally one thinks of pro bono as a law firm providing a free will or litigation services to a low-income individual. But PBLO is changing the way law firms deliver pro bono and the nature of the assignments they take on.

Ms Burns brought together the law firm and the community group in a unique partnership back in 2002. Regent Park is located in downtown Toronto and covers more than 69 acres in the tough Shuter and Gerrard Street area in Toronto's east end. It has a diverse population of 7,500 and about 80% are visible minorities.

Built more than 50 years ago, the buildings are old and decrepit and an example of urban blight at its worst. As well, the layout of the complex is not conducive to safe communities. There is little street access and lots of nooks and crannies, making it difficult for police and emergency vehicles and services to access and almost impossible for businesses such as pizza drivers and delivery companies to find an address.

That will change. Regent Park is undergoing a $1-billion metamorphosis over 12 years, which will see the area revitalized and turned into a mixed-income community for 12,500 people, featuring a blend of apartments, townhouses, coops and condominiums.

There will be new commercial ventures -- Royal Bank of Canada is on board building the first bank in the area--and cherished employment opportunities for a community that needs all the breaks it can get. It means the replacement of 2,083 social housing units and the creation of 700 more, plus a further 300 affordable homes. The scope of the project is enormous.

However, to achieve that goal, it means residents, who have a right to return, have to be relocated while new places are built and that's where Ms. Goulet's group comes in. It's the social planning arm of the project and is the liaison between developers and Toronto Community Housing Corporation officials and the local residents. McCarthy's Mr. Baird is essentially her general counsel.

"They are counsel, the same way a corporation has counsel," says Ms. Goulet. "We call them when we need them. They have helped with a range of different issues," things like advising the group on holding its annual general meeting and putting in place agreements that ensure residents can return to a comparable place once construction ceases. Ms. Goulet is "thrilled" at the support she gets, advice she otherwise wouldn't be able to afford.

For his part, Mr. Baird says taking on the Regent Park group is part of his firm's efforts to get lawyers in the firm to provide 50 hours a year of pro bono. "Finding pro bono for non-litigation work is a challenge," he says, and when PBLO presented the opportunity, the firm jumped at it. He assigns juniors to tackle certain tasks and oversees the file.

Behind it all is Ms. Burns, who cut her teeth on pro bono projects in Ohio, where she ran a similar operation. When she arrived on the scene, she notes that pro bono in most Ontario firms was delivered in an ad hoc, random basis. She says the challenge was "developing the capacity of the private bar to engage in pro bono, and creating programs that are attractive, effective, and sustainable."

She's achieved that and more. In a few short years, 15 of the 25 largest firms in Ontario, including most national law firms, have adopted formal pro bono policies. She's done it with a staff of six and a budget of $870,000, not nearly enough.

Some of the other more creative initiatives include: A project started this month that will help newcomers to Canada succeed as small business owners. Torys, TD Canada Trust, MRSI Consulting, Riverdale Access/ Alterna Savings and COSTI, Canada's largest settlement organization, are joining forces to provide a five-week course for newcomers on small business issues, including business plan development, business management and leadership, legal issues for small businesses, small business finance and marketing.

Five "graduates" will be selected for a "business incubator" project, where they will receive free legal and consulting services for up to a year and will be eligible for low-interest, start-up loans.

You can say what you want about the legal profession, and many have lately, much of it quite disparaging. What you should say is that lawyers are doing their fair share to make communities a better place to live. Just ask Catherine Goulet.

Jmiddemiss@nationalpost.com