A top Bay Street law firm will provide pro bono services to residents of a poor Scarborough neighbourhood who cannot afford a lawyer, and in many cases make too much money to access legal aid.

Heenan Blaikie, which specializes in business law, labour and employment, taxation and litigation, is the first Bay Street firm to offer its whole breadth of legal services to a community free of charge.

It is focusing on Kingston Galloway, an area once rife with gang warfare, where the unemployment rate is 2% higher than the rest of the city. Kingston Galloway has the highest concentration of social housing in Toronto.

"We have heard time and time again that without access there could be no justice," said Ryan Teschner, a young Heenan Blaikie lawyer who came up with the idea with a colleague Trevor Guy.

The firm, with its downtown slate of 170 lawyers, expects to provide a range of pro bono work that could involve representing someone who has been denied pay, or wrongfully terminated at work.

The prospective clients will be screened by the East Scarborough Storefront, a hub organization that links 40 educational and community agencies with people in need. The storefront will refer a resident to Heenan Blaikie to retain a lawyer.

Yonit Fuhrmann, deputy director of the Pro Bono Law Ontario, said a single person who makes up to $18,000 qualifies for legal aid, but that leaves a lot of people simply unable to afford legal representation. The Heenan Blaikie program will be open to someone who makes up to double that.

"There's a lot of that kind of need in this city," Ms. Fuhrmann.
Mayor David Miller was on hand for the launch on the 29th floor of the Bay and Adelaide tower.

"We'd like all the law firms in this city to follow Heenan Blaikie's lead," said Mayor David Miller.

The firm was unable to quantify the value of the pro bono work. "We haven't entered into this with a view to a ceiling," said Mr. Teschner.