Pro Bono Law Ontario Announces New Board Chair

Paul Schabas, litigation Partner at Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP approved at April Board meeting

Toronto, May 25, 2005: At the April 21, 2005 Annual General Meeting of Pro Bono Law Ontario (PBLO), Paul Schabas was elected as the organization's new Chair.

Pro Bono Law Ontario exists to foster organized pro bono legal services in Ontario. The organization brokers partnerships and provides strategic guidance, training, and tailored technical assistance to community groups, law firms and law associations that are dedicated to addressing the legal needs of low-income and disadvantaged individuals as well as the communities and charitable organizations that serve them. PBLO brokers relationships between service providers (e.g., community legal clinics, community-based organizations) on the one hand, and law firms and lawyers' associations on the other.

Paul Schabas was called to the Bar in 1986. He has a varied litigation practice with an emphasis on media, constitutional and public law. He has been counsel on leading Charter cases dealing with freedom of expression, equality rights, judicial independence, fundamental justice, and search and seizure, and has appeared many times in the Supreme Court of Canada, including acting as counsel, pro bono, for the Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law on its landmark challenge to the corporal punishment defence in criminal law. Paul is a director, or former director, of several non-profit organizations including the Family Service Association of Toronto, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP is one of Canada's leading full-service business law firms. Blakes actively supports pro bono initiatives across Canada and encourages its lawyers to take a leadership role in this area.