CLEBC Update
ACLEA Awards Presented to CLEBC and Law Society
The Association for Continuing Legal Education, an association of North American and international CLE organizations, recently presented several prestigious “ACLEA’s Best” awards to CLEBC and the Law Society of British Columbia.

The CLEBC book Advising British Columbia Businesses won the 2007 Award for Professional Excellence in the Publications category. Advising British Columbia Businesses covers all stages of advising a business, from a first meeting with a client who has a new business, through to the point just before a company goes public. The 2007 Award for Professional Excellence in the Technology category went to the Law Society for its Small Firm Practice Course. This self-paced course is primarily designed for lawyers transitioning into sole or small firm practice and is delivered over the Internet in manageable learning modules.

Construction Law Jeopardy, a CLEBC course presented in February 2007, received a 2007 Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Programming category. Construction Law Jeopardy departed from traditional CLE delivery style in adopting a “Jeopardy” game show format that required speakers to provide focused commentary on legal issues in a minimal amount of time.

Left to right: Kensi Gounden, Law Society, Jack Huberman, CLE Executive Director, Ray Ruppert, ACLEA President, and Rob Seto, CLE Program Lawyer, after presentation of awards at the recent ACLEA conference.


The Law Foundation of British Columbia
Grants Approved
The Board of Governors of the Law Foundation of B.C. met on June 16, 2007. Chair Warren Wilson, QC, is pleased to announce that funding totalling $6,193,449 has been approved for the following:

Funding totalling $1,550,349 was approved for the following 10 Projects:

$630,000, B.C. COURTHOUSE LIBRARY SOCIETY, Supplemental Infrastructure Grant

$300,000, B.C. COURTHOUSE LIBRARY SOCIETY, Website

$177,500, ABBOTSFORD COMMUNITY SERVICES SOCIETY, Poverty Law Advocacy Initiative

$150,000, NANAIMO CITIZEN ADVOCACY ASSOCIATION, Legal Advocacy Project

$90,000, CANADIAN FOUNDATION FOR LEGAL RESEARCH, Legal Research Project

$75,000, LAW COURTS EDUCATION SOCIETY, 100th Anniversary of the B.C. Court of Appeal

$75,000, PRO BONO LAW B.C., Bridging Grant

$18,500, VANCOUVER HOLOCAUST EDUCATION CENTRE/FRIENDS OF THE SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER AND LAW SOCIETY OF B.C., Lawyers Without Rights – The Legacy of Nuremberg Project

$18,849, COMMUNITY LEGAL ASSISTANCE SOCIETY, Infrastructure Grant

$15,500, QUESNEL TILLICUM SOCIETY, Bridging Grant

Funding totalling $4,643,100 was approved for the following 16 continuing programs:

$2,737,750, B.C. COURTHOUSE LIBRARY, Operating Grant

$535,480, B.C. PUBLIC INTEREST ADVOCACY CENTRE, Operating Expenses

$279,310, CANADIAN BAR ASSOCIATION, B.C. BRANCH, Dial-A-Law, Lawyer Referral and Law Week

$149,000, TOGETHER AGAINST POVERTY SOCIETY, Legal Advocacy Program

$112,500, B.C. COALITION TO END ABUSE OF SENIORS, Legal Advocacy Program

$110,000, POVNET SOCIETY, PovNet Program

$109,000, ABBOTSFORD COMMUNITY SERVICES SOCIETY AND PROGRESSIVE INTERCULTURAL COMMUNITY SERVICES SOCIETY, Legal Advocacy Program

$99,540, YELLOW PAGES, Advertisement of Public Legal Services

$89,210, CRANBROOK WOMEN’S RESOURCE SOCIETY, Traveling Poverty Law Advocate Program

$87,500, KETTLE FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY, Mental Health Legal Advocacy Program

$71,450, ACTIVE SUPPORT AGAINST POVERTY, Legal Advocacy Program

$64,860, PORT ALBERNI FRIENDSHIP CENTRE, Legal Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities and Mental Health Issues

$56,250, MPA-MOTIVATION, POWER AND ACHIEVEMENT SOCIETY, Court Services Program

$50,000, CONTACT WOMEN’S GROUP SOCIETY, Legal Advocacy Program

$50,000, SOUTH FRASER WOMEN’S SERVICES SOCIETY, Legal Advocacy Program

$41,250, KI-LOW-NA FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY , Legal Advocacy Services for Aboriginal People Living Off-Reserve

For full details of the programs and projects that received funding, please visit The Law Foundation of British Columbia’s website at www.lawfoundationbc.org.

Graduate Fellowships
VALUE: Up to five (5) Awards of $13,750 each (subject to change).

CLOSING DATE: January 4, 2008.

FIELD OF STUDY/ ELIGIBILITY: Full time graduate studies in law or a law-related area. Applicants must either be residents of British Columbia; graduates of a British Columbia law school; or members of the British Columbia Bar.

WHERE TENABLE: Recognized universities in Canada, the U.S. or abroad. NOTE: The Law Foundation Graduate Fellowship is not available for the graduate programs of the Faculties of Law at the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria as the Law Foundation makes separate grants to the Graduate Fellowship programs at these universities.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES: Each application form must be typed and accompanied by a current resumé summarizing your work and volunteer experience. Applicants should have official transcripts of all previous post-secondary study sent directly to the Law Foundation. Three letters of reference should be sent directly to the Law Foundation from persons such as former professors, employers or colleagues who can comment on your scholarship, abilities and personal qualities.

For more information, please visit The Law Foundation website at www.lawfoundationbc.org or contact The Law Foundation at 1340-605 Robson St., Vancouver, B.C. V6B 5J3 E-mail: lfbc@tlfbc.org or phone: 604-688-2337. Application forms are available online.

This article was published in the October 2007 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2007, all rights reserved.