Job Description
Pro Bono Ontario is a registered charity that provides free legal services to low-income Ontarians who do not qualify for legal aid. Staff and volunteers on PBO’s province-wide Free Legal Advice Hotline provide summary advice and legal drafting services to people with a variety of civil, non-family, legal problems. The Hotline answers approximately 30,000 calls each year and makes a significant difference in the lives of people who would not otherwise have access to legal assistance.
PBO facilitates the provision of consistent, high-quality legal assistance by maintaining a library of knowledge resources, including:
- a database of FAQs written by lawyers for lawyers
- legal templates
- technical training videos
- CPD content
PBO is seeking a part-time Knowledge Management Lawyer to assist in maintaining these resources.
This role offers the right candidate the opportunity to use their legal skills to assist vulnerable Ontarians with issues that can severely impact their well-being, while working in a friendly environment that prioritizes work-life balance.
Working under the supervision of the Director of Knowledge Management, the Knowledge Management Lawyer will play a key role in developing and maintaining knowledge resources by:
- Researching and writing new FAQs that provide both practical and legal guidance to volunteer lawyers. FAQs are fully cited and hyperlinked to online sources of primary law.
- Monitoring changes to the law and updating existing FAQs to reflect those changes.
- Editing draft FAQs prepared by students and volunteers for both content and form.
- Performing technical work related to maintaining the FAQ database, which is housed on the Salesforce platform. This includes adding or updating hyperlinks and performing minor coding work as needed (instruction will be provided).
- Developing and producing volunteer-facing training videos on legal and practical topics.
Qualifications:
- A lawyer in good standing with the Law Society of Ontario
- Experience in the practice of law
- Strong written and oral communication skills
- Ability and willingness to adapt to new technologies and work within PBO’s specialized case management system
- Ability to complete tasks in a timely fashion, and maintain accuracy and attention to detail with minimal supervision
- Ability to work remotely
The ideal candidate is someone who:
- Is currently a practicing lawyer or has practiced in the past five years
- Has been recognized by peers and colleagues as an exceptional writer of both technical and lay content
- Is flexible and willing to adapt to PBO’s writing style, which is less formal than most legal writing
- Gets details right without losing sight of the big picture
- Likes working with new and evolving technologies and developing systems that improve user experience
- Has experience in at least one of the areas of law covered by the Hotline (civil procedure, consumer debt and protection, corporate, employment, housing, and wills and estates)
- Has a keen interest in and capacity for learning about diverse areas of law that impact low-income and vulnerable individuals on a day-to-day basis
- Can consistently produce work and keep on top of developments over a broad range of legal topics
Status:
Part time
Location:
Remote, with the opportunity to work at PBO’s head office in Toronto on occasion as desired
Deadline to Apply:
Monday, June 19, 2023
