What We Do

The Community Law School (Sarnia-Lambton) Inc. (CLSSL), a Registered Charitable Organization, was envisioned by a small group of persons interested and active in the public legal education mandate of the community legal clinic system.  With limited resources and burgeoning caseloads, the ability of clinic staff to fulfill that mandate is often limited and unable to meet the broad community need.

After studying different models in North America and beyond, our founders incorporated CLS in August, 2000 to create a vehicle by which public legal education could be delivered to local community and social services workers who are literally on the frontlines of delivering vital services, including information services, to impoverished, marginalized, and underserved populations in the Sarnia Lambton area.

It is these frontline workers that build relationships of trust with people in need of many different types of assistance from local, provincial, and federal resources.  All too often these issues are legal or systemic in nature, or include those components.

By providing frontline workers with up-to-date and reliable information about legal issues  most often encountered by their clients, these workers can help bridge the gap in available legal education, intervention options, and resources in the community.  We also help workers to better understand and navigate a wide variety of social service and assistance programs so that they can provide more comprehensive information and services to their clients.