Articling Students

PBLS provides an opportunity for articling students to engage with us and our clients during their articling term.

Volunteer Opportunity for Articling Students 2026/2027

Opportunity: Articling students are invited to volunteer/shadow with Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan (PBLS) in either of our existing programs, those being our Free Legal Clinics and Panel Programs.

Free Legal Clinics: We host Free Legal Clinics (Clinic(s)) throughout Saskatchewan, both in-person and by telephone. At a Clinic, a volunteer lawyer provides summary legal advice to 3 to 4 pre-screened clients. Clients are low-income individuals who would otherwise not have access to legal services. Written notes of the legal advice provided are made and are provided to the client. Articling students who sign up to volunteer with a Clinic have the opportunity to shadow two. During each Clinic, the Articling Student will observe a lawyer providing summary legal advice to a client and be asked to take written notes during the appointment. Shadowing may be in person or by telephone, depending on your location, preference and our availability.

Panel Program: Our Panel Program (Panel(s)) facilitates volunteer lawyers representing a client who would otherwise not have the capacity or resources to represent themselves. The representation may be limited-scope to full representation. We have Panels in seven areas: Immigration & Refugee, Inmates (for institutional matters), Criminal Appeals, Seniors, Residential & Tenancies, General and Solicitor. For a client to be eligible for the Panel Program, they first have a Clinic appointment, then are referred to the Panel Program. The PBLS Programs Director assesses the Panel referral and, if eligible, sends an email to the roster of Volunteer Lawyers on that specific Panel and posts the Panel referral to our internal database. That email and database post includes information about the legal matter and the scope of legal assistance being sought. When a Volunteer Lawyer responds, stating they are willing to assist the client, a panel match is made Articling student is then invited to assist the matched volunteer lawyer in representing the client.

Eligibility: You are eligible to sign up if you are an articling student in Saskatchewan with a principal. Your principal must be aware of and endorse your volunteering with PBLS. If your articles terminate and you no longer have a principal, you will notify PBLS as soon as possible.

The remainder of this document summarizes the expectations of articling students, PBLS and the volunteer lawyer.

Expectations of Articling Student:

• Receive approval from your principal to participate in the volunteer opportunity.
• Sign up and attend the Volunteer Training on September 11, 2026, from noon to 1:30 pm. If you cannot attend, you must watch the recording, which will become available on our website’s password-protected Resource page.
• You will confidentially store client material as required by the Law Society of Saskatchewan and/or for Clinics, safely destroy and delete client material following the Clinic.

An articling student has the option to sign up for the Clinic and/or the Panel Program. The expectations for each program are as follows:

• Free Legal Clinic:
  • You will be scheduled into two Clinics between the dates of September 14, 2026, and June 14, 2027. You will be informed of the fall Clinic date in early September and the winter Clinic date in December. If the dates you are scheduled do not work, you will inform PBLS as soon as possible and alternative date(s) will be selected.
  • By email, you and your principal will receive the Clinic schedule one week before the Clinic date. In this email, you will be informed of the client’s name, the opposing party and a short description of the legal matter. If the Client has shared documents with PBLS ahead of the appointment, those will be provided to you via email approximately 3 days before the Clinic.
  • You will attend both Clinics. You will observe the volunteer lawyer providing legal advice to the client, and you will take notes of the legal advice provided, which will then be provided to the volunteer lawyer for incorporation into their notes to the client.
  • Volunteer Lawyers and shadowing articling students are encouraged to debrief the Clinic / Clinic appointments during or at the end of the Clinic.
• Panel Program:
  • Once a volunteer lawyer has been matched to a client, you will receive an email from PBLS’ Programs Director stating the client’s legal matter and the scope of assistance required.
  • You will be asked to assist the volunteer lawyer in representing the client, which may include legal research, drafting material, interviewing the client, etc. Depending on the volunteer lawyer’s preference, you will not necessarily be in the same city as the volunteer lawyer and, as such, assist remotely. There is no expectation for you to travel.
  • You are expected to assist one Panel client during the 2026/2027 period. Please be aware that some Panels can be resolved quickly while others take time to complete due to the varying nature of legal matters that are referred to the Panel. If the Panel matter is still ongoing when your articles are complete, you are not expected to continue assisting the volunteer lawyer, and you should indicate to the volunteer lawyer that you have completed articling and will no longer be helping on the Panel matter.

Expectations of PBLS:

• Provide Volunteer Training on September 11, 2026, from noon to 1:30 pm. Record the Training and make it available on the password-protected Resource page of our website as soon as possible thereafter
• PBLS staff, including the four staff lawyers, are available by email and telephone to answer your questions. Contact information can be found on the password-protected Resource page
• Free Legal Clinic:
  • PBLS will schedule you into two Clinics, taking into consideration your preference of area of law. You will be made aware of your Clinic dates via email as soon as reasonably possible.
  • One week before each Clinic, PBLS will email you and your Principal the Clinic schedule, which includes: the name of the volunteer lawyer, the client’s name, the opposing party, whether the appointments are by telephone, in-person or both and a short description of the legal matter. Approximately three days before the Clinic date, PBLS will email you any client documents we have received.
  • The Volunteer Lawyer you are shadowing will have agreed to have you shadow them. If you are shadowing by telephone, the volunteer lawyer will make a 3-way call to include you in the appointment. Your phone number will not be shared with the client.
  • PBLS will inform the Clients ahead of the appointment that an articling student is shadowing.
  • PBLS will disseminate discussion questions to encourage and facilitate debriefing between the articling student and the volunteer lawyer during or at the conclusion of the Clinic
• Panel Program:
  • Taking into consideration your preferred areas of law, our Programs Director will email you information about a matched Panel client, including the name of the matched volunteer lawyer and details of the legal matter and scope of service being provided.
  • Before you receive the Panel referral, the Programs Director will confirm with the volunteer lawyer that they wish to have an articling student assist them and whether they require the articling student to be in the same city or assist remotely.

Expectations of a Volunteer Lawyer

• Free Legal Clinic:
  • PBLS will email Volunteer Lawyers to see if they are willing to have an articling student shadow specific Clinic date(s) between September 14, 2026, and June 14, 2027.
  • The Volunteer Lawyer will be reminded that they have an Articling Student shadowing their Clinic when they receive their Clinic schedule one week before the Clinic date, along with the articling student’s name and contact information and mode of shadowing (ie, in person or via telephone).
  • Legal Note Taking During the Appointment
    • When the articling student is shadowing via telephone, the volunteer lawyer will make a three-way call to include the articling student in the appointment. The volunteer lawyer will instruct the articling student to take notes of the appointment and provide those notes to themselves for incorporation into their notes for the Client
    • When the articling student is shadowing in person, the volunteer lawyer will invite the articling student into the meeting room, providing them with a carbon copy Service Agreement to take notes.
    • As appropriate, the volunteer lawyer will incorporate the articling students’ legal notes into their Service Agreement that is provided to the client
  • The Volunteer Lawyer will debrief the Clinic with the Articling Student by discussing the substantive and procedural aspects of the client matters and answering questions the articling student may have.
• Panel Program:
  • After a volunteer lawyer is matched with a Panel client, they will receive an email asking if they would like an articling student to assist them with the Panel match. PBLS will ask if they require the articling student to be in the same city or if remote assistance is okay. The volunteer lawyers are to respond to this email as soon as possible.
  • If an articling student is assigned to assist with the Panel match, the volunteer lawyer is to provide tasks and mentorship to the articling student.
  • Articling students are not expected to assist with Panel matters after the completion of the articling period. If the Panel matter is still ongoing after the completion of the articling period, the articling student will communicate their end date to the Volunteer Lawyer.