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HALIFAX – Arman Chak of Edmonton, legal counsel with the Alberta Human Rights Commission, is the winner of the 2011 Young Lawyers-Canadian Bar Association (YL-CBA) Pro Bono Award for outstanding legal services benefiting the community.

The jury was most impressed with the broad range of his pro bono activities as well as the long-term commitment of this outstanding public sector lawyer. “Through his substantial pro bono services, Arman has provided access to justice to countless individuals who would otherwise be marginalized by the system,” says Beth McGrath of St. John’s, Vice-Chair of the YL-CBA. 

For the past five years, Arman Chak has been an evening volunteer at Pro Bono Alberta’s Edmonton Community Legal Centre, where he has provided direct pro bono legal advice in over 100 files. He has personally litigated 15 pro bono files – spending over 600 hours – before the Employment Insurance Boards of Referees, Residential tenancy Dispute Resolution Service, Provincial Court of Alberta, Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta and Court of Appeal of Alberta. Mr. Chak’s commitment extends to filing applications for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada on behalf of his pro bono clients. 

He has assisted in clinics in Edmonton’s downtown core as well as in immigrant communities from China, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Mr. Chak’s additional language skills have provided some recent immigrant clients with the ability to communicate and effectively express their legal issues to him. 

His colleagues and peers praise not only the direct legal services which he provides to marginalized clients, but also his ability to routinely help in the area of human rights by offering specialized advice to staff lawyers at the Edmonton Community Legal Centre and legal education seminars to staff and volunteer lawyers.

Mr. Chak received his LL.B. from University of Alberta in 1999 and his Masters of Law – Specialization in Administrative Law from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2007. He began his career at Scott and Company in Edmonton, and moved to the Family Law Office in Calgary where he was staff counsel. 

He is currently legal counsel at the Alberta Human Rights Commission where he conducts administrative tribunals on behalf of the Director of the Alberta Human Rights Commission, appears before the Court of Queen’s Bench and the Court of Appeal, and presents at seminars on human rights before various public bodies.

The CBA Young Lawyers Pro Bono Award recognizes outstanding pro bono publico ("for the public good") legal services to the community by a Canadian lawyer who is younger than 40 years old, or who has been in practice for less than 10 years. It takes the form of a $500 cash prize.

The award will be presented to Mr. Chak at the Closing Luncheon of the 2011 Canadian Legal Conference and Expo in Halifax, Tuesday, August 16th at 12:15 p.m., at the World Trade and Convention Centre, Metro Centre B (level 4). The event is open to accredited media. Please contact Hannah Bernstein for accreditation.

The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to support for the rule of law, and improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 37,000 lawyers, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Hannah Bernstein
The Canadian Bar Association
Aug 12-16: 902-492-7889
E-mail: hannahb@cba.org