Broadening our PIAF community

We kicked off 2026 nurturing a brand-new community. For 20 years, The Law Foundation of Ontario’s Public Interest Articling Fellowship (PIAF) program has been making grants to nonprofit organizations to allow them to host an articling student. For the first time in the program’s history, we brought the articling students together to meet each other, and us.

PIAF was designed to help respond to the public’s need for legal assistance and to give articling students valuable experience in public interest law. Without PIAF, many organizations would not have the funding to host articling students. Articling is generally the step between graduating law school and being called to the Bar to become a licensed lawyer.

We wanted to convene the articling students for 3 reasons: to help them build community with each other, to offer useful learning opportunities, and to strengthen their knowledge of and connection to the Foundation.

Building networks and skills are important for any early-career group, especially this one. Many are the only articling student in their organization. Some are the first articling student at their host organization or the first articling student their legal principal has supervised. Most work 100% remotely.

The PIAF Day allowed participants to meaningfully engage with legal professionals who have devoted their practice to advancing the public interest. Through this opportunity, I was able to learn new skills, broaden my network, and expand my understanding of how the law can be used to achieve justice.” – PIAF Day attendee

We broke the ice on January 29 with a PIAF Social. The casual event gave the articling students the chance to meet and to network with some PIAF alum and Foundation staff and Trustees. Judging by the decibel level, we’re confident everyone was excited to get to know each other and the types of work being done.

The next day, the Foundation’s CEO, Lisa Cirillo, and Director of Grants & Programs, Noah Aiken-Klar, welcomed everyone to our inaugural PIAF Day: a professional development day largely designed from the articling students’ input.

The morning was a compelling workshop on trauma-informed lawyering by Yukimi Henry. Yukimi is a registered social worker and former criminal defense lawyer with decades of experience in frontline service delivery and senior leadership in mental health care, community social services, and post-secondary education. Informed by research and her own clinical and legal practices, Yukimi described how trauma-informed lawyering makes the practice of law more effective and, quite simply, “makes better lawyers”.

Trauma is a response to a single or ongoing circumstance that threatens our safety, such as violence, neglect, and psychological or material insecurity. Yukimi explained how trauma affects the brain and people’s behaviours. She introduced tools, such as compassionate inquiry, that can help us (and particularly service-providers like lawyers) to moderate our own emotions and reactions. These same tools help us better understand, listen to, and respond to clients who may feel highly emotional or confrontational.

Yukimi also covered and answered questions about wellness and selfcare — crucial topics for the stressful career of law. She used an analogy of a rock and a rubber ball. While a rock stays solid under pressure, it will eventually break. A rubber ball, on the other hand, absorbs pressure and bounces back into shape. Self-care helps us be the rubber ball.

In the afternoon, we had a candid fireside chat (minus the fireplace) with a panel of seasoned public interest lawyers, representing government, nonprofit, legal policy, and private practice settings. The panel highlighted the diversity and richness of career opportunities in public interest law and gave the articling students an opportunity to ask questions and seek advice in a supportive space.

Lili Pach, a Foundation Grants Manager and former immigration lawyer, expertly moderated the discussion with panelists: Deputy Minister Raj Dhir, Deputy Minister of Indigenous Affairs and First Nations Economic Reconciliation; Josh Eisen, In-house Lawyer, FCJ Refugee Centre; Laura Snowdon, Counsel, Law Commission of Ontario; and Tina Yang, Partner, Goldblatt Partners.

The panelists recounted their varied and sometimes winding career paths, offered personal and professional tips on sustaining a healthy legal practice, and answered the group’s burning questions. The articling students came away with profound and practical career advice, like “a detour is not a failure” and “don’t buy so many suits!”

We loved spending time with the articling students and our generous and impressive guest speakers. We are very pleased with our PIAF events debut and are encouraged by early feedback to make it a repeat performance. We wanted to bring this group of articling students together to broaden the PIAF community. We encourage them to see each other, and the Foundation, as a source of support and connection as they continue their access to justice journeys.

PIAF Day provided me the opportunity not only to meet with my fellow cohort members and learn about their incredible work, but also to see public interest opportunities beyond articling. Many thanks to The Law Foundation of Ontario for this great opportunity.” – Chance Gordon