Our primary goal is to help people who may not have a tremendous amount of opportunity. We have a huge commitment to advancing DEI to make the legal community in Canada better. We all want to pay it forward.
Partner
Mitch Frazer
Unlocking Canada’s Legal Sector for the Next Generation of Lawyers
Pro Bono Team
Mitch Frazer
Partner / Managing Partner, Toronto Office
mintz
pro bono portfolio
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2023
learn more about this Important work
View the 2022
Pro Bono Portfolio
© 2024 Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo. P.C.
Collaborating to Improve
Lives and Communities
Pro bono service is at the heart of Mintz's culture and identity. Together, we provide individuals with life-changing assistance and support the nonprofit organizations that care for our communities.
Learn More
When Mitch Frazer, who heads Mintz’s Toronto office, had the opportunity to help build a network of general counsel dedicated to advancing diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) in their own organizations and the wider legal sector while also unlocking opportunities for youth from underrepresented backgrounds, he dove right in.
Today, the National GC Network comprises more than 120 GCs from across Canada, hosts an annual conference, and has rolled out an extensive internship program for students looking to enter law. This past summer, approximately 55 students from across the country took part in the program, which comes complete with a $10,000 CAD scholarship and the opportunity to make connections with senior in-house lawyers while also learning the tools they’ll need to launch their own careers in law.
The National GC Network is working to provide lawyers, regardless of their race or ethnic background, equal opportunity to advance their careers and to work in a diverse and inclusive environment. It is helping to establish the next generation of lawyers in Canada.
In 2021, Mitch helped to form the National GC Network, Canada’s largest organization of GCs from diverse backgrounds committed to advancing DEI in the legal market. Dedicating several pro bono hours, Mitch guided the National GC Network through the legal work needed to set up as a nonprofit, as well as helping to raise funds so that the organization could hire its first director. Mitch also works tirelessly to build the network every day by recruiting new members and spreading awareness.
Mitch Frazer
National GC Network
© 2024 Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
View the 2022
Pro Bono Portfolio
Collaborating to Improve Lives and Communities
Pro bono service is at the heart of Mintz's culture and identity. Together, we provide individuals with life-changing assistance and support the nonprofit organizations that care for our communities.
Learn More
The vast majority of survivors do not have an attorney to represent them, and when litigants show up alone, many are completely intimidated
by the judicial system.
If they’re going up
against a lawyer who understands the process, they’re immediately at a
disadvantage. Our work
is very important to even that playing field.
Partner
daniel j.
goodrich
learn more about this Important work
Beginning at age five, “Diana”
endured daily physical, sexual, and mental abuse while in the custody of her grandparents. Throughout her childhood, Diana’s grandfather sexually assaulted her, sold explicit photos
of her, and eventually began
trafficking her.
Despite this trauma, Diana was a straight A student in high school and, after graduating, moved to attend a prestigious university. Tragically, the threats and abuse from her grandfather did not stop and even escalated to include harming the people
Diana loved.
Diana eventually summoned the strength to file a restraining order, and with the help of the Victim Rights Law Center (VRLC), which provides legal assistance to sexual assault survivors, secured a one-year order against her grandfather. As the order was due to expire, Diana was connected with Mintz, and a team of attorneys and project analysts prepared a detailed supplemental affidavit for the court advocating for a permanent
restraining order.
2023
Unlocking Canada's Legal Sector for the Next Generation of Laywers
mintz
pro bono portfolio
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Mitch Frazer
National GC Network