A Legacy of access to justice

In 2000, Ontario barely had a pro bono culture. Then came Lynn Burns.

Burns, the executive director of Pro Bono Ontario, who is retiring after 22 years at the end of December, has quietly and steadfastly created a way for lawyers to help tens of thousands of people get help with their legal issues. In its first year, what is now PBO helped four people. Last year, the non-profit assisted more than 34,000 people, and more than 315,000 since 2001.

"She has accomplished more to create access to justice for people in Ontario and, to a certain extent Canada, than anyone else I can think of," says Jeffrey Leon, a former PBO chair and partner at Bennett Jones. "She basically started from a standing stop [and created] an organization that serves so many people in different ways to provide at least some access to justice."

Hired in 2000 by the Law Foundation of Ontario for a 10-month contract to launch its pro bono resource centre, Burns returned to Toronto from Columbus, Ohio, where she had been working in government and the legal system, including leading the state's pro bono program. After the 10 months, "the stars were aligned" (i.e., support of the profession and funding) to launch a formal province-wide pro bono initiative, she says. Since then, she's not looked back.

Initially, Burns says she thought her role would be co-ordinating existing pro bono programs from around Ontario, but there weren't any. "At first, I thought that not having any existing pro bono programs was a bad thing," she says. "But then, I actually saw, in hindsight, it was a great opportunity because I think we were able to build a modern delivery system instead of trying to cobble together old delivery models."

Current PBO chair and Fasken partner Sarah Armstrong says Burns "laid an incredible foundation" for PBO, building a strong team of volunteers, and particularly staff "who all have this track record of innovating and growing this organization."

Creating innovative programs to help better the lives of everyday Canadians is at the heart of everything Burns has done at PBO. For instance, when Leon and departing Ontario Law Society treasurer Frank Marrocco approached her with an idea to get more young litigators into court, she came up with a plan to use new lawyers to represent people in small claims court. She was pivotal, too, in creating a medical-legal partnership for children in Ontario's pediatric hospitals, which helped nearly 1,000 families last year.

Most recently, she led the launch of PBO's Free Legal Advice Hotline, which logs hundreds of calls a day on civil law matters ranging from housing to employment and consumer-related issues — focusing on areas within the 85% of legal issues in the province that otherwise go unserved. Since its launch in 2017, the hotline has helped more than 100,000 clients.

Admitting she gets bored easily, Burns says she's never experienced it running PBO because it's continually evolving. "We're always looking for new ways to make our services more impactful to serve more people."

Building and running a pro bono program came with its challenges, however. Despite having successfully developed pro bono delivery models in Ohio, Burns and her team faced "a significant degree" of opposition in doing the same thing in Ontario, says Yonit Fuhrmann, PBO's deputy director who has worked with Burns since 2002. But she was not to be deterred.

"Lynn had no trouble disrupting the status quo if she thought there were better solutions. I never saw her back down or give up," sys Fuhrmann.

On first blush, one wouldn't expect Burns to have such "steely resolve," says Gord Currie, chief legal officer at George Weston Ltd. and another former PBO board chair. "She's the farthest thing from being brash and outspoken. She doesn't have a loud hailer. She doesn't razzle dazzle. She's very thoughtful. And what you learn as you get to know her is that she's incredibly determined and, in a very good way, stubborn."

Volunteers, board members, and staff all lauded Burns' sincerity, appreciation and encouragement in not only keeping the organization alive but continually growing and improving. "She has an uncanny ability to read people and intuit their needs," says Fuhrmann. "Working with her was a masterclass in how to manage complex relationships and inspire senior leaders and employees alike."

She was instrumental in getting major law firms in Ontario and across Canada to set up formal pro bono programs that ensured lawyers, especially associates, could count pro bono work toward their billable time targets. Many of those early volunteers were just out of law school and are now leaders who are knitting pro bono into the fabric of their firms, says Burns.

Her secret to making inroads in the notoriously closed confines of Big Law was finding a partner in each firm to champion the idea and press management to get behind it, says Leon. Her allies included influential members of the profession like Leon, Currie, former RBC general counsel David Allgood, and a slew of others – both as board members and volunteers.

Getting in-house counsel (many of whom, like Currie thought their corporate-law-heavy experience wouldn't be useful at PBO) involved was also instrumental in coaxing more law firms to participate. These days, law firms often host clients along with their lawyers for day-long volunteer events covering the phones for the PBO hotline, which both help people with legal problems and offer lawyers valuable networking and face-time.

Other Canadian provinces have also tapped her expertise. Burns says six now have formal programs, but there's still work to do in both provinces that do and don't have pro bono organizations.

With only 5% of lawyers in Ontario volunteering to do pro bono work and no end in sight for the country's access-to-justice crisis, PBO is constantly looking to raise more money, recruit more volunteers, work with other justice partners, and innovate to be able to provide more legal assistance, says Armstrong. Burns' focus on innovation will be carried forward as the organization tests out uses of AI and other ways to deliver services.

Burns' departure is "bittersweet," admitted Armstrong, but the search for a new executive director is underway, and "we're really excited about what comes next for the organization."

Over the last few years, Burns and PBO have navigated the launch of the hotline, a funding crisis, volunteer shortages, COVID-related service shifts, and an office move. She also turned 60 a few months ago and says she's looking forward to "hopping off the treadmill" and spending more time with her loved ones.

Does that mean she's "retiring retiring?" Unlikely. "I'll probably look for new ways to be helpful, whether it's volunteering or doing some consulting work," she says. "Stay tuned."