Our Team:
LAWS has offices at both the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and Osgoode Hall Law School at York Univeristy. Our team is made up of six committed and talented staff members including the Executive Director, three Program Managers, a Program Administrator and a Program Assistant. LAWS also relies on the help of work study students and law student summer staff.
— Our Staff
After her admission to the Ontario Bar, Eleonora worked for Lawyers for Human Rights, an independent human rights organisation with a 40-year track record of human rights activism and public interest litigation in South Africa. Eleonora practiced in the areas of human rights, refugee protection and access to justice in their Durban office. Following her return to Canada, she joined Law in Action Within Schools (LAWS) as the Osgoode Hall Law School Program Manager and spearheaded the program's expansion in the Jane and Finch and York University Heights communities.
Eleonora is presently the Executive Director of Law in Action Within Schools (LAWS) and oversees the University of Toronto Faculty of Law Youth Summer Program.
Eleonora is passionate about youth outreach, legal education and civic engagement and has been extensively involved with LAWS in various capacities for over 10 years.
During her tenure at LAWS, Mary has played an instrumental role in spearheading the development and expansion of LAWS Africentric core program. She has implemented educational outreach and experiential programs in law for over a thousand students across various LAWS newcomer, core, alumni and community initiatives. In recognition of her outstanding contributions, Mary was honored in 2023 with the inaugural Ubuntu Lifetime Achievement Award. This award acknowledges her as an African-Canadian leader and educator whose lifework embodies the fundamental principles of Maat and Ubuntu: harmony, reciprocity, balance, integrity, truth, social justice, and universal love. Mary is also an integral part of the lead team overseeing the University of Toronto Faculty of Law Youth Summer Program (YSP).
Mary has actively served on the inaugural Black Future Lawyers (BFL) Working Group. Currently, she sits on the EDI committee and the Black Student Access Process (BSAP) admissions subcommittee, showcasing a deep commitment to building inclusive communities.
As a Program Manager at the Ontario Justice Education Network, a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization established by the three Chief Justices of Ontario, Stephanie spearheaded a novel area of programming for elementary school students, promoting civic engagement, advocacy, conflict resolution skills and an understanding of the justice system to over 700 students each year in diverse communities.
As the bilingual Program Manager at the National Office for Pro Bono Students Canada, Stephanie managed seven law school chapters in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. She successfully developed seven new Family Law Projects to assist unrepresented litigants in family courts across Canada, working closely with the legal community in multiple jurisdictions.
Stephanie first began volunteering at LAWS when she was a law student. She joined LAWS in 2011 and has since managed both Core and Newcomer programming and worked at seven LAWS partner high schools across the TDSB.
Stephanie has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of British Columbia and a J.D. from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.