Windsor Law professor Jasminka Kalajdzic wrote the book on class actions. Now she is heading up a law clinic — the first of its kind in North America — dedicated one of the most high-profile and far-reaching legal procedures in the Canadian justice system.

The Class Action Clinic will focus on class members: people who are part of a large civil lawsuit launched on their behalf by representative plaintiffs and class counsel. With start-up funding from the Law Foundation of Ontario, it is staffed by Kalajdzic as clinic director overseeing a team of students who will provide summary advice, assistance with filing claims in settlement distribution processes, and representation in court proceedings.

“The ultimate objective of the clinic is to provide substantive access to justice to class members and in doing so, better fulfill the access to justice promise of the class action regime,” says Kalajdzic. “Class counsel do not have a traditional lawyer-client relationship with class members, as a matter of law and practicality. The Class Action Clinic will provide legal support to this unique group of litigants.”

She co-authored the 2015 text The Law of Class Actions in Canada and published Class Actions in Canada: The Promise and Reality of Access to Justice in 2018.

The clinic will maintain offices in Windsor Hall, from which it will provide services in person, by telephone or videoconference, and online. In addition to its legal services, it will maintain a database of class action lawsuits and their outcomes, and educate the public about this type of litigation.

Find more information on the Windsor Law website.

—Rachelle Prince