Pamela Cross receives The Law Foundation of Ontario Guthrie Award
September 17, 2019
Lawyer and women’s rights advocate, Pamela Cross receives the 2019 Guthrie Award, The Law Foundation of Ontario’s signature award to recognize exceptional access to justice champions.
One of Canada’s leading experts on violence against women and the law, Ms Cross works with a wide range of women’s equality and violence against women organizations and legal professionals.
One of Ms Cross’ current roles is as the Legal Director of Luke’s Place, an organization in Durham Region that provides family law support and guidance on how to stay safer for abused women and their children. She developed many firsts for the organization including the creation of a Pro Bono Summary Advice Clinic and a Virtual Legal Clinic, which connects women from rural and remote communities with pro bono family law lawyers through video-conferencing. Ms Cross is also the lead trainer for Ontario’s approximately 100 Family Court Support Workers and recently delivered domestic violence awareness training to approximately 2,500 Legal Aid Ontario staff, community clinics, and lawyers across the province.
Ms Cross was a member of the teaching faculty with the National Judicial Institute, and continues to plan and deliver educational programs on violence against women to Canadian judges. She also developed violence against women curriculum for law schools with the Law Commission of Ontario. With the Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW), she authored two reports and delivered workshops on family law to CCMW members.
Ms Cross has helped to lead a number of important initiatives, including as one of the co-chairs of Ontario’s Violence Against Women Roundtable, member of the Domestic Violence Advisory Council to the Ontario Minister Responsible for Women, and management committee member of the Family Law Education for Women Project.
Ms Cross is regularly recruited to speak to the media, present briefs to legislative committees, guest lecture at law schools, and be a panelist and presenter at provincial and national conferences and to organizations such as the Ontario Bar Association and the Law Society of Ontario. She writes extensively and has published countless public legal education resources, articles, and reports.
Read the full award announcement on The Law Foundation of Ontario’s website to learn more about Ms Cross and her achievements.
The Law Foundation of Ontario
www.lawfoundation.on.caThe Law Foundation of Ontario has been advancing access to justice since 1974. Through granting and collaboration, the Foundation invests in knowledge and services that help people understand the law and use it to improve their lives. The Foundation also administers the Class Proceedings Fund, which provides cost assistance in class actions. The Foundation’s main source of revenue is interest received from lawyers’ and paralegals’ mixed trust accounts. Another source of revenue is cy-près awards. When received, cy-près revenue is allocated to the Foundation's national Access to Justice Fund.
Pamela Cross
The Law Foundation of Ontario
Law School
Queen's University
Year Of Call
1994
Area Of Practice
Family