Mr. Ronald Ellis

This oral history interview covers Ron Ellis’s remarkable career transition from engineering to law and his pioneering role in community legal services. Ellis began his career in engineering at Polymer Corporation before entering law at University of Toronto, articling at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, and eventually becoming a partner in 1971. His involvement as a downtown supervisor at Parkdale Community Legal Services led to his appointment as its second director in 1975.

Ellis provides detailed insights into the early years of clinical legal education and community-based legal services in Ontario. He describes the challenges of operating the clinic, including funding crises, conflicts with the Law Society over advertising and professional standards, and internal tensions between academic and service delivery goals. His account of the funding crisis in 1975 and the eventual support from Attorney General Roy McMurtry highlights the precarious early years of the clinic movement.

The interview extensively covers the governance crisis that led to the co-director model, stemming from conflicts between the law school and community over the appointment of Mary Hogan versus Jack Johnston. Ellis’s narrative provides crucial insights into the development of legal aid, the growth of poverty law, and the evolution of clinical legal education in Canada during the 1970s.

This description was written by AI and may contain some inaccuracies.