Professor Frederick H. Zemans

Frederick H. Zemans is a pioneer in clinical legal education, alternative dispute resolution and the community legal clinic movement in Canada.

He is the founding director of Parkdale Community Legal Services --Ontario’s first community-based legal aid clinic, established in 1971 -- and of Osgoode Hall Law School’s Intensive Program in Poverty Law.  He was the director of clinical education at Osgoode for many years and was one of the original faculty teaching in Osgoode’s programs in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). His continues to teach in the field of ADR.

His publications have focused primarily on the Canadian legal profession, access to justice, legal services for low-income persons, ADR and quality assurance of state-funded legal services. Active nationally and internationally in the field of legal aid, he is a member of the International Legal Aid Group and was, for many years, the Canadian board member of the Inter-American Legal Services Association. He was a founding member and president of the Canadian Law and Society Association

He has been a Butterworth’s Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London; and visiting professor at the London School of Economics, Kobe University Law Department, UCLA and the National Law University, New Delhi. He served for many years as chair of boards of inquiry for the Ontario Human Rights Commission and, in recent years, as a mediator and facilitator in private and public disputes.

He is married to Professor Joyce Zemans, a fellow UC Alumni of Influence Award recipient.