SHERBROOKE: The privately-operated legal clinic Juripop de l’Estrie has been declared winner of the Concours québécois en entrepreneuriat at the local level, for entrepreneurship in the field of social economy. Sherbrooke Innopole made this announcement in the presence of the regional economic partners of Juripop Estrie, following an exceptionally successful first six months in operation. Juripop de l’Estrie will have the chance to be measured for the first time against other social economic organizations in the region, at the regional finals of this Quebec entrepreneurial contest (May 2013).

“We are very proud to receive this recognition based on the excellence of our work and our mission, only one year after the creation of Juripop Estrie. This shows that our services are answering these urgent needs in an important way. The unique model that we propose has enabled us to quickly become established in our field, certainly in an area where the need is so immense. Did you know that more than 2,000 requests for admission to the legal-aid program are refused each year in Estrie? ” commented Me Valerie-Claude Lessard, Director-General of Juripop Estrie.

Far too often, these people who have been refused services are known to give up their search for their rights, due to financial restraints. These rights are possibly quite founded and deserving of discussion in front of an independent and impartial court. Me Lessard feels that such a situation should never occur and Juripop has taken the initiative to create concrete actions in order to resolve this problem.

Founded in September 2011, the organization currently has 6 employees, more than 20 volunteer law students and 11 dedicated administrators. This team will be able to come to the assistance of some fifty Estrie residents with issues regarding labor laws, housing, family, administration as well as non-profit, self-employed or young companies through its program "Juripop Affaires".//Since its creation, Juripop Estrie has also presented a number of projects dealing with legal information, including one important one in regard to immigration, thanks to the recent support of the Conférence régionale des Élus de l’Estrie et travaille, in close cooperation with le Forum jeunesse de l’Estrie (Estrie Youth Forum). Juripop Estrie offers affordable legal services for low income citizens. Serving non-profit organizations is also one their objectives, a group which are seldom acceptable within the guidelines of legal-aid. They have also created a mandate to provide legal information through various means - “one informed citizen is worth two”.

“We want to thank our loyal partners, our colleagues, and the lawyers and notaries of the region who have believed in us. The assessment that we have received today would not have been the same without the major support which we have seen this past year and continue to enjoy”, adds Me Guillaume Rousseau, Strategic Advisor for Juripop Estrie.

The Coalition of Juripop Legal Clinics is a non-profit group in the social economic field. It presents three programs: the program which offers legal consultations, either free or at a moderate cost; the program designed to help non-profit institutions (OBNL), self-employed workers and small companies (TPE) with low incomes; the program to provide information, which proposes various conferences as well as projects, in order to meet particular needs.

For more info: 819-791-7216 or by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. '; document.write(''); document.write(addy_text13156); document.write('<\/a>'); //-->\n This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.