Simone Bern Email & Phone Number

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Lead for Legal and Business Affairs for EI Brand Management.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

- Lead of Legal Aid Ontario's Bail Strategy in collaboration with justice sector stakeholders to make the bail process faster and fairer, including development and implementation of the strategy, managing partnerships, data collection and analysis, stakeholder consultations and related preparation of reports. - Collaborate and develop criminal policy through province-wide consultations through LAO's Aboriginal Justice Strategy, Prison Law Strategy, Mental Health Strategy, Racialized Community Strategy and Domestic Violence Strategy - Prepare policy submissions, oral presentations, briefing notes and other materials for all levels of staff, management, and external stakeholders- Analyze legislation and case law, providing policy advice to executive management on the impacts of changes to the law - Develop and implement evidence-based policies for criminal law through thorough consultations of staff and certificate lawyers, clients, and justice stakeholders - Foster and develop innovation in the criminal sector by developing pilots to better serve clients charged with criminal offences leading to evidence-based new policies for the provision of criminal services- Partner with justice stakeholders (including the Ministry of the Attorney General and the judiciary) to to identify and address gaps and delays in the justice system - Work cross-departmentally to provide leadership on strategic planning, research and evaluation of the delivery of criminal services- Support the executive and the CEO in preparing materials for externally-facing activities- Facilitate the Criminal Advisory Committee to the Board of Directors to seek advice on current issues facing LAO in criminal law - Work closely with LAO core strategies - Racialized Community Strategy, Indigenous Community Strategy, Domestic Violence Strategy, Mental Health Strategy - to ensure cross-sector collaboration and consultation in the development of strategic policy

Toronto, Ontario

Led LAO's pilot Paralegal Project - LAO's first large-scale research project on paralegals in criminal law - to develop the appropriate scope of practice of staff paralegals across Ontario. Consulted with stakeholders, created training and developed KPI's to track data to evaluate project. Based on evidence that supported the development of paralegals working in inter-professional teams, led the initiative to develop paralegals in staff criminal duty counsel offices, with a focus on supporting Indigenous and mentally ill clients in new and innovative ways, resulting in evidence-based policy supporting the use of paralegals in criminal law. Collaborated cross-department within LAO to develop LAO's first policy on criminal lawyer requirements for pleading an accused person guilty in the form of the Guilty Plea Inquiry Developed and implemented core training sessions and policy manual for criminal staff lawyers at LAO Wrote LAO's Criminal Mental Health Resource Manual - a practical guide to understanding the nexus between mental health law and criminal lawDeveloped and facilitated LAO's first Criminal Mental Health Conference, collaborating with justice stakeholders to educate and inform criminal practitioners about the unique vulnerabilities of representing clients with mental health issuesWorked with recruitment of lawyers and law students

Toronto, Ontario

Provided criminal defence to persons accused with criminal offences in Toronto, Ontario.

Toronto, Ontario

Co-founded UpFront Counselling and Anger Management to address a lack of available evidence-based counselling targeting domestic violence and addiction issues concurrently. UpFront Counselling is a non-profit organization committed to decreasing interpersonal violence, both domestic and otherwise, in Toronto, Ontario. We provide targeted evidence-based counselling programs to individuals charged with criminal offences, and/or those at imminent risk of coming into conflict with the law. Our counselling programs are designed for court by be created with input from defence lawyers, Crowns and Judges. Developed all programs in collaboration with a Registered Clinical Counsellor, UpFront Counselling's programs provide effective outcome-based counselling to youth (ages 18-25) and adults. UpFront Counselling's programs use protocols that were researched and developed at the Yale School of Medicine, Division of Law and Psychiatry; our organization is the only one in the GTA authorized to provide these treatment programs. UpFront Counselling's programs are offered at Scadding Court Community Centre. Located in the heart of downtown west Toronto, Scadding Court Community Centre is an accessible and welcoming environment.

Toronto, On

Summer and articling student

Llb, Law

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Psychology