Upward Youth Advocacy & Legal Services

About Upward Youth Advocacy & Legal Services

Upward Youth Advocacy & Legal Services is a solo criminal defence practice in Toronto run by Sonia L. Campbell, a Barrister and Solicitor called to the bar in Ontario. Campbell holds a science degree from the University of Toronto and a law degree from Queen's University, and started out practicing corporate law at a Bay Street law firm. While still working on Bay Street, Campbell kept volunteering as a program facilitator with at risk children and youth, and eventually left the corporate practice to build a firm focused on youth criminal defence and advocacy full time.

The firm represents young people facing criminal charges ranging from assault and theft to drug and weapon offences, and it accepts legal aid certificates as payment. Beyond the courtroom, it does community advocacy work, providing legal research and policy or program recommendations to community organizations and government agencies that serve youth and families at risk, and it sets aside a portion of its time for pro bono files on a case by case basis. Campbell has kept up the volunteer work that predates the firm, serving as a youth program facilitator and the Director and Coordinator of the Christian school at Meadowvale East Apostolic Church, and volunteering as a lawyer with the Child Advocacy Project.