The Staff at ARCH
Ivana Petricone, Executive Director
Amanda, Information and Referral Worker
Amanda is the Information and Referral Worker here at ARCH. She has been at ARCH since 1999.
Kerri Joffe, Staff Lawyer
Kerri Joffe was called to the Ontario Bar in 2007 and joined ARCH the same year. Kerri articled as a judicial clerk, working closely with Superior Court judges to provide legal research and analysis in constitutional, civil, criminal and family law. Kerri completed McGill University’s joint program in law and social work and received her LL.B., B.C.L. and Master of Social Work degrees with great distinction in 2006. Before joining ARCH she worked at a community legal clinic providing summary legal advice on housing rights and social assistance programs. She has also worked with several human rights organizations, including Equitas and the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Before attending law school, Kerri worked with adults with mental health disabilities and children with intellectual disabilities.
Roberto Lattanzio, Staff Lawyer
Roberto Lattanzio is a staff lawyer at ARCH Disability Law Centre. He joined ARCH as an articling student in 2003 and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 2004. Robert received his LL.B and B.C.L. law degrees from McGill University in 2003, and received his B.A. from Concordia University in 1999. Robert has been involved in test case litigation at different levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada, and has made law reform submissions to various levels of government, committees, and administrative bodies. Robert has presented on topics such as equality and human rights law, legislative reform, and education law. Robert has a long standing interest in disability issues and had extensive work experience with the disability community prior to attending law school. Robert currently serves as President of East York East Toronto Family Resources.
Laurie Letheren, Staff Lawyer
Laurie joined ARCH in March 2006. Prior to coming to ARCH, she had been a research lawyer at the Clinic Resource Office, which provides legal research and litigation support to the network of community legal clinics in Ontario. She has also practiced law at a number of general service community legal clinics since being called to the Bar in Ontario in 1994. Laurie has extensive work experience in the areas of income maintenance for persons with disabilities and in other legal areas that are significant to the disability community, including housing law and human rights.
Ed Montigny, Staff Lawyer
Ed Montigny completed a Ph.D in Canadian History in 1994 studying social policy affecting family care for the disabled elderly in 19th century Ontario. He taught courses on poverty, social welfare and human rights at various Ontario Universities. In 1993 he joined the Board of Directors at Neighbourhood Legal Services. Inspired by the work of the clinic, he decided to attend law school. In 2003-04 he articled as a judicial law clerk for the Divisional Court. More recently Ed operated his own practice focusing of serving clients with disabilities and special needs. He is currently a member of the OBA equal opportunity committee, vice-chair of the OBA administrative law section and past-chair of SOGIC (the sexual orientation and gender identity conference of the CBA).
Theresa Sciberras, Program and Litigation Assistant
Theresa joined ARCH in August 2002. She has worked in the non-profit sector for several years, focussing her efforts towards assisting persons with disabilities and the organizations that support them. As Program Assistant, Theresa supports ARCH staff, assists with the co-ordination of meetings and workshops, maintains ARCH's membership and distributes the ARCH Alert.
Tess Sheldon, Project Lawyer
Tess Sheldon is a Project Lawyer at ARCH Disability Law Centre, responsible for the clinic’s research on access to administrative justice for persons with disabilities. She has worked with ARCH Disability Law Centre in a variety of roles since 2003. She was called to the Bar in 2005, after articling with the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Tess completed her Master of Laws at the University of Toronto in 2008, examining the duty to accommodate workers with mental health issues. Tess is currently pursuing doctoral studies in the area of mental health policy research, and in particular, the practice of the covert administration of medication.
Yangtzee Tamang, Operations and Litigation Assistant
Yangtzee Tamang joined ARCH in April 2007. Prior to joining ARCH, she worked with the Ministry of Government Services as an intern under the internationally trained professional internship program in the capacity of Accessibility Support Analyst. Before that, she worked in the United Nations system, with the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Volunteers in Nepal and Germany and the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Doreen Way, Office Manager
Doreen Way first joined the community legal clinic system in 1987 working at Justice for Children and Youth until 2000. During that time, Doreen was active on several inter-clinic committees and co-founded the Toronto Support Staff Association (TSSA). In February 2000, she left the clinic system to join the team at the St. Joseph's Health Centre Foundation where she worked on their capital campaign. In February 2002, she returned to the clinic system and joined the ARCH team as Office Manager. Doreen continues to be involved in inter-clinic activities including the Knowledge Management group and the TSSA.
Dianne Wintermute, Staff Lawyer
Dianne joined ARCH permanently in July 2009, having worked here on a two year secondment from 2005 – 2007. Dianne was called to the bar in 1986. She brings an extensive community legal clinic background to ARCH. She was the Executive Director of East Toronto Community Legal Services from 1991 – 2009. In that capacity, Dianne’s work focused in legal areas that included constitutional litigation, human rights, income maintenance, criminal injuries compensation and immigration and mental health law. She has been active in casework and representation, community development, public legal education and systemic reform activities. Dianne holds a certificate from Algoma University in Community Development. Dianne has extensive litigation experience. She has represented individuals and disability organizations at various tribunals and all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada, in cases involving the advancement of the rights of people with disabilities and people living in poverty.
