About Legal Aid Ontario

Fact Sheets

About LAO

These fact sheets are straightforward summaries of Legal Aid Ontario (LAO)'s programs and activities. They are useful for fact checking, or as reference materials.


About Legal Aid Ontario



Services for clients


  • Legal Aid Ontario's toll-free telephone line
    Find out about LAO’s toll-free number, which offers legal aid information, summary legal advice and more.
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  • LAO in the courthouse
    An initiative to open offices in courthouses across Ontario.
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  • Duty counsel services
    Duty counsel lawyers assist more than a million people a year in courtrooms across Ontario. Duty counsel are an integral part of Ontario’s justice system, as they represent low-income people appearing in court without a lawyer.
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  • What is Legal Aid Ontario’s certificate program?
    Who qualifies for certificate services? Legal Aid Ontario is committed to clients receiving the right service at the right time.
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  • Community legal clinics
    Community legal clinics are independent, non-profit organizations funded by Legal Aid Ontario. Clinics provide legal help for low-income people and communities with issues that involve basic needs, such as access to housing, health care and education.
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  • Family Law Service Centres (FLSC)
    These centres offer eligible clients a range of legal resources and support for family law matters.
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  • Mediation services
    Legal Aid Ontario offers family mediation services in the Milton courthouse for low-income clients with family law matters such as child support, custody and access.
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  • Refugee Law Office
    Legal Aid Ontario’s Refugee Law Office provides legal assistance to refugee claimants and immigrants who are eligible for legal aid. It also provides important support to lawyers, legal clinics and community groups. Its staff of lawyers, paralegals and support staff specialize in immigration and refugee law.
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Initiatives and departments


  • Aboriginal Justice Strategy
    In 2007, LAO began developing an Aboriginal Justice Strategy to help meet the needs of First Nations communities across Ontario. The goal of this strategy is to achieve measurable improvements in services to Aboriginal people.
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  • Services to support Aboriginal people
    LAO provides appropriate legal representation to people who self-identify as Aboriginal. We train our staff lawyers to help them understand the legal issues that impact Aboriginal people in the Canadian justice system. In addition, we require lawyers who represent Aboriginal clients in criminal matters to take additional special training to ensure they understand the unique legal status of Aboriginal people.
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  • Big Case Management (BCM)
    The Big Case Management (BCM) program is a cost-monitoring and control system for big criminal cases. It is a key part of Legal Aid Ontario's mandate to provide quality service to clients, and accountability to taxpayers.
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Legal Aid Ontario and lawyers


  • Complex Case Rate panel
    Lawyers who represent legal aid clients on the complex criminal matters that qualify for the Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) Complex Case Rate are required to join LAO’s Complex Case Rate panel.
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  • Legal Aid Online
    Legal Aid Online is a secure website that enables lawyers who do legal aid work to submit accounts for payment and to acknowledge and manage their certificates.
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  • Managing criminal matters
    In addition to standard tariff accounts, Legal Aid Ontario offers three main programs for lawyers dealing with criminal matters – the big case management program, complex case rate policy and block fee accounts.
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  • Panel memberships
    Legal Aid Ontario’s panel standards detail the minimum experience levels and ongoing professional development requirements for lawyers working with legal aid clients.
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  • Services for lawyers
    Over 4,500 lawyers across the province assist legal aid clients with legal matters ranging from criminal trials to family law disputes. Legal Aid Ontario acknowledges the importance of this work with a commitment to improving services for these lawyers, including online billing, training and support.
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