About LAO

About LAO

In 1998, the Ontario government enacted the Legal Aid Services Act in which the province renewed and strengthened its commitment to legal aid. The Act established Legal Aid Ontario (LAO), an independent but publicly funded and publicly accountable non-profit corporation, to administer the province's legal aid program.

Our Obligations

LAO's mandate in the Legal Aid Services Act, 1998 is to "promote access to justice throughout Ontario for low-income individuals by means of providing consistently high quality legal aid services in a cost-effective and efficient manner."

Our Clients

Our clients have one thing in common - they are people with low or no income. Every day LAO helps almost 4,000 disadvantaged people, including single parents seeking child support from delinquent ex-partners; victims of domestic violence; parents seeking custody of children to protect them from abuse; injured workers; refugees; and accused persons.

Only people meeting strict financial eligibility limits receive legal aid. Wherever possible clients are asked to contribute toward the cost of their legal fees. In 2003, this amounted to over $13 million.

Our Services

LAO services are carefully targeted to meet diverse client needs and make the most efficient use of our resources. Poverty law services - such as helping people to obtain or maintain social assistance benefits - are delivered through a network of a number of independent, community-based legal aid clinics, funded by LAO.

LAO also runs a certificate program through its network of legal aid area offices. Here we issue certificates, which low-income people use to retain a private lawyer to represent them in proceedings before the criminal or family courts, certain administrative tribunals or immigration/refugee boards. The certificate is the private lawyer's guarantee of payment from LAO, subject to the rates and limitations set out in the legal aid tariff.

We also provide duty counsel services - performed by staff and private-sector lawyers - for people who arrive in criminal, family or youth courts without a lawyer.

Our Valued Partners

The certificate and duty counsel programs simply couldn't work without the support and commitment of Ontario's private-sector lawyers. LAO provides the funding and other support, while some 4,000 private lawyers contribute to legal aid by accepting reduced rates and limits on billable hours for the legal services they give to clients.

Some Quick Facts:

  • Provides more than 1 million assists to Ontarians annually
  • Annual operating budget of $362 million (2008)
  • 107,299 legal aid certificates issued in 2008
  • LAO is the second largest justice agency in the province

For more info on LAO check out our Fact Sheets section


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