As part of Legal Aid Ontario's (LAO) commitment to ensure that all clients receive high quality legal aid services, LAO has implemented the following eight panel standards, which include minimum experience and professional development requirements. The standards were developed in consultation with members of the refugee, criminal and family bars as well as lawyers practicing before the Consent and Capacity Board, judges, lawyers' associations and the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Lawyers new to an area of practice may be admitted conditionally to a panel provided they agree to acquire the necessary experience within a specified time frame, and take approved continuing legal education or be mentored as required by their area director. (This conditional admission does not, however, apply to the Extremely Serious Criminal Matters panel.)

Ongoing annual professional development is necessary to continue to maintain panel membership.

Request for Panel Membership

In addition to submitting the forms specific to the panel you wish to join (see below) you must also send in a Request for Membership to be approved by the local legal aid director (or supervisory duty counsel for duty counsel panels).

• General Terms and Conditions
• Lawyer Empanelment Package /
• Empanelment Form /
• Direct Deposit Authorization /
• Application Form for Tier Level Increase /
• FAQ for lawyers interested in doing certificate work with Legal Aid Ontario

Panel Standards and Forms:

Click on the to expand the sections content.

Criminal - effective February 2006

Criminal

• Criminal panel standards
• Criminal Panel Application [ PDF, 23 KB]
• Criminal Panel Lawyer Agreement to Acquire Experience [ PDF 113 KB]
• FAQs

Family - effective February 2006

Family

• Family panel standards
• Family Panel Application Form [ PDF, 23 KBM]
• CFSA Application Form [ PDF 124 KBM]
• Agreement to Acquire Experience [ PDF 114 KBM]
• FAQs

Refugee - effective July 2004

Refugee

• Refugee panel standards
• Refugee Panel Application Form [ PDF, 174 KBM]

Duty Counsel - effective July 2004

Duty counsel

• Legal Aid - Lawyer Information for Duty Counsel Panels
• Duty Counsel panel standards
• Duty Counsel Application Forms:
    1. Duty Counsel Criminal Application: PDF or DOC
    2. Duty Counsel Family and Family Law Information Centre Application: PDF or DOC
  
• Duty Counsel Performance Feedback [ PDF 2.4 MB]
• FAQs - Duty Counsel Performance Feedback

Duty Counsel - Advice Lawyers - effective March 1 2008 (Domestic Violence)

Duty Counsel - Advice Lawyers

Update - March 1/08: Domestic Violence
Update - November /07: Mental Health, Refugee and Immigration, Correctional Institutions

• Advice Lawyers panel standards
• Duty Counsel Application Forms:
  1. Panel Application - Domestic Violence: PDF or DOC
  2. Panel Application - Mental Health, Refugee and Immigration, and Criminal Institutions: PDF or DOC
  3. Panel Application - Advice Lawyer-General: PDF or DOC
  
• FAQs - Duty Counsel Advice Lawyer Panel Standards and Supports

Extremely Serious Criminal Matters - effective October 1, 2007

Extremely Serious Criminal Matters

• Extremely Serious Criminal Matters (ESM) panel standards
• ESM Panel Application [ PDF 40 KBM]
• FAQs - ESM questions

Consent and Capacity Board - effective October 2, 2006

Consent and Capacity Board

• Consent and Capacity Panel Standards
• Consent and Capacity Panel Application Form: PDF or DOC
• FAQs - Consent & Capacity questions

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For more information on Panel Standards please contact your local area director. The Panel Standards were developed by Legal Aid Ontario's Quality Service Office.