Updated Legal Aid Ontario forms to support vulnerable criminal clients

Published: February 23, 2026

Legal Aid Ontario has updated the following forms to help reduce delays and improve processing for vulnerable criminal clients:

• Lawyer Assisted Application for Adult and Youth Criminal Court Proceedings (Out of Custody)
• Lawyer Assisted Inmate Request for Legal Aid Services

What’s new

1. The Charges / Legal Details section now includes additional questions to help identify when it is appropriate to issue a separate certificate for a new matter within the same area of law, while ensuring alignment with LAO’s Concurrent Proceedings Policy.

2. The confirmation section now allows certificates to be issued to lawyers without requiring prior history of working with the client or without requiring the client to contact LAO.

These enhancements support clients’ right to choose their lawyer, streamline the application process, and remove barriers for vulnerable individuals with criminal matters.

The confirmation section now consists of three parts, each of which must be completed as follows:

• Client/Applicant Declaration – Completed and signed by the client/applicant if they are present and able to sign.
• Declaration Where Client/Applicant is unable to sign – Completed by the lawyer if the client/applicant is not present or unable to sign.
• Lawyer Attestation – Must always be completed by the lawyer, regardless of the client’s ability to sign.

Additional update

To support accurate categorization, the revised Lawyer Assisted Inmate Request for Legal Aid Services form is now located under the “Application” section of the forms library.

Next steps:

Please ensure you are using the current version of these forms to avoid delays in processing.

For more information, please contact LAO’s Lawyer Service Centre.