Reminder: Apply for legal aid on behalf of your clients

Published: January 14, 2022

Due to the COVID conditions impacting clients, lawyers will continue to be able to apply for legal aid on behalf of clients charged with a criminal offense. For in-custody applications, LAO has temporarily expanded the application to include charges which may be eligible for big case management.

LAO is doing this to help reduce court delays and to better respond to the needs of applicants, particularly those who:

• do not speak or read English or French
• have low literacy skills
• live in communities or institutions without telephone or internet access
• have mental health issues
• have difficulty travelling to offices, courts, etc. to make an application

To apply for in-custody applicants, fill out and submit this Lawyer Inmate Request Form for Legal Aid Service. Please be sure to complete all mandatory fields.

To apply for out of custody applicants, please fill out and submit the lawyer assisted application for adult criminal court proceedings or the lawyer assisted application for youth criminal court proceedings. Please attach all mandatory supporting documents for each.

Applications are subject to legal and financial criteria. Please see the application forms for more details.

Additional coverage area forms coming soon!

New forms are being developed in the following coverage areas:

• Child protection proceedings
• Family law proceedings (where the applicant is experiencing domestic violence)
• Immigration and refugee proceedings

Applications will be subject to legal and financial criteria. The new forms will be accessible on the LAO website shortly.

Applicants may also continue to apply for legal aid certificate coverage by calling 416-9791-446 or toll free at 1-800-668-8258 from Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EST). Applicants may also apply for legal aid on our client website. Please note that lawyers are not expected to assist applicants if they apply online through our client site.

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