Skip to content Leave Site Now
Legal Aid Ontario
  • Services
    • Temporary service changes due to COVID-19
    • COVID-19 and the courts: Answers to frequently asked questions
    • Criminal legal issues
    • Domestic Violence
    • Family legal issues
    • Mental health legal issues
    • Refugee and immigration legal issues
    • All services
    • Legal clinics
    • How to apply
    • Find a lawyer
      • Finding the right legal aid lawyer
    • What do you think about our services?
  • For legal professionals
    • COVID-19: Ongoing list of supports for lawyers
    • LASA, 2020 process updates for lawyers
    • Changes to policies and certificate coverage
    • Roster resources
      • Audit & Compliance
      • Billing
      • Case management
      • Forms library
      • Legal Aid Services Act, 2020 policies
      • Legal Aid Online
      • LAO LAW
      • Resources by area of law
    • Do legal aid work
    • Mentoring
    • Test case funding
    • News for lawyers
    • B3 Newsletters
    • Contacts for lawyers
  • Corporate
    • About
    • Rules and policies
    • Board of Directors
    • Executive Team
    • Board Advisory Committees
    • Our clients
    • Sidney B. Linden Award
    • French Language Services
    • Consultations
    • Open Government
    • Reports
    • Publications
    • News
    • Social media
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • FAQ
Français LAO Client Portal
Français LAO Client Portal
  • Services
    • Temporary service changes due to COVID-19
    • COVID-19 and the courts: Answers to frequently asked questions
    • Criminal legal issues
    • Domestic Violence
    • Family legal issues
    • Mental health legal issues
    • Refugee and immigration legal issues
    • All services
    • Legal clinics
    • How to apply
    • Find a lawyer
      • Finding the right legal aid lawyer
    • What do you think about our services?
  • For legal professionals
    • COVID-19: Ongoing list of supports for lawyers
    • LASA, 2020 process updates for lawyers
    • Changes to policies and certificate coverage
    • Roster resources
      • Audit & Compliance
      • Billing
      • Case management
      • Forms library
      • Legal Aid Services Act, 2020 policies
      • Legal Aid Online
      • LAO LAW
      • Resources by area of law
    • Do legal aid work
    • Mentoring
    • Test case funding
    • News for lawyers
    • B3 Newsletters
    • Contacts for lawyers
  • Corporate
    • About
    • Rules and policies
    • Board of Directors
    • Executive Team
    • Board Advisory Committees
    • Our clients
    • Sidney B. Linden Award
    • French Language Services
    • Consultations
    • Open Government
    • Reports
    • Publications
    • News
    • Social media
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • FAQ

Test case funding

Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) supports test case matters through funding and through research support, coordination of partnerships, and staff lawyer support or mentoring for legal aid clients.

Which test cases does LAO fund?

LAO will consider funding test case matters that:

  • Provide access to justice in LAO’s core areas of service: criminal law, family law, mental health law, clinic law, refugee and immigration law
  • Further an issue beyond the interests of the individual client
  • Address a serious issue that fundamentally impacts LAO clients and would be unlikely to come before the courts but for the involvement of LAO

Eligibility criteria

Legally and financially eligible clients may apply to LAO for test case funding. Preference will be given to individuals over associations. In reviewing applications, LAO considers the following criteria:

General

Will the case:

  • Support LAO’s core areas of service: criminal law, family law, mental health law, clinic law, refugee and immigration law
  • Align with LAO’s mandate and strategic priorities
  • Demonstrably further an issue beyond the interests of the individual client
  • Be of high quality: the facts of the case are clear, the proposed legal argument is fully developed, and the estimated budget is reasonable for the type of proceeding
  • Be likely to succeed
  • Be the most effective and efficient use of resources and public funding in bringing the issue before the court

Significance

LAO considers these factors that relate to the significance of a case:

  • it raises a novel issue not previously litigated
  • broad impact: the outcome can affect a large number of low‑income people
  • serious importance to the advancement of the law
  • capacity to improve access to justice in LAO’s core areas of service

Merit and quality

Applications for funding need to be of high quality and likely to succeed before the court. LAO will consider:

  • The facts of the case
  • The timing of the case
  • The characteristics of the client: is there a client who is better placed to bring these issues forward?
  • The skill, experience and resources of the lawyer representing the client

Cost‑effectiveness and responsible use of public funding

Services supported by LAO’s test case program must be cost‑effective, and must demonstrate responsible, accountable use of public funding. LAO considers the following questions:

  • What is the estimated cost of the case, including research, preparation, drafting of legal documents and disbursements?
  • Will this case resolve a number of existing or potential matters that raise the same issues, demonstrably reducing duplicative or unnecessarily costly litigation that is funded by LAO?
  • Has litigation related to a similar issue previously been funded by LAO? What was the result?
  • Is this issue otherwise unlikely to come before the courts?
  • Does this application represent the most practical, realistic and cost‑effective way to bring this issue forward?
  • What pro bono contributions have been secured? Has counsel explored partnering, mentoring or resource‑sharing as potential conditions for provision of test case program funding for this matter, as a way of reducing costs? Are there other sources of funding or support which can be secured from other organizations?

Apply

Individuals, groups of individuals and legal clinics can apply for test case funding. The committee will consider applications in the areas of criminal law, family law, mental health law, clinic law, and refugee and immigration law that fit the criteria above.

To receive such support, please make an application to LAO’s test case program. The test case committee meets monthly to assess each application.


Test case committee meetings

Meeting dates scheduled for 2022

Application deadline Meeting date
January 5 January 19
February 2 February 16
March 2 March 16
April 6 April 20
May 4 May 18
June 1 June 15
July 6 July 20
August 3 August 17
September 7 September 21
October 5 October 19
November 2 November 16
December 7 December 21

For further information

Marcus Pratt
Director, Policy and Strategic Research
Legal Aid Ontario
Email: gentestcase@lao.on.ca

  • This form is feedback only.

Related Pages

LAO test cases

The following are public interest matters that LAO has supported. Cultural assessment report considered in sentencing In December 2014, police were investigating a home invasion when they approached Kevin Morris and three other black men in a parking lot. (It was later determined…

Application information and requirements

Counsel for the applicant(s) must submit a completed copy of the application for test case funding form. The application form must be completed by counsel as it constitutes a legal opinion. Successful applicants may be issued a legal aid certificate or may be funded by way of a…

Sign-up for email alerts about upcoming consultations.
Need legal help?

Call us toll free at 1‑800‑668‑8258 Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EST) for help in over 300 languages.

Current wait time: The CLSC is currently closed.

Links
  • Freedom of information requests
    • Privacy policy
  • Accessibility policy
  • What do you think about our services?
    • Contact us
  • Sitemap
Go to LAO on Twitter Go to LAO on Facebook Go to LAO on YouTube Go to LAO on LinkedIn Legal Aid Ontario
Land acknowledgement: Legal Aid Ontario recognizes that its work, and the work of its community partners take place on traditional Indigenous territories across the province.

Legal Aid Ontario © 2022

Go back to top