LASA 2020 Rules and Policies
Glossary
Click here to access a list of terms used on the LASA 2020 website and their definitions.
Consolidated Rules
In accordance with the Legal Aid Services Act, 2020 (LASA 2020), Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) developed the Legal Aid Services Rules (Rules). The Rules were approved by LAO’s Board of Directors and govern the administration of legal aid services in Ontario. They have enabled LAO to modernize and streamline its operational structure, increasing efficiency and continually improving its services.
The Consolidated Rules are current up to the Date of Consolidation shown in red on the top left of the first page and contain all amendments that have been approved by LAO’s Board of Directors, whether or not they are in force. Provisions that are not yet in force appear as grey-shaded text.
Amending Rules
From time to time, LAO’s Board of Directors will amend the Rules in order to ensure that LAO is being responsive to changes in its operational needs and to ensure the ongoing delivery of high-quality and efficient legal aid services. The amending rules are accessible here:
- Rule 2022/1: Rules Amending the Legal Aid Services Rules (Minimum Experience Requirements)
- Rule 2023/1: Rules Amending the Legal Aid Services Rules (Minimum Experience Requirements)
- Rule 2023/2: Rules Amending the Legal Aid Services Rules (Fees and Disbursements)
- Rule 2023/3: Rules Amending the Legal Aid Services Rules (Minimum Experience Requirements)
- Rule 2023/4: Rules Amending the Legal Aid Services Rules (Fees and Disbursements, No. 1)
- Rule 2023/5: Rules Amending the Legal Aid Services Rules (Fees and Disbursements, No. 2)
- Rule 2025/1: Rules amending the Legal Aid Services Rules (Financial eligibility)
Period-in-Time Rules
Period-in-time Rules are the Legal Aid Services Rules that were in force during a specified period. These are provided for reference purposes.
- Legal Aid Services Rules (In force from 2025-03-03 to 2025-03-30)
- Legal Aid Services Rules (In force from 2024-07-29 to 2025-03-02)
- Legal Aid Services Rules (In force from 2024-03-04 to 2024-07-28)
- Legal Aid Services Rules (In force from 2024-01-01 to 2024-03-03)
- Legal Aid Services Rules (In force from 2023-10-16 to 2023-12-31)
- Legal Aid Services Rules (In force from 2022-08-10 to 2023-10-15)
- Legal Aid Services Rules (In force from 2021-10-18 to 2022-08-09)
LASA 2020 Policies
Supporting the Rules are Policies that provide direction, limits, and guidance for how the Rules are to be applied. These Policies are listed and accessible below. They have been approved by LAO’s Board of Directors. If LAO is proposing changes to these Policies, it will do so following the process set out in its Public Consultation Policy made under section 33 of LASA 2020.
Certificate management
Policies that direct how roster members accept and manage a certificate through its lifespan.
- Retroactive certificate issuance
- Change of lawyer
- Certificate reinstatement and extension
- Certificate acknowledgement
- Extension of unacknowledged certificate
Eligibility
Policies that govern financial eligibility and other requirements for receiving legal aid services.
- Annual income period and calculation
- Eligibility for child protection law services
- Eligibility for mental health law services
- Reviews of eligibility decisions
- Requirement to enter into a contribution agreement
- Eligibility for criminal law services
- Duty counsel services financial eligibility
- Dependent child
- Determination of amount of contribution agreement
- Eligibility for appellate matters – prerogative relief applications
- Eligibility for family law services
- Financial eligibility in high-risk cases
- Eligibility for immigration and refugee law services
- Medical expense reduction to income
- Test case program
- Person responsible
- Eligibility for prison law services
- Financial reassessment
- Modification or refusal of services for uncooperative or disruptive conduct
- Concurrent proceedings
Entity Service Providers
Policies that standardize and control how LAO engages and works with service providers that are entities, e.g., community legal clinics, Indigenous legal services organizations, student legal services organizations.
- Transitional entity initial risk level determination
- Requests for additional funds
- Financial eligibility testing for entity services provided by community legal clinics and student legal services organizations
- Risk management and risk level determination for community legal clinics and student legal services organizations
Recovery of Cost
Policies for LAO’s recovery of expenses of providing legal aid services.
- Amount to be recovered by LAO
- Responsibility for recovering recoverable amount
- Recovering court costs
- Recovering amounts under Section 13 of the Act
- Orders and settlements in respect of court costs
- Orders for court costs in relation to support
- Waiver of collection rights
Roster membership
Policies that influence how LAO manages its roster of service providers.
Roster payments
Policies guiding how LAO will pay service providers for providing services under a certificate or for duty counsel work.
- Representing co-accused and witnesses in criminal proceedings
- Representation where roster member previously provided duty counsel services
- New criminal charges and charges heard separately
- Submitting certificate accounts
- Disbursements requiring prior authorization
s. 33 Consultation policy
Policy governing whether and how LAO seeks the public’s views about changes to its rules and/or board-approved policies.