Funded by Legal Aid Ontario, community legal clinics provide free legal services to low income people in every community across Ontario. All help is free, private and confidential.
Community legal clinics provide information, advice, and representation on various legal issues, including social assistance, housing, refugee and immigration law, employment law, human rights, workers' compensation, and the Canada Pension Plan. Some legal clinics do not handle all of these issues, but staff may be able to refer you to someone who can help.
Community legal clinics are staffed by lawyers, community legal workers, and sometimes law students. All help is private and confidential and provided free of charge.
To qualify for community legal clinic services:
- your legal issue must be one the clinic handles,
- you must live in the area the clinic serves, and
- your income and assets cannot be above a certain level.
To find out if you qualify, contact your local legal clinic. Most legal clinics provide brief advice, or "summary advice", without asking about your financial situation. Some legal clinics also offer workshops, information sessions, and other community development activities.
Most legal clinics serve a large area around their location and many clinics offer satellite services in neighbouring towns.
To find the community legal clinic for your area, you can check the Legal Aid Ontario web site and enter your postal code. You can also find seperate listings for all community and specialty legal clinics throughout the Services section of our website. To find out more about specialty community legal clinics and student legal aid services societies in Ontario, see:
- Service by type - Legal Clinics - General Service
- Service by type - Legal Clinics – Specialty
- Service by type - Student Legal Aid Services Society (SLASS)
Community legal clinics are funded by Legal Aid Ontario. To find out more about Legal Aid Ontario's other services see: Services by type - Legal Aid Ontario Services.