Legal Aid Ontario (LAO)

Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) is continuing to raise the fees that it pays roster members to do legal work.

Starting April 4, Legal Aid Ontario's (LAO) contact centre hours will change to Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EST). Currently, the contact centre is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. (EST).

Legal Aid Ontario will be able to begin a phased approach to return to both physical workplaces and in-person services on April 4.

Legal Aid Ontario has introduced a pilot expansion of its Second Chair mentorship program, a program which allows new and mid-career lawyers to serve as “second chair” with experienced counsel and work on legal aid cases. This pilot expansion will permit in-firm mentorship of lawyers from equity-seeking groups. Additionally, LAO will endeavour to match mentees with mentors based on identification, location and area of law, if requested.

As of July 26, 2020, lawyers will now be able to bill Legal Aid Online for COVID JPT and Myers (s.525) reviews as a part of LAO’s emergency response for the COVID-19 pandemic.

A recent decision of the Bath Institution allows a medically vulnerable prisoner to be released to self-isolate in the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of the Solicitor General has prepared the attached Process Guide

LAO as a temporary and emergency measure to address the COVID pandemic will provide expedited transcript rates for bail reviews. These expedited rates will be offered as an inherent disbursement on the billing portal. LAO hopes to have made the necessary changes to the billing portal by early next week. Recall that LAO has recently, as a response to the COVID pandemic, waived any assessment of merit in issuing bail review certificates.

In addition to the Temporary Billing Changes above for the bar as a whole, LAO will also provide live duty counsel legal advice for in-custody clients with upcoming court appearances and without legal representation for criminal matters starting April 14, 2020.

Legal Aid Ontario has taken further emergency temporary changes to billing and certificate coverage in order to address the continuing challenges of the COVID pandemic