Legal Services - Community Legal Clinics

If you cannot pay for a lawyer yourself, you may also be able to get legal help at a community legal clinic. Usually, you must live in the area the clinic serves and you must meet certain low income requirements.


Clinics provide services in specific areas of law. These include:

• Landlord and tenant disputes
• Workers’ Compensation
• Employment Insurance
• Social assistance
• Canada Pension Plan
• Refugee and immigration law
• Employment law
• Human rights

Any discussion you have with staff at a clinic is confidential. This means that anything you tell a clinic legal worker about your situation is private and will not be repeated.

There are 57 general service clinics in Ontario. Locate one near you: www.legalaid.on.ca

The core subjects for Community Legal Clinics are income maintenance, like helping clients with employment or financial aid problems, and housing law, helping clients with home rental problems.

Clinics also provide services in other areas of the law, depending on their local community’s needs. The types of cases accepted vary from clinic to clinic.

Usually, clinics do not provide criminal or family law services. For these services, you need a private lawyer and a Legal Aid certificate.