Mandate
The LFO disburses its grants in two ways: mandatory funding to Legal Aid Ontario, and discretionary grants. By law, 75% of the LFO's revenues are automatically directed to Legal Aid Ontario. The LFO's discretionary grants are made in accordance with its statutory mandate for the following objects:
• Legal education
The Foundation encourages excellence in the legal profession, and is committed to enhancing the public’s experience with the law.
Some examples include the funding of law school enrichment programs, opportunities for law students to engage in public interest law, and continuing education programs and conferences for lawyers.
Equally important is the LFO support of public legal education through a variety of means such as the development of educational materials, legal information workshops, and programs for school children to learn more about the law to increase civic awareness.
The Foundation encourages and promotes new thinking about current and emerging legal issues which significantly affect the public interest.
Recent grants have been made to conduct research on environmental issues, immigration and refugee law, tenants’ rights, women’s rights, aboriginal law, intellectual property, and the administration of justice, amongst others.
In addition to supporting Legal Aid Ontario, the Foundation promotes access to legal services for the public.
Examples of these kinds of grants include funding to pro bono programs of both the legal profession and law students; a pilot project to provide legal services to street youth, and to organizations offering legal services to recent immigrants who do not speak English.
The LFO makes significant grants to major Ontario law libraries for acquisitions, technological upgrades and the development of research databases. It also makes grants to smaller libraries such as those found in legal clinics and public interest organizations.
• Costs assistance to parties to class proceedingsFor more information, please visit the class proceedings section of our site.
