Law Help Ontario is a project by Pro Bono Law Ontario (PBLO), a charitable organization that promotes access to justice in Ontario by creating and promoting opportunities for lawyers to provide pro bono (free) legal services to persons of limited means.

The centre is a pro bono legal resource centre for people who cannot afford legal representation and need help with civil (non-family) matters at the Toronto Superior Court of Justice. Ottawa will be opening on June 7, 2010.

The two-year pilot project is the first of its kind in Ontario and is based at 393 University Avenue in Toronto, in the same building that houses the Superior Court of Justice.

Law Help Ontario has a second location at Small Claims Court in Toronto which provides services to self-represented litigants two days each week. A new location in Ottawa will open on June 7, 2010.

The Law Help Ontario web site provides online resources and online forms to support the Law Help centres.

The new facility at Superior Court provides self-help services as well as pro bono legal services representation. Walk-in clients can receive help in the form of plain language information about court rules and procedures, assistance filling out court forms, and pro bono legal advice and pro bono duty counsel representation at certain types of appearances. The lawyers that volunteer at Law Help Ontario do not become the lawyer of record.

Law Help Ontario is designed for litigants that cannot qualify for legal aid or afford to hire a lawyer. The services offered by the centre directly respond to the Civil Justice Reform Project report by former Associate Chief Justice Coulter Osborne on ways to improve public access to civil courts and address the crisis of unrepresented litigants in the courts. Osborne called for bar associations and civil litigators to expand their pro bono services and for more self-help material to be made available to unrepresented litigants.

PBLO hopes to expand the model to other parts of the province following the pilot phase. Read the Year One Report and formal Evaluation Report for more information on how Law Help Ontario is doing so far.

In 2008, PBLO was honoured to receive the Emil Gumpert award, which is a monetary grant that will enable PBLO to launch a Law Help Ontario walk-in centre in Ottawa.

Law Help Ontario centres in Toronto and Ontario are funded by The Law Foundation of Ontario.