Wednesday, September 3, 2014

The Faculty of Law’s Downtown Legal Services clinic will be able to expand its family law assistance for low-income Ontarians, thanks to a funding increase from Legal Aid Ontario (LAO).

LAO is providing more than $2 million over three years to six university-operated legal clinics.

DLS was the first law school-run clinic to offer family law services 10 years ago. It will now be able to increase its capacity to include representation and integration with family law service centres and community hubs. The funding will also go towards partnerships with social work students and public legal education services.

“Our experience with this program has demonstrated clearly that law students can play an important role in providing some relief to the current access to justice crisis in family law,” says Interim Dean Jutta Brunnée. “We are grateful to Legal Aid Ontario for this new funding, which will allow us to enhance our program, to serve more family law clients and to introduce more law students to the exciting and vibrant practice of family law.”

Read more about LAO’s funding here.