Comparing and Understanding Legal Aid Priorities: A Paper Prepared for Legal Aid Ontario

Abstract

This paper explores different ways of defining legal aid priorities. In doing so, the paper examines how ideas about access to justice have been implemented in Ontario's judicare and community clinic systems, reviews developments in other jurisdictions, and the requirements of Charter values. The paper also situates priority-setting within the administration of justice, the literature about legal needs and social exclusion, and the role of LAO as a state agency to ensure access to justice for the poor and disadvantaged. Finally, the paper assesses the limits of the "legal categories" approach and the "legal needs / social exclusion" approach, and recommends defining legal aid priorities using a "social inclusion / systemic" approach, as pioneered by community clinics.

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