From Legal Aid Ontario:

• “As of May 17, 2021 people who have no income or who receive Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support Program payments and who do not own any property can apply for legal aid online at Legal Aid Ontario’s (LAO) website. 

  How it works 

  We walk the user through several questions to figure out: 

•   if they’re eligible to apply online for legal aid 
• whether they need to follow-up with a call for more information

• 
  Added features 

  All users will now have access to:  

• get updates on a legal aid application or certificate status instead of calling. Last year, alone, we had more than 120,000 certificate applications. Now, a user can see the status of their application without needing to call. 
• upload requested information—such as financial information—instead of having to mail or fax them or drop them off at a local office. 
• update personal information like  their address, phone number and email address on their own and at their convenience. 

This new online service is one of many projects to help our clients get the help they need when they need it."

Full news release here:

https://www.legalaid.on.ca/news/need-legal-aid-now-you-can-apply-online/

Sincerely,

Norman Panzica 
York Director and Co-Chair LAO Committee, Criminal Lawyers Association 

Today the Ontario Court of Justice issued the following updates:

Update re Criminal Proceedings: resumption of out-of-custody trials and preliminary inquiries as of May 25, 2021 (published May 18, 2021)

COVID-19: Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (May 18, 2021)

On May 17, 2021, a regulation was filed to amend court rules and forms for civil proceedings in the Superior Court of Justice: O. Reg. 343/21, amending the Rules of Civil Procedure.

The regulation amends three rules of the Rules of Civil Procedure to:

-       eliminate the 60-day delay between a party setting down a defended action for trial and the action being placed on the trial list and make consequential amendments to this rule change; and

-       revoke two obsolete provisions regarding the time for trial listing for matters outside Toronto, to reflect existing practice across the province.

This week’s Crown and courtroom assignments have been posted on the Practice Areas > Criminal-OCJ here.

Today the Chief Justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued the following notice:

Notice to the Profession and Public Regarding Court Proceedings
May 12, 2021 update

As of May 14 in certain areas e.g., Simcoe & Muskoka (not Newmarket), the following practice advisory takes effect:

Practice Advisory Concerning the Superior Court of Justice’s Binding Judicial Dispute Resolution Pilot Projects

This week’s Crown assignments and schedule can be found on the Practice Areas > Criminal-OCJ page of this website here.

Coming May 19-20, 2021:

Mental Health for Legal Professionals Summit  8 h EDI Professionlism

Presented by the Law Society of Ontario. Register here or click link above.

The Ontario Court of Justice released updates to Criminal and Family Law proceedings on May 4, 2021.  

Update re Criminal Proceedings: reducing out-of-custody trials and preliminary inquiries between April 26 and May 21, 2021 (published April 21, 2021; updated May 4, 2021)

Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (April 21, 2021) - May 4, 2021

This week’s Crown Assignments have been posted to the Criminal-OCJ page of our website here.