About us

A smiling Asian woman with long, straight black hair wearing glasses and standing near a busy city street

Toronto lawyer Min provided pro bono legal advice to women in rural and remote communities who have experienced domestic violence through Luke’s Place’s Virtual Legal Clinic

The Law Foundation of Ontario was established in 1974 under the Law Society Act. The Foundation receives and uses the interest on lawyers’ and paralegals’ mixed trust accounts to support legal education, legal research, legal aid, and law libraries in Ontario. We do this through grantmaking to nonprofits and providing funds to Legal Aid Ontario.

A priority for the Foundation is to pay particular attention to groups who have experienced injustice or inequity – past or current – and those who have experienced exclusion or barriers in society.

The Foundation also administers the Class Proceedings Fund, which provides cost assistance in class actions. The Class Proceedings Committee is responsible for deciding who will receive funding.

Our vision

Our mission

Our values

Our vision

Putting people at the heart of justice.

Our mission

Our values

Act with fairness
We endeavour to act with fairness and integrity and exercise good governance to ensure our actions, relationships, and decisions are transparent and accountable.

Be open and supportive
We foster relationships that are open and supportive. We encourage partners to approach us in good times and bad. Often the best ideas come from lessons learned.

Expand knowledge and innovation
We are committed to deepening our knowledge of access to justice and sharing what we learn. We encourage new and creative thinking and support the development of innovative ideas.

Seek Truth and Reconciliation, and justice
We seek to listen to, learn from, and be guided by First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities and to better understand and support the work of Truth and Reconciliation, and justice.

Serve as a catalyst
We actively engage with others to assess needs, make connections, encourage collaboration, and identify promising approaches to facilitate change.

Support diversity, equity, and inclusion
We respect people’s intersectionalities and lived experiences and strive to centre diversity, equity, and inclusion in our relationships and actions.

Access to justice exists when the public can understand, use, and afford information and services to prevent and resolve their legal disputes and to achieve just outcomes without delay.